Keith Sonderling’s Labor secretary nomination remains pending

The Senate has not confirmed Keith Sonderling as secretary of labor, even though his nomination has completed a confirmation hearing and been placed on the Senate Executive Calendar.

President Donald Trump announced Sonderling’s nomination on June 29, 2026. The Senate received it on July 13, and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held his confirmation hearing on July 16. The committee record lists the nomination as PN1129-119 and shows it was placed on the Executive Calendar on July 30.

As of August 5, the Senate’s Cabinet nominations tracker shows no confirmation date or Senate vote for Sonderling. Placement on the Executive Calendar is a procedural step, not confirmation.

Sonderling is already leading Labor

Sonderling has served as acting secretary since April 20, according to the Department of Labor. The Senate’s nomination record identifies Lori Chavez-DeRemer as the departing secretary and lists her as resigned. Associated Press reporting said the White House announced that Chavez-DeRemer was leaving to take a job in the private sector after allegations that she had abused the power of her position; those allegations should not be treated as established findings.

Before becoming acting secretary, Sonderling served as the department’s deputy secretary. The Labor Department oversees wage and hour enforcement, workplace safety and health, retirement and health benefits, unemployment programs and broader federal labor and workforce policy.

An acting secretary can continue carrying out the department’s work, including enforcement and administration of federal programs. A Senate-confirmed secretary would provide a permanent Cabinet appointment and a clearer mechanism for Senate oversight of the administration’s labor agenda. The unresolved nomination therefore matters less as a day-to-day shutdown of Labor operations than as a question of who will hold lasting responsibility for the department’s direction.

Hearing put labor policy under scrutiny

At the July 16 hearing, senators questioned Sonderling about overtime protections, independent-contractor classification, collective-bargaining rights for federal workers, workforce grants, unemployment-insurance fraud prevention and the effect of artificial intelligence on jobs.

Democratic senators criticized the administration’s labor policies, including the rescission of a Biden-era overtime rule and a proposed approach to deciding whether workers are employees or independent contractors, according to AP reporting. Those criticisms describe disputed policy consequences, not final findings about the outcome of any future rule.

Sonderling emphasized preventing unemployment-insurance fraud and described a verify-first approach to claims and program administration. That was a policy position expressed during the hearing, not evidence