Dive Brief:
- President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Keith Sonderling as his new Deputy Secretary of Labor, he announced Wednesday via a post on Truth Social. In the new role, Sonderling, a former Republican commissioner of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission whose term ended in August, would serve as the second-in-command at the US Labor Department.
- To secure the appointment, Sonderling will need to be approved by the Republican-led US Senate.
- “The Assistant Secretary of Labor serves as the DOL’s de facto chief operating officer,” according to a blog post by the labor law firm Littler, which manages the heads of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Wage Division and hours and more
Diving knowledge:
Trump previously nominated Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Oregon, as Labor Secretary.
“Keith will work with our great nominee for Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-Deremer, to put our country and our workers FIRST,” Trump wrote.
Sonderling shared the news of his nomination on LinkedIn, writing, “Thank you, President Trump, for nominating me as Deputy Secretary of Labor.”
Prior to serving at the EEOC, Sonderling served as Acting and Deputy Administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division. He also taught employment discrimination at The George Washington University Law School.
The authors of Littler’s post characterized Sonderling as a “complementary choice” to Trump’s “labor-friendly” nominee for DOL secretary, saying he was “expected to bring more balance to the most senior DOL leadership.”
Sonderling will also likely use opinion letters to provide compliance guidance, address business concerns related to technology and support independent contractors and the gig economy, Littler said.
