During his presidential campaign, President Biden promised more employment protections for workers, increased wages and improved workplace safety. President Biden also announced his intention to appoint leadership across the federal agencies who share his views and are committed to enforcing workplace laws aggressively. Following his inauguration, he issued a regulatory freeze, signed several executive orders, and made top-level agency appointments to bring changes to a variety of federal labor and employment laws to make good on his promise. 

Regulatory Freeze

While campaigning, President Biden criticized the Trump Administration for its attempt to effect changes to employment-related agency guidance and rulemaking in its final days. To remedy this, on his first day in office on Jan. 20, 2021, President Biden issued a “regulatory freeze” memorandum directing all agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), to immediately halt all non-emergency rulemaking so that the Biden Administration and its appointees could review and approve the rules before publication and finalization.