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Policy Week in Review – December 19, 2025
At a Glance
The Policy Week in Review, prepared by Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute (WPI), sets forth WPI’s updates on federal, state, and local matters.
NLRB Regains a Quorum, but Few Quick Changes Expected
On December 18, 2025, the U.S. Senate confirmed three nominees to the National Labor Relations Board. The nominees included James Murphy, who will now serve as Board chair, Scott Mayer, who will serve as a Board member, and Crystal Carey, who will serve as general counsel. Carey’s confirmation gives the Board a leader to oversee enforcement. And Murphy’s and Mayer’s confirmations restore the Board’s statutory quorum, allowing it to resume (more or less) normal operations. Read Littler’s analysis here.
Congress Considers Laws to Strengthen Union-Member Rights
The House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing titled, “Ensuring Union Leaders Represent Members, Not Agendas,” to consider a package of bills to better protect union members. The bills would amend title I of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, also known as the “Union Member’s Bill of Rights.” Among other things, the bills would give members a right to vote for union officers by secret-ballot election, approve strikes or collective-bargaining agreements by the same process, and receive regular copies of their unions’ bylaws, constitution, and existing agreements. Another bill would require unions to poll their members and disclose the results before endorsing a candidate for U.S. president.
Littler WPI’s Co-Chair Alex MacDonald provided testimony, analyzing the political views of union members and the political decisions of union leadership as divergent trends. MacDonald stated, “In recent years, unions have been speaking in ways that employees don’t like. Most employees say they want their unions to focus on workplace issues. But more and more, unions are instead focusing on politics. They are engaging in partisan debates and endorsing political candidates that do not match the views of their members. And if they keep doing that, they could erode the most important assumption of labor law: that unions work best when they do what their members want them to do.”
Additionally, the subcommittee heard testimony from a union member and union advocates. The full hearing can be seen here.
ICYMI: President Signs Executive Order to Limit State Regulation of Artificial Intelligence
On December 11, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order purporting to limit the ability of states to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The order’s stated purpose is to ensure that American AI companies are “free to innovate without cumbersome regulation” and to “remove barriers to American AI leadership.” The order cites the proliferation of AI legislative proposals in state legislatures as undermining that goal (although it bears note that few if any of these proposals have or are likely to become law). Read Littler’s analysis here.
Determining Work Authorization for Employers on TPS and Humanitarian Parole
The Trump administration has enacted significant policy changes impacting individuals authorized to work under various immigration programs, including Temporary Protected Status, humanitarian parole and the CHNV programs. We created a chart intended to assist employers in determining the work authorization status of employees who have presented an Employment Authorization Document issued by the Department of Homeland Security under one of these programs. This chart has been updated to note developments concerning Ethiopia. Read Littler’s analysis here.
Much Ado About OSHA Interpretation Letters
The DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a news release on December 10, 2025, calling attention to seven letters of interpretation—addressing topics from COVID-19 to confined space—intended “to ensure the consistent and transparent application of federal workplace safety and health standards.” Read Littler’s analysis here.
Wait, Is Marijuana Legal? How Trump’s Executive Order on Marijuana May Impact the Workplace
Just in time for the holidays, President Trump has issued an executive order that will be beloved by the budding marijuana industry: a directive to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to begin the process of “rescheduling” marijuana so that it will be available for medical research and medicinal use. What does this mean for employers? Read Littler’s analysis here.
