Tag: Trump Labor Department

Trump Administration Says It’s Not Forcing People Back To Work. Workers Disagree

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is letting states deny unemployment benefits even to people at risk of severe COVID-19 illness.

President Donald Trump’s labor secretary didn’t like it this week when Democrats accused him of forcing workers off unemployment insurance even if their jobs presented a risk of severe illness from the coronavirus.

“Just to be clear, we have never suggested that workers should sacrifice health for returning to work,” said Eugene Scalia, leader of the U.S. Department of Labor, at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. “We oppose them being put to that choice as well.”

But the Trump administration, in coordination with state workforce agencies, has been forcing workers to make that choice for weeks. The president has called for workers to be “warriors” for the economy, and the Labor Department is prodding them into battle as the virus continues to spread. Continue reading.

A fox guarding the henhouse: How Trump’s labor secretary failed workers as the pandemic raged

AlterNet logoThousands of workers across America begged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to investigate when their employers failed to take steps to protect them from COVID-19. They reported a lack of face masks, gloves, soap and hand sanitizer. They warned of having to share desks and stand right next to one another on production lines, despite the need for social distancing to slow the spread of the disease. They put their faith in OSHA and waited for the agency to come to their aid.

But help never came.

OSHA—the agency responsible for America’s workplace safety—left workers to fend for themselves during the biggest health crisis in recent history. Continue reading.

Ex-OSHA officials sound alarm as Trump quietly issues guidance telling corporations they don’t have to record coronavirus cases among workers

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump’s Labor Department has quietly issued guidance informing most employers in the United States that they will not be required to record and report coronavirus cases among their workers because doing so would supposedly constitute an excessive burden on companies.

The new rules, released Friday by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), were met with alarm by public health experts and former Labor Department officials who said the new rules are an absurd attack on transparency that could further endanger frontline workers.

Because COVID-19 is officially classified as a recordable illness, employers would typically be required to notify OSHA of coronavirus cases among their workers. Continue reading.

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia faces blowback as he curtails scope of worker relief in unemployment crisis

Washington Post logoLabor Department comes under fire over handling of worker protection, unemployment program

The Labor Department is facing growing criticism over its response to the coronavirus pandemic as the agency plays a central role in ensuring that the tens of millions of workers affected by the crisis get assistance.

The criticism ranges from direct actions that the agency has taken to limit the scope of worker assistance programs to concerns that it has not been aggressive enough about protecting workers from health risks or supporting states scrambling to deliver billions in new aid.

In recent days, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, who has expressed concerns about unemployment insurance being too generous, has used his department’s authority over new laws enacted by Congress to limit who qualifies for joblessness assistance and to make it easier for small businesses not to pay family leave benefits. The new rules make it more difficult for gig workers such as Uber and Lyft drivers to get benefits, while making it easier for some companies to avoid paying their workers coronavirus-related sick and family leave. Continue reading.

Trump taps Scalia’s son as Labor secretary pick

The Hill logoPresident Trump announced Thursday evening that he would nominate, Eugene Scalia, the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to lead the Labor Department.

“I am pleased to announce that it is my intention to nominate Gene Scalia as the new Secretary of Labor,” Trump tweeted late Thursday.

“Gene has led a life of great success in the legal and labor field and is highly respected not only as a lawyer, but as a lawyer with great experience working with labor and everyone else. He will be a great member of an Administration that has done more in the first 2 ½ years than perhaps any Administration in history!” Trump added.

Here’s the lesser-known part of Acosta’s plea deal that kept Epstein safe for years — and how it finally blew up

AlterNet logoMuch has been written about high-powered wealth manager Jeffrey Epstein’s controversial plea bargain for child sex trafficking from Alexander Acosta — how it gave him just a 13-month minimum-security sentence with daily work-release, how it let him register as a much lower-level sex offender than it should have, how it shut down the FBI investigation and kept the names of his co-conspirators secret, how it may have violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by not disclosing the details to his alleged victims.

But as Washington Post columnist David Von Drehle wrote on Saturday, there is one massively important aspect of the plea bargain that has been comparatively overlooked — Epstein’s agreement not to contest lawsuits brought by his alleged victims.

At first blush, that might seem like a concession on Epstein’s part. In fact, that’s a spectacular deal for him. As a billionaire (or at least something like it), it didn’t hurt Epstein in the least to pay out settlements to his victims. On the other hand, in doing so, he guaranteed those victims’ silence going forward, which is why he went so many years without being prosecuted for other offenses. If even prosecutors didn’t know who the victims were, they couldn’t investigate to see if there were any additional sex crimes that could be brought against him.

View the complete July 13 article by Matthew Chapman from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Acosta out as Trump Labor secretary

The Hill logoAlex Acosta announced Friday he will resign as Labor secretary amid mounting scrutiny over his role in negotiating a secret plea deal for financier Jeffrey Epstein, who is accused of sexually abusing dozens of young girls.

Standing alongside Acosta on the South Lawn of the White House, President Trump said he “did an unbelievable job as secretary of Labor” and added it was Acosta’s decision to step down.

“This was him not me, because I’m with him,” Trump told reporters before leaving for a trip to Wisconsin and Ohio. “I hate to see this happen.”

View the complete July 12 article by Brett Samuels and Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Former Florida prosecutor: Acosta is ‘completely wrong’ — indictment was scrapped ‘after secret negotiations’ with Epstein lawyers

AlterNet logoThe former Florida State Attorney who was in charge of the office prosecuting the case against Jeffrey Epstein – until federal prosecutors intervened – is blasting Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta for his claims at Wednesday afternoon’s press conference.

The way Secretary Acosta, who was the federal prosecutor who gave Jeffrey Epstein the sweetheart deal allowing him to avoid possibly years or decades in jail, the billionaire child sex offender “would have gotten away” had he not gotten involved.

But NBC News Correspondent for Investigations Tom Winter reports that Former Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer says Acosta is “completely wrong.”

View the complete July 11 article by David Badash from the New Civil Rights Movement on the AlterNet website here.

Trump defends Acosta amid Epstein scrutiny

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Tuesday defended Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who is facing calls to resign over his role in a non-prosecution agreement with multimillionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein in a sex-crimes case.

Trump told reporters at the White House that Acosta has been a “very good” Labor secretary and that Acosta probably wished he had handled the Epstein plea deal “a different way.”

The president added that he would be looking at the case “very carefully.”

View the complete July 9 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Acosta defends Epstein deal, says new charges could ‘more fully bring him to justice’

The Hill logoLabor Secretary Alexander Acosta on Tuesday defended the 2008 non-prosecution agreement with multimillionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein, which he helped broker, but acknowledged new sex crimes charges could “more fully bring him to justice.”

“The crimes committed by Epstein are horrific, and I am pleased that NY prosecutors are moving forward with a case based on new evidence,” Acosta wrote in a string of tweets. “Now that new evidence and additional testimony is available, the NY prosecution offers an important opportunity to more fully bring him to justice.”

Continue reading “Acosta defends Epstein deal, says new charges could ‘more fully bring him to justice’”