Department of Labor

Trump Opens $12.5 Trillion in Retirement Savings to Cryptocurrency and Private Equity Risk

| Importance: 8/10

Trump signed an executive order directing the Labor Department to allow cryptocurrencies, private equity, and other alternative assets in 401(k) retirement plans, exposing the $12.5 trillion in retirement savings to high-risk, illiquid investments with elevated fees.

Context: The Department of Labor …

Donald Trump Department of Labor Cryptocurrency industry Private equity industry regulatory-capture systematic-corruption crypto
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Trump Fires Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Hours After Unfavorable Jobs Report

| Importance: 9/10

President Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on August 1, 2025, hours after a government report showed the U.S. economy added only 73,000 jobs in July, far below expectations, with downward revisions of 258,000 jobs for May and June combined. Trump accused …

Donald Trump Erika McEntarfer Bureau of Labor Statistics Department of Labor institutional-capture data-manipulation retaliation statistical-integrity
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Federal workforce shrinks by 59,000 jobs with 154,000 on paid leave

| Importance: 6/10

Department of Labor reported 59,000 federal jobs eliminated by June 2025 under DOGE initiative, with additional 154,000 employees (6% of 2.3 million civilian workforce) participating in deferred resignation program paying full salary and benefits through September 30, 2025 to accelerate exodus of …

Trump Administration DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) Elon Musk Office of Personnel Management Department of Labor +1 more federal-workforce workforce-reduction civil-service project-2025
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Trump Administration Axes Biden-Era Barrier for Crypto in 401(k) Plans

| Importance: 8/10

The Trump administration rescinded Biden-era guidance warning employers about adding cryptocurrency to employee 401(k) plans, with a subsequent executive order on August 7, 2025, further expanding alternative asset investment options. This action allows for more cryptocurrency and digital asset …

Donald Trump Trump Administration Department of Labor crypto 401k investment-policy regulatory-capture
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4.3 million workers could lose overtime protections

| Importance: 6/10

Trump administration moves to revert to weak Trump-era overtime threshold ($35,568) from Biden’s $58,656 rule, stripping overtime protections from 4.3 million workers per Economic Policy Institute. Project 2025 also proposes calculating overtime over 2-4 week periods instead of weekly, and …

Trump Administration Department of Labor overtime-protections labor-rights regulatory-rollback project-2025 worker-protections
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Judge allows unions’ APA challenge to DOGE data access to proceed

| Importance: 6/10

Judge John D. Bates ruled April 17, 2025, that unions (AFL-CIO, AFGE, SEIU, others) can proceed with APA challenge against DOGE’s access to Americans’ PII at DOL, CFPB, HHS. Court found agencies’ “across-the-board policies” granting DOGE personnel access to sensitive …

Judge John D. Bates (D.D.C.) DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) AFL-CIO AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees) SEIU +6 more doge legal privacy unions apa-violation +1 more
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Labor leaders fear Elon Musk and DOGE could gain access to whistleblower files

| Importance: 7/10

The AFL-CIO and former OSHA officials filed a lawsuit warning that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) operatives are embedded at the Department of Labor, potentially gaining access to sensitive whistleblower files. Musk’s companies—Tesla, SpaceX, and The Boring …

Donald Trump Trump Administration Elon Musk AFL-CIO Department of Labor regulatory-capture ethics-violation corporate-influence tech-industry labor-rights
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US DOGE Service Agreement with Department of Labor Reveals $1.3 Million Fee

| Importance: 8/10

A leaked service agreement between the Department of Labor and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) shows a $1.3 million fee for DOGE’s work, contradicting Elon Musk’s previous claims that DOGE would cost taxpayers nothing. The agreement covers four DOGE affiliates over an …

Elon Musk Donald Trump Department of Labor US Digital Service (USDS) regulatory-capture government-contracts institutional-transformation trump-administration
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Supreme Court Blocks Biden OSHA Vaccine Mandate as Executive Overreach

| Importance: 7/10

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to block President Biden’s OSHA mandate requiring businesses with 100+ employees to enforce COVID vaccination or weekly testing, affecting 84 million workers. The Court held that while OSHA can regulate ‘occupational dangers,’ it lacks authority to …

Supreme Court Joe Biden OSHA Department of Labor executive-overreach emergency-powers supreme-court covid-19 vaccine-mandate
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