Whether it is exposing legislation and regulations that benefit unions, lawyers or management at the expense of workers, detailing the folly of occupational licensing laws; supporting the expansion of state right-to-work laws; or highlighting the overreach of lawmakers, bureaucrats, and courts; CEI advances reforms in this crucial, often overlooked policy area. Our op-eds, policy papers, media appearances, coalition work, and innovative research serve as crucial counterweights to the aggressive efforts by unions and their allies to frame the policy debate.
Labor and Employment Issue Areas
Featured Posts
The Daily Signal
How Many Biden Appointees ‘Burrowed in’ to the Permanent Bureaucracy?
The Daily Signal cited CEI’s expert on political career placements Sean Higgins, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, also highlighted the threat of…
News Release
April adds 177,000 jobs to economy, tariff policies yet to majorly shakeup labor market: CEI analysis
The job numbers for April show 177,000 jobs were added to the economy, with the unemployment rate staying steady at 4.2 percent. While job growth…
Blog
CEI suggests DOT put the brakes on train two-person crew rule
The Transportation Department recently asked the public for comments on how to reduce the regulatory burden. One thought that the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)…
Search Posts
The Detroit News
Obama’s new overtime rule could sting workers
The Detroit News discusses the impacts of the overtime pay rule with Trey Kovacs. Obama may be touting the raises he hopes his rule…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Jobs, Stats, and Monetary Machinations
This week we go behind the scenes: gathering Federal employment numbers, uncovering the relationship between inflation and jobs, and debating the apparent impotence of central…
Blog
Feds Threaten the Independence of Small Business Owners
We value our independence in the country, and not just from imperial foreign governments like the British 240 years ago.
Blog
The Fight for Union Dues Independence
This holiday weekend, we celebrate the birth of our great country. Two hundred and forty years ago, the United States adopted the Declaration of Independence…
Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council
NLRB Joint Employer Ruling Undermines Small Businesses and IP
The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council quotes Trey Kovacs on labor regulators efforts to expand the joint employer standard. This effort to expand the…
Blog
Federal Labor Agencies’ Actions Threatens Worker Opportunity
During the course of the Obama administration, federal labor agencies have turned labor and employment policy on its head via a slew of regulations, sub-regulatory…
Blog
Federal Unions’ “Official” Waste of Tax Dollars
While unions representing government employees are still private entities, it is shocking just how much tax dollars they receive for performing union business that does…
Study
‘Release Time’ Forces Taxpayers to Pay for Union Work
Full Document Availible in PDF Taxpayers expect their government to spend their tax dollars only on activities that benefit the public. Yet…
Blog
D.C. Scheduling Law Would Have Done More Harm than Good
On Tuesday, D.C.’s City Council will consider scheduling legislation that would force companies to provide schedules at least 14 days in advance.
Blog
Judge Halts Labor Department Persuader Rule for Now
A federal judge in Texas yesterday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Labor (DOL) from implementing its “persuader rule,”…
Daily Caller
Teacher Loses Pension For Doing Union Work Instead Of Her Job
The Daily Caller discusses the practice of official time for public employees with Trey Kovacs. The practice exists on the federal level where it…
Blog
The True Losers of the Overtime Rule: Small Businesses
On June 23, 2016, the House Small Business Committee held a hearing over the Department of Labor’s new overtime regulation. The tone of the…
Maryland Reporter
Opinion: County contracts with union paid leave cost taxpayers
Prince George’s County Council is considering approval of a union contract covering firefighters and paramedics. But legal developments around the country should give council members…
Blog
New Joint Employer Standard Hurting Business of All Sizes
Recently, the business community aired their grievances about the National Labor Relations Board’s new joint employer standard in the form of briefs from Microsoft and…
Blog
Congress Fights Back Against DOL Attack on Flexible Work and Small Business
Congress may have missed an opportunity to defund the Department of Labor’s overtime rule via the appropriations process, but they have not given up the…
American Legislative Exchange Council
Union Time on the Taxpayer Dime
Connecticut state budgets are in dire straits. Belts need to be tightened. Revenue projections estimate the budget deficit could spill over $900 million in…
Blog
Building on the Optimism of “Uber-Positive” Attitudes
There’s a new resource for understanding the state of play between politics and developments in the sharing economy, the pleasantly slim volume by the Manhattan…
Investor's Business Daily
Congress Missed Chance To Roll Back Job-Killing Regulations
A dismal May jobs report — where only 38,000 jobs were added to economy when 162,000 were expected — was the lowest mark since…
Bus & Motorcoach News
Millions of workers will soon qualify for overtime pay
Bus & Motorcoach News discusses the impact of the overtime rule with Trey Kovacs. Some businesses plan to cut base employee pay to offset…
Blog
Speaker Ryan’s Deregulatory Report: Clamp Down on Federal Labor Agencies’ Overreach
Today, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) released his plan for how to modernize our federal regulatory system in order to jumpstart the economy. This is…
Coalition to Save Local Businesses
CEI: Heavily Scrutinized NLRB Joint Employer Standard Heads to Court
Most people can pretty easily tell you who their boss is, but the Obama administration has made that a difficult question. In a decision last…
Daily Caller
Obama’s Disputed Union Election Rule Survives Appeal
The Daily Caller discusses a courts ruling on union elections with labor expert Trey Kovacs. Employers are also required to submit the personal…
Blog
House Committee Examines Overtime Rule’s Negative Impact on Non-Profits and Universities
The House Education & Workforce Committee held a hearing today that examined the Department of Labor’s recent overtime regulation’s impact on non-profits and universities.
