A range of initiatives centered in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) are focused on reducing regulatory requirements for employers and lessening enforcement actions and penalties.  These are all occurring at the same time that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Department of Justice continue their initiatives to enforce the Trump administration’s mandate to end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that it deems “unlawful,” as we discussed in recent blog posts (on the DOJ –  Part I, Part II and Part III; on the EEOC – End of the Rooney Rule?).

Lessened Financial Penalties Under Wage and Hour Laws

A Field Assistance Bulletin  issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on June 27, 2025, rescinds the Wage and Hour Division’s authority to seek liquidated damages in any pre-litigation investigation or resolution.  This change impacts the types of damages employers may be expected to pay at the administrative stage of a wage and hour claim.  The Division may still seek liquidated damages when it files a lawsuit (which typically would be on behalf of a group of employees).  The bulletin also does not affect employees’ ability to seek liquidated damages in a private lawsuit based on claimed violations of the minimum wage and overtime laws.   The reprieve, therefore, mainly serves to incentivize employers to agree to settlements with the DOL for wage law claims.

Lessened Regulation of Workplace Health and Safety

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced more than 25 initiatives over the past few months to reduce its regulation of the workplace.  The most far-reaching change would be reducing the scope of the “general duty clause,” which is employers’ overarching obligation to provide employees with a safe workplace, by excluding inherently risky activities that are essential to the job.  This would apply to professional sports, marine shows, stunt performances, and other entertainment activities.  OSHA is soliciting comments on this proposal.

Other proposed changes would impact OSHA’s heat injury and illness prevention, safety color coding, construction illumination, and medical clearance for certain types of masks and respirators and other respiratory protection requirements.  They also would lessen recordkeeping requirements and penalty and debt collection procedures.

Emphasis on Employer Self-Audit and Advisory Programs

Shifting the focus from government oversight to self-policing, a centralized self-audit web page developed by the DOL highlights a range of new, reconstituted, and existing programs for employers to identify and correct compliance issues and obtain advice.

The Payroll Audit Independent Determination program (PAID) enables employers not already under investigation or sued for violations of the federal wage and hour or leave laws to self-disclose and remedy violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and/or Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).  The program offers employers the ability to resolve such violations through payment of back wages calculated by the DOL and other remedies for FMLA compliance issues and thereby avoid penalties or litigation.

The Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program similarly enables employers and employee benefit plan officials to voluntarily correct violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) such as delinquent contributions and improper plan expenses.  While this program has existed for several decades, the DOL has added a new self-correction feature for specific transactions.

The DOL’s self-audit web page also highlights:

• a new Compliance Assistance Safety and Health Program to provide technical assistance on safety and health for mining operations based on an anticipated surge in that industry;
• OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Program for small and mid-size businesses; and
• the SALUTE program to receive technical assistance on compliance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.

Resolution of Unfair Labor Practice Charges

A new memorandum issued by the Acting General Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board continues the scale back of the prior General Counsel’s aggressive enforcement initiatives and directs a more moderate approach to negotiating the settlement of unfair labor practice charges.  Among the changes is greater flexibility to deviate from default language in settlement agreements, permitting field offices to include a non-admission of liability clause in settlements with employers, and allowing settlements that provide less than a complete “make whole” remedy of 100 percent of the total amount that could be reasonably anticipated to be recoverable after full litigation.

Limited Affirmative Action Compliance for Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities

A new Order issued by the Secretary of Labor authorizes the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) to resume activities related to Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 503) and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), but only to a point.  All such activities had been temporarily frozen in compliance with the Trump Executive Orders that we wrote about in past blog articles.  The new Order lifts that freeze and allows for receipt of complaints for violations of Section 503 and VEVRAA.  The new order also allows for the processing of prior complaints that had been received and were put on hold under the freeze.

The Order administratively closes all of OFCCP’s pending and scheduled employer compliance reviews, stating the reviews were “significantly entangled” with the affirmative action program for women and minorities that was revoked earlier this year by the Trump administration.  Employers remain obligated to comply with Section 503 and VEVRA, but as the OFCCP works to revise its processes and systems to reflect its recently limited scope, compliance reviews will remain closed.

OFCCP recently lowered its benchmark for hiring veterans to 5.1 percent.  As we discussed in our Part III of our DEI in Crisis series on the Trump anti-DEI executive orders, the hiring benchmark is intended as a tool to assess the effectiveness of employers’ efforts to recruit veterans; workplaces that meet or exceed that 5.1 percent benchmark can claim success in their hiring of veterans.  Under the DOL’s new budget proposal, OFCCP would be eliminated and enforcement for veterans would shift to DOL’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service.

By Tracey I. Levy