Punching In: Chavez-DeRemer Explains How to Do More With Less

Monday Morning Musings for Workplace Watchers

LCD Says Help First Then Punish | More Referendum Rollback

Rebecca Rainey: Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer outlined her vision for lawmakers about how her agency will do “more with less” to protect workers, as the administration she serves proposes cutting the DOL’s budget by 35%.

Chavez-DeRemer testified on the Hill last Thursday about the White House budget blueprint for the US Department of Labor, which proposes cutting 4,000 full time employees in 2026, roughly a quarter of the agency’s current workforce.

More money doesn’t always solve the problem, Chavez-DeRemer said in response to separate questions from three Democrats who pressed her on how the agency will maintain its ability to police child labor with fewer inspectors on board.

“The math isn’t mathing,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

“Having fewer investigators and inspectors will not protect workers from wage theft, misclassification, and dangerous working conditions,” she said.

The exchange demonstrates the fine line Chavez-DeRemer walks to justify broad cuts to the agency while also maintaining its capacity to respond to issues of bipartisan concern, like child labor enforcement or job training.

It also revealed her plan to approach enforcement versus compliance assistance.

Chavez-DeRemer vowed to use the “full capabilities” of the DOL to enforce the law, but said helping employers understand the rules should come first.

“For companies and businesses who need help with compliance, we want to do that first,” she said. “They are the first line of defense for the American worker.”

When asked directly if the cuts to Wage and Hour Division inspectors would result in fewer child labor inspections, Chavez-DeRemer declined to answer what she called a “hypothetical.”

“I will do everything in my effort to protect against child labor,” she said.

The division, which enforces child labor, minimum wage, and several other workplace protections, would have 906 full time staff on board under the budget plan for next fiscal year, a reduction of 245 employees compared to FY 2025.

Chavez-DeRemer said enforcement staff were left out of one of the two rounds of buyout offers sent to DOL staff this year.

“We can still cost save and do what we need to do,” she said.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer before the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Chris Marr: Referendum-approved workplace pay and sick leave mandates continue to face rollbacks and threats of repeal by state and local lawmakers, most recently in Washington, D.C. and Nebraska.

The next step in a gradual phaseout of D.C.’s minimum wage tip credit for restaurants and other service-oriented businesses will be delayed until October, after a city council vote June 3. The vote gave council members more time to evaluate whether they will make bigger changes or follow Mayor Muriel Bowser’s (D) proposal to repeal Initiative 82.

In Nebraska, a requirement for employers to provide paid sick time starting Oct. 1 won’t apply to businesses with 10 or fewer employees, seasonal farmworkers, or workers younger than 16. Those exclusions were part of legislation (LB 415) Gov. Jim Pillen (R) signed into law June 4, which also eliminated workers’ right to sue employers over violations of the sick leave law.

The moves are the latest business-backed efforts to revise laws that voters approved via citizen-initiated ballot proposals. They coincide with state legislation across the country making it harder for future proposals to qualify for the ballot—such as a new Florida law that a federal court partially blocked June 4—largely a Republican-led backlash to advocacy groups’ ballot measure wins ranging from abortion rights and Medicaid expansion to minimum wage increases and cannabis legalization.

Nebraska voters approved the sick leave measure in 2024 with 74.5% support. Initiative 82 won the backing of 74% of D.C. voters in 2022.

Legislation awaiting Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) in Missouri goes further than the Nebraska rollback, repealing altogether the paid sick leave mandate that voters approved last November. The measure (HB 567) leaves in place a scheduled increase in the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour in January 2026 but eliminates future annual inflation-based increases that were also part of the ballot measure voters passed.

If the D.C. Council repeals Initiative 82, it would be the second time councilmembers there have overridden the district’s voters on the same issue. The initiative calls for phasing out the tip credit that lets restaurants and other employers pay their service employees less than the full minimum wage if workers make up the difference through tips.

The next step in the phaseout, which was scheduled for July 1 before the council’s vote to delay it, will require employers to pay at least $12 an hour before tips, up from the current tipped minimum wage of $10. The tip credit is scheduled to be fully phased out by 2027.

The district’s standard minimum wage for non-tipped employees is $17.50, set to increase to $17.95 on July 1.