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State governments may increase focus on workplace regulation during second Trump administration

Regulation reversals at the federal level may inspire state governments to take matters into their own hands, employment lawyers say.
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Come January 2025, President-elect Donald Trump will begin his second term in the Oval Office. In the meantime, employment attorneys are anticipating how his administration might affect the workplace.

Michele Ballard Miller, David Barron, and Michael Schmidt, employment attorneys at Cozen O’Connor, shared their expectations during a virtual webinar on Nov. 6.

“The current legal landscape, when it comes to the employer-employee relationship and the workplace, is challenging and ever changing, whether through legislative enactments, regulatory action or court rulings, today’s employer must stay ahead of developments on the federal, state, and local levels,” Schmidt said.

Under Trump, some federal agencies—like the National Labor Relations Board, which “came alive” during President Biden’s term—will likely see some regulation reversals, Miller said, especially following the Supreme Court’s June ruling on Chevron, limiting how these agencies can interpret statutes and laws.

“We’ll see what the effect of that decision on deference to agencies and the reduction, if not outright elimination, of most deference to agency action, what that will be and look like in 2025 and moving forward,” Schmidt added.

State governments may increase their focus on workforce regulation as a result.

“Employers will be surprised at how many states step up to enact their own statutes to provide what they perceive to be protections for the workplace that the federal government is stepping away from or has disavowed,” she said.

In the last year, some state governments have made strides “to get in place laws that provide greater protections for privacy, greater leave rights, greater sick leave,” Miller said. Whether or not these moves were made in anticipation of an administration change, they’re a “real attempt to plug holes in what they see the government on the federal level is not addressing,” she added.

What happens next is a “wild card,” Miller said. The impact on employers won’t happen overnight, but will be seen over the next few years.

Quick-to-read HR news & insights

From recruiting and retention to company culture and the latest in HR tech, HR Brew delivers up-to-date industry news and tips to help HR pros stay nimble in today’s fast-changing business environment.