Tag: Department of Labor

Trump Taps McConnell Brother-in-Law, Big GOP Donor, for Labor Post

The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Roll Call website May 15, 2018:

Tech entrepreneur nominated to lead Labor Department pension agency

Credit: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo

Family connections can help when you’re applying for a new job — especially in Washington.

Just ask one of President Donald Trump’s latest executive branch nominees, who is married to the sister of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who’s married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Trump announced this week that tech entrepreneur Gordon Hartogensis is his pick to lead the Department of Labor’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which insures private-sector pension plans for retired Americans. Continue reading “Trump Taps McConnell Brother-in-Law, Big GOP Donor, for Labor Post”

Trump administration’s proposed labor rule would rob tipped workers of $5.8 billion per year

The following article by Casey Quinlan was posted on the ThinkProgress website January 18, 2018:

The Department of Labor’s justification doesn’t hold water, an economist says.

Credit: Getty Images

In December, the Department of Labor proposed a rule that would rescind portions of tip regulations, allowing employers who pay the minimum wage to take workers’ tips. According to Economic Policy Institute research, tipped workers would lose $5.8 billion a year in tips as a result of this rule. Women in tipped jobs would lose $4.6 billion annually.

Current regulations prohibit employers from taking tips. The department justifies the proposed rule by saying it is partly about fairness to “back of the house” workers, such as dishwashers and cooks, who don’t typically receive tips. The rule would theoretically allow employers to give some of the tips to back-of-the house workers. On the surface, the rule seems to address the great racial divide in high-end restaurant restaurants, in which white non-Latinx people tend to work in higher paying-positions as waiters and bartenders, and Latinx people tend to work in lower-paying jobs, such as line cooks and other back-of-house positions. The median hourly wage for restaurant waiters and waitresses is $9.61 and dishwashers’ median wage is $10, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Continue reading “Trump administration’s proposed labor rule would rob tipped workers of $5.8 billion per year”