Dive Brief:
- President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Keith Sonderling to serve as the new deputy labor secretary, he announced via a post Wednesday on Truth Social. In the new role, Sonderling, a Republican former commissioner on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission whose term ended in August, would hold the No. 2 spot at the U.S. Department of Labor.
- To secure the appointment, Sonderling will have to be approved by the Republican-led U.S. Senate.
- “The deputy secretary of labor serves as the de facto chief operating officer of the DOL,” according to a blog post by employment law firm Littler, managing the heads of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Wage and Hour Division and more.
Dive Insight:
Trump previously nominated former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., for secretary of labor.
“Keith will work with our great Nominee for Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-Deremer, to put our Country and Workers FIRST,” Trump wrote.
Sonderling shared the news of his nomination on LinkedIn, writing, “Thank you, President Trump, for nominating me to be the Deputy Secretary of Labor.”
Prior to serving on the EEOC, Sonderling served as the acting and deputy administrator of the DOL’s wage and hour division. He also taught employment discrimination at The George Washington University Law School.
Authors of the Littler post characterized Sonderling as a “complementary pick” to Trump’s “labor-friendly” DOL secretary nominee, and said he was “expected to bring more balance at top levels of DOL leadership.”
Sonderling also likely will use opinion letters to provide compliance guidance, will address technology-related business concerns and will support independent contractors and the gig economy, Littler said.
