Chapter 18. Department of Labor and Related Agencies

Key Points

• All labor regulations would prioritize traditional, Christian families only
• Protections for LGBTQ+ employees would be eliminated
• The impact of race could no longer be considered in discrimination cases
• Regulations to protect the environment would be reduced

STC 2025 Commentary

In Berry’s vision for a reorganized Department of Labor, there is no distinction at all between religion and government: the DOL would simply become a politicized extension of evangelical Christian doctrine. All policy would be reshaped to promote only the traditional, Christian, conservative vision of the nuclear family, based on a strict definition of sex as a binary category. Sexuality and gender identity issues would no longer be protected.

In addition, protections for racial categories would be eliminated (since, in a position that reoccurs throughout this document, the authors argue that any racial categorization is inherently discriminatory, and no reparative actions to mitigate past injustice should be permitted).

The second aspect of the reorganization plan would be to enact the familiar conservative free-market concept of deregulation: ease all regulations that might impede small businesses, exempting them from current environmental and anti-discrimination regulations.

Full Summary

Berry sees the mission of the Department of Labor (DOL) as supporting the traditional nuclear family: “At the heart of The Conservative Promise is the resolve to reclaim the role of each American worker as the protagonist in his or her own life and to restore the family as the centerpiece of American life. The role that labor policy plays in that promise is twofold: Give workers the support they need for rewarding, well-paying, and self-driven careers, and restore the family-supporting job as the centerpiece of the American economy. The Judeo-Christian tradition, stretching back to Genesis, has always recognized fruitful work as integral to human dignity, as service to God, neighbor, and family.”

Chapter 18 outlines a plan to first integrate a conservative, religious vision of the family into every aspect of all agencies that come under the DOL umbrella: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); National Labor Relations Board (NLRB); National Mediation Board (NMB); Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS); and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). The secondary goal of this reorganization is to ease regulations that Berry argues are stifling small businesses (environmental, employment, and especially anti- discrimination rules).

As in all the chapters of the Mandate for Leadership, the reorganization would be accomplished by replacing career civil servants with political appointees whose loyalty is to the president.

The proposed changes fall under four headings:

DEI

• Any requirement for “racial equity” regulations should be rescinded; “racial equity” is a form of discrimination, since it relies on racial classifications and concepts drawn from Critical Race Theory. Thus, any collection of data that could be used in “disparate impact” lawsuits should immediately be halted
• Any regulations based on “novel anti-discrimination theories (such as sexual orientation and gender identity theories)” should be rescinded by eliminating EO 11246
• The legal concept of sex discrimination should no longer cover sexuality, gender identity, transgender status, and sex characteristics in any area other than hiring or firing
• Sex should be recognized as a biological binary category only

Family

• “We must replace ‘woke’ nonsense with a healthy vision of the role of labor policy in our society, starting with the American family”

• The DOL should promote regulations that prioritize traditional families by providing accommodations for pregnancy and childcare (but not abortion)

• All regulations that support abortion should be rescinded

Religion

• Religious employers, employees, and institutions should be exempt from anti-discrimination policies
• “Sabbath Rest. God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest, and until very recently the Judeo-Christian tradition sought to honor that mandate by moral and legal regulation of work on that day. Moreover, a shared day off makes it possible for families and communities to enjoy time off together, rather than as atomized individuals, and provides a healthier cadence of life for everyone. Unfortunately, that communal day of rest has eroded under the pressures of consumerism and secularism, especially for low-income workers”

Business Regulations

• Small businesses in general should be exempt from burdensome bureaucracy, such as environmental regulations
• Congress should be encouraged to pass the “Worker’s Choice” Act (H.R. 8442), which would dilute the power of unions
• Work visas for immigrants should be greatly reduced to prioritize hiring of Americans
• Much of the administration of business regulations and unemployment benefits should be transferred to the states, who could adjust it as necessary