Senate confirms Trump’s pick to head DOL

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There’s a new (labor) sheriff in town.

The US Senate late Wednesday confirmed (47–41) President Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Labor, Keith Sonderling, ahead of an expected recess scheduled until after the midterm elections.

Sonderling was nominated by the president in June. He was a commissioner of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from September 2020 to August 2024, and acting administrator and deputy administrator of the Wage and Hour Division from 2017 to 2020.

Sonderling has been leading the Francis Perkins Building in an acting capacity since April, following the ouster of former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s first pick to lead the DOL during his second term until she was axed by the president amid an investigation into allegations of contributing to a hostile work environment and engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a member of her security detail, among other accusations, following an anonymous complaint. The agency’s office of the inspector general earlier this month released a report into the allegations against Chavez-DeRemer and that of top officials in her office, noting that it “substantiated multiple violations of DOL policy,” including an “inappropriately close and unprofessional relationship” with a member of her security detail, unauthorized alcohol consumption, “improperly combined” DOL and federal travel policy and personal travel, and creating a hostile work environment at the agency tasked with protecting American workers’s rights, wages, and safety.

Sonderling faced lawmakers on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee and was referred, 12–11, on July 30, allowing his nomination to advance to the full Senate.

In an emailed statement shared to HR Brew on Thursday, Emily M. Dickens, SHRM’s chief administrative officer, said Sonderling’s “leadership across the Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provides valuable perspective as workforce policy keeps pace with changes in technology, skills, and the way work gets done. Employers and workers benefit from clear, consistent, and compliance-oriented workplace policy. SHRM looks forward to continuing its longstanding engagement with Secretary Sonderling and the Department to provide greater clarity and certainty, strengthen the American workforce, and ensure innovation expands opportunity while keeping people at the center of work.”

Sonderling has held leadership positions within the EEOC and DOL in both Trump administrations, during which time there have been regulatory changes to overtime, independent contractors, and joint employer standards. No Democrats voted to confirm.

“We are restoring compliance assistance, pursuing rulemaking that replaces uncertainty with clarity, expanding retirement investment opportunities, promoting competition in prescription drug pricing, and helping more Americans start families,” he told the HELP committee in July.