Senate Confirms Trump Picks to Key Labor Department, EEOC Posts

The Senate confirmed 11 nominees to Labor Department and employment agency roles, restoring leadership and voting quorums across key offices.

The Senate voted 51 to 47 on Tuesday to confirm a batch of nominees. The added personnel will join the Trump administration’s efforts to push forward a labor agenda that includes significant regulatory changes.

James Woodruff serving as a member of the Merit Systems Protections Board and Brittany Panuccio joining the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will restore those agencies to full functionality. Both lacked quorum after President Donald Trump fired former members.

Panuccio, an assistant US attorney in Florida, will be the second Republican on the commission. She’ll join Republican Acting Chair Andrea Lucas and Democratic Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal.

Andrew Rogers, who was serving as acting general counsel at EEOC, was confirmed as Wage and Hour Division administrator.

Jonathan Berry will serve as DOL’s chief attorney. Berry authored the chapter on the DOL in the conservative policy blueprint Project 2025, but during his Senate confirmation hearing he sought to distance himself from its proposals. He underscored that he would not be serving in a policymaking position.

David Keeling will become assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health and will lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. He was previously the director of road and transportation safety at Amazon.com Inc. and served in numerous safety positions at UPS Inc.

Janet Dhillon was confirmed as director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which is responsible for protecting pension benefits for more than 30 million American workers and retirees. The former Republican EEOC chair will lead the PBGC as it is more than halfway through administering a Biden-era bailout of some of the nations most severely underfunded multiemployer pensions.

Also confirmed was Julie Hocker to head the Office of Disability Employment Policy; Marco Rajkovich for a second term on the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission; Wayne Palmer to lead the US Mine safety and Health Administration; Jonathan Snare to be a member of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission; and David Brian Castillo to serve at the DOL’s Chief Financial Officer.