Punching In: NLRB Top Cop Wants ‘Traditional Jurisdiction’ Focus

Monday morning musings for workplace watchers.

A More ‘Traditional’ NLRB | DOGE Eyes DOL Data

Parker Purifoy: The National Labor Relations Board’s acting general counsel summarized his key goals for the agency in two words: “Traditional jurisdiction.”

Acting GC William Cowen said at an American Bar Association conference recently he wanted to “focus on the bread and butter issues” and boost settlements during his time as the nation’s top labor prosecutor, marking a drastic change from his predecessor Jennifer Abruzzo.

“The priority is to clear the backlog and it is to support the regional offices and front line operations and to focus on results, not headlines,” he said. “I’m not opposed to a splash but I do think we have to deliver the results.”

Abruzzo worked during her three-year term as general counsel to expand worker protections under the National Labor Relations Act, pushing the board to outlaw captive audience meetings, ease the unionization process through card-check elections, and expand remedies available to employees. She also took stances against restrictive workplace covenants like non-competes and supported employment status for college athletes.

Cowen rescinded Abruzzo’s policy instructions Feb. 14 in his first GC memo, calling the case backlog “unsustainable.”

“The unfortunate truth is that if we attempt to accomplish everything, we risk accomplishing nothing,” he said in the memo.

The acting general counsel said during the panel discussion that more guidance is on the way about the agency’s posture moving forward but he will instruct the regions to prioritize settling cases, letting go of Abruzzo’s initiative to seek greater backpay and remedial measures in settlements.

Cowen said he was not criticizing Abruzzo’s positions, but warned that they were “killing” the agency’s staff.

“We’re just not delivering the justice that we’ve delivered in the past,” he said.

While the NLRB’s settlement rate of around 96% hasn’t changed significantly over the past three years, management side practitioners say Abruzzo’s insistence on full relief under the law made many companies resistant to settling with workers.

Cowen was handed the reins as the board sits without a quorum. When Trump fired Abruzzo, he also fired NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox, meaning that the board only has two members and will not be able to issue decisions.

Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Rebecca Rainey: Democrats, unions, and advocacy groups have been sounding the alarm over the Department of Government Efficiency’s potential access to sensitive data at the US Department of Labor.

The agency has maintained in court filings and in testimony to the Senate that DOGE employees—a group deployed by the White House across the government to cut spending—haven’t yet been given access to their computer systems, however, two DOL employees say that several DOGE staffers have been assigned agency emails.

The DOL stores all sorts of personal sensitive information: medical and benefits information for people with workers’ compensation or Black Lung claims; the identities of workers who have filed complaints with the agency; and market-moving economic data.

Lawsuits filed by unions and worker advocacy groups have outlined numerous ways DOGE staff or Elon Musk could misuse the data, such as accessing information about DOL investigations into Musk’s companies or his competitors.

When it comes to the unemployment insurance data the agency reports out each week, Andrew Stettner, former deputy director for policy within the DOL’s Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization, cautioned that there’s needs to be a strong firewall between career and political staffers who are accessing the data.

Trump officials could change the language in press releases to be “more pointed and more spun,” if for example they don’t like what the numbers indicate about the economy, he said. Such a move would “really destroy the reliability” of the data, said Stettner, now with The Century Foundation."So that’s a real immediate danger.”

He also warned that agency guidance instructs states to not report fraudulent unemployment insurance claims, language that could be used by Musk’s team to alter the claims numbers under the guise of cutting out dishonest data.

“That would be twisting a law in the regulations, which really kind of defers to the states,” he said.

For its part, the DOL has said in court filings it will put safeguards in place for DOGE staffers, including 24 hours notice before staffers access sensitive data and guidelines “to protect the integrity of the DOL’s informational systems.”

We’re punching out. Daily Labor Report subscribers please check in for updates during the week, and feel free to reach out to us.