Civil and Human Rights Coalition Denounces Labor Department’s Hiding of Critical Pay Data

WASHINGTON – Seema Nanda, executive vice president and COO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the Department of Labor’s decision to withhold critical pay data on the impact of a proposed rule on workers’ tips.

“It’s bad enough that the Trump administration wants to allow employers to take tips away from employees to line their own pockets, as the Department of Labor proposed in December. Today, we are deeply troubled to learn that the Labor Department buried the estimated cost of the rule because the facts proved that this rule change would be a disaster for working families. If finalized, this rule would take billions of dollars from tipped working people, the vast majority of whom are women, and disproportionately women of color.

“The Trump Labor Department lied in claiming that they could not produce an estimated cost of the rule – they had one. Their own estimate makes clear that this rule would transfer billions from working class families. It’s no wonder why the Trump administration would hide this information.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.