Dive Brief:
- President-elect Donald Trump vows to undo President Barack Obama’s executive orders, putting workplace gains at risk, writes Bloomberg. Advances in diversity hiring, paid leave, gay and transgender rights could be jeopardized, Bloomberg reports.
- Of the 240 executive orders Obama penned during his presidency, 27 are workplace-related or issued to benefit minority, under-served and young populations.
- Clayborne Carson, Stanford University professor of American history and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, told Bloomberg that many of those executive orders changed corporate polices, as well as societal expectations.
Dive Insight:
Trump will likely follow through on his presidential campaign promise to rescind Obama’s executive orders, but not without pushback from opposition groups. Nationwide protests against Republican lawmakers’ votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act and rallies to boycott Trump’s inauguration have already begun.
Obama’s executive orders are largely limited to government workers and contractors. Only Congress can pass laws affecting all workers. That being said, little federal action is expected under the Trump administration. Current DOL nominee Andrew Puzder is notably pro-business and has in the past been against increases to the minimum wage and other such regulations.
