Trump Effort To Roll Back Worker Protections Knocked Down In Court
The fast-food president suffered a major setback in federal court on Tuesday, when a judge ruled that one of the Trump administration’s signature workplace reforms was “arbitrary and capricious.”
The “joint employer” rule issued by Trump’s Labor Department earlier this year would make it harder for workers to sue big chains like McDonald’s if they’ve been stiffed on the minimum wage or overtime pay. The new ruling issued in federal court sides with the 17 states and the District of Columbia that sued to stop that rule from going into effect.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods said the Labor Department under Trump and Secretary Eugene Scalia strayed from the agency’s earlier interpretation of the issue without explanation. Woods, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, wrote in his decision that the Trump administration also failed to adequately consider how much the new rule would cost workers.
Federal agencies have been wrestling for years over the concept of joint employment: the idea that a single worker may be employed by more than one company. The question is most salient when it comes to subcontractors, temporary staffing firms or franchised businesses, like those found throughout fast food. Advocates for low-wage workers argue that even if a McDonald’s worker is technically employed by a franchisee, McDonald’s itself helps set the working conditions.
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/trump-effort-to-roll-back-worker-protections-knocked-down-in-court-151245017.html
The GOP is looking for new ways to screw workers.