Blog
Heavily Scrutinized NLRB Joint Employer Standard Heads to Court
Most people can pretty easily tell you who their boss is, but the Obama administration has made that a difficult question. In a decision last…
Real Clear Policy
Congress, Reject Labor Department’s Overtime Rule
The Obama administration publicly touts the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule as a boon for workers. But the rule, which dramatically raises the salary…
Real Clear Policy
Congress, Reject Labor Department’s Overtime Rule
The Obama administration publicly touts the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule as a boon for workers. But the rule, which dramatically raises the salary…
Daily Caller
Republicans Move To Block Obama’s Overtime Rule
The Daily Caller discusses the impact of Department of Labor's overtime pay rule with Trey Kovacs. Salaried workers could lose their ability to…
One News Now
Higher minimum wage not a panacea for all
One News Now discusses the effects of minimum wage and collective bargaining policies on the poor with Ryan Young. Ryan Young of the…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Fighting Injustice & Igniting Prosperity
This week on RealClear Radio Hour, professors Stephanos Bibas and Donald Boudreaux discuss injustice in the plea bargain system and the dangers of the dismal…
Lexology
What do Employment Law and Skydiving have in common? Part I: The Big Picture
Lexology cites Trey Kovacs on the Department of Labor's policy objectives behind the overtime pay rule. There were two policy objectives set forth…
Blog
Attorney General Lynch Refuses to Defend Law to Speedily Terminate Wrongdoers
Attorney General refuses to defend law passed by Congress to speedily terminate wrongdoers One of an Attorney General’s fundamental duties is to defend laws passed…
Blog
Administration’s War on Work Reflected in Jobs Numbers
The administration and its allies are currently engaged in a regulatory onslaught on employers that can only be described as a war on work. Today’s…
National Review
Meet Tom Perez
National Review discusses the work of Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez, with Iain Murray. Iain Murray, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s vice president of strategy,…
Blog
NLRB Downplays Pro-Union Threats
Union bias permeates the actions of the current National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This is hardly surprising since a former union lawyer, Richard Griffin,…
Blog
Unions and Environmentalists Oppose Plan to Address California’s Rising Housing Costs
Everyone’s for affordable housing—except, it seems, some unions and environmentalists. On May 18, a coalition of unions and environmental advocacy groups—including the State Building &…
National Review
“Income Inequality” – Missing the Point
President Obama, Paul Krugman tells us, has declared war on income inequality. In fact, income inequality is at the root of just about everything…
Citation
VIDEO: Trey Kovacs cited on The McLaughlin Group
[VIDEO::https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEMWnVEiVGY::aVideoStyle]…
Blog
White House Supports Bill that Exempts Puerto Rico from New Overtime Regulation
Progressives praised the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule as a way to fatten workers’ pockets and a means to strengthen the middle class. If…
Washington Examiner
States constitutions can rein in union subsidy
On May 10, the Arizona Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could provide a roadmap to eliminate a persistent form of government…
Daily Caller
Former DOL Administrator Bashes Obama’s Overtime Rule
The Daily Caller discusses the Department of Labor's overtime pay rule with Trey Kovacs. Salaried workers could lose their ability to work flexible work…
Fox News
Surprise, surprise, Obama’s new overtime rule was never intended to raise your wages
The Obama administration claims that millions of salaried workers will get a raise under the new Department of Labor overtime rule. But a wage increase…
Watchdog.org
Experts say Obama’s overtime rule will hit taxpayers, economy hard
Wisconsin Watchdog.org discusses the Obama administration's overtime pay rule with Trey Kovacs. “This extra income will not only mean a better life for…
Blog
How the Overtime Rule Hopes to Design Higher Salaries, But Can’t
The Labor Department has just issued a new regulation for overtime pay for salaried employees. Under the new rule, all salaried workers earning less than…
USA Today
Millions more Americans to be eligible for overtime pay
USA Today discusses the Department of Labor's overtime rule with Trey Kovacs. “The Obama rule puts a huge cost and regulatory burden on…
U.S. News & World Report
Obama’s Overtime Rule Raises Pay for Millions
U.S. News & World Report discusses the coalition letter headed by CEI urging Congress to take action against the overtime pay rule. The Competitive…
News Release
CEI Labor Expert Warns of Negative Consequences for Obama Overtime Pay Mandate
The Labor Department is set to issue its final rule expanding a federal mandate on employers for overtime pay. The overtime rule makes more salaried…
Blog
Free Market Organizations Call on Congress to Block the DOL Overtime Rule
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute along with 16 other organizations sent a letter to Congress in support of the Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity…
The Guardian
Millions could get a raise under Obama administration’s new overtime rules
The Guardian reports on CEI's coalition letter urging Congress to take action against the Department of Labor's harmful overtime rule. A coalition of…
Washington Examiner
White House aims to force firms to pay more overtime
Washington Examiner discusses the Department of Labor's overtime rule with Trey Kovacs. Critics said that rather than paying out more overtime, many businesses…
Daily Caller
Here’s Why Obama’s Upcoming Overtime Rule Faces Fierce Opposition
The Daily Caller discusses the coalition letter CEI headed up to urge Congress to take action against the Obama administration's overtime rule. Managers…
