Labor, Contractor, and Employment Abuses

In January 2021, the Trump administration's Department of Labor finalized a rule that narrowed the test for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The rule, published on January 7, 2021, reduced the analysis to two "core factors": the nature and degree of the worker's…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration issued Department of Labor regulations that significantly narrowed the scope of paid sick leave and emergency family leave protections established by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which Trump signed into law on March 18, 2020. The regulations carved out large…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration's Occupational Safety and Health Administration declined to issue any emergency temporary standards to protect workers from the virus, despite receiving formal requests from labor unions, congressional Democrats, and public health organizations. OSHA received more than 8,000…

On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) into law, the most significant overhaul of the federal tax code since 1986. Trump and congressional Republicans promoted the legislation as a benefit to working families and the middle class. Trump stated it would be "one of the great Christmas gifts to…

The Trump administration's Department of Labor rolled back two significant Obama-era worker protections: a rule that would have extended overtime pay eligibility to more than four million additional workers, and a regulation that prevented employers from taking workers' tips through mandatory tip pooling arrangements.

Across both his first and second terms, Donald Trump compiled a documented record of actions that weakened organized labor, rolled back worker protections, and restructured the federal labor relations apparatus in favor of employers. These actions are documented through executive orders, NLRB decisions, federal rulemaking, and…

Across both terms of his presidency, Donald Trump pursued an aggressive program of environmental deregulation and weakened workplace safety enforcement that has had measurable impacts on workers, public health, and communities. These actions are documented through official regulatory actions, government reports, and data on inspection…

Over a period spanning a decade, Donald Trump took contradictory positions on whether the federal minimum wage should be raised, whether it was too high, whether it was too low, and whether it should exist at all. Throughout his first term and into his second, the federal minimum wage remained at $7.25 per hour, where it has been since…

In 2014, The Paint Spot, a small Miami-based paint supply company owned by Juan Carlos Enriquez, supplied paint and related materials for a renovation of Trump National Doral Miami, a golf resort owned by Trump Endeavor 12 LLC. The materials were part of a larger renovation contract involving the repainting of five of the resort's ten…

Workers at the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, a 64-story luxury hotel and condominium tower on the Las Vegas Strip, engaged in a multi-year fight for union representation and a collective bargaining agreement that was marked by repeated unfair labor practice findings against the hotel.

Between 2013 and 2019, Trump-owned properties, primarily the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, repeatedly used the H-2B temporary visa program to hire foreign workers for seasonal positions as cooks, servers, housekeepers, and waitstaff. The H-2B program requires employers to demonstrate that qualified American workers are…

Between 2016 and 2018, multiple investigations by journalists and workers' rights organizations documented labor abuses at overseas factories producing merchandise for the Ivanka Trump brand. The investigations found that workers in Indonesia and China were subjected to conditions that violated both local labor laws and the brand's own…

In 2002, architect Andrew Tesoro was commissioned to design a new clubhouse at the Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, Westchester County, New York. The project spanned four years and was completed in 2006. Upon completion, Tesoro submitted a bill for approximately $140,000 in outstanding fees, which included roughly $80,000 in…

In December 2018, the New York Times reported that Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, had employed undocumented immigrants for years, with at least some supervisors aware of their immigration status. Two workers, Victorina Morales and Sandra Diaz, came forward publicly to describe their experiences, providing…

Trump Model Management was a modeling agency founded in 1999 and operated under the Trump Organization umbrella until it closed in April 2017. The agency represented models primarily in New York and connected them with domestic and international clients. Beginning in 2016, investigative reporting by Mother Jones and the Daily Beast…

In the early 1990s, Donald Trump attempted to use the power of government eminent domain to seize the home of Vera Coking, an elderly widow in Atlantic City, New Jersey, so that he could demolish it and build a limousine parking lot for his adjacent Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. When Coking refused to sell, Trump enlisted a state agency…

Multiple law firms and individual attorneys have publicly alleged that Donald Trump refused to pay legal bills for services rendered, a pattern that spans decades and extends through his presidency and post-presidency legal battles.

Across multiple properties and decades, Donald Trump and the Trump Organization engaged in a documented pattern of opposing unionization, fighting existing union contracts, and preferring non-union labor for construction and operations. This pattern has been substantiated through National Labor Relations Board rulings, federal court…

In 1989, J. Michael Diehl, owner of the Freehold Music Center in Freehold, New Jersey, was contracted to supply approximately $100,000 worth of grand and upright pianos to the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. It was one of the largest single sales in the store's history.

In early 1980, Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization contracted with Kaszycki & Sons Contractors, Inc. to demolish the Bonwit Teller department store at 725 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, clearing the site for the construction of Trump Tower. To meet an accelerated schedule, the contractor employed approximately 150 to 200 undocumented…

A pattern of non-payment to contractors, vendors, and workers by Donald Trump and the Trump Organization has been documented across multiple decades and projects. The most comprehensive examination was a June 2016 investigation by USA Today, which reviewed court records, lien filings, and government documents spanning more than 30 years…

Across multiple decades, workers at Trump-branded properties have alleged, and in some cases proven through legal settlements and government investigations, that they were denied proper wages, forced to work unpaid overtime, had tips confiscated, or were paid below minimum wage. The documented cases span Trump's construction projects,…

Donald Trump made repeated public claims that asbestos was safe and that opposition to asbestos was driven by mob interests rather than health science. These claims contradicted federal environmental and health documentation and were made in the context of Trump construction and renovation projects where workers were exposed to asbestos…

On October 15, 1973, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil rights suit in the Eastern District of New York against Fred C. Trump, Donald J. Trump, and Trump Management, Inc. The suit alleged systematic violations of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 across a portfolio of roughly 14,000 apartments in New York City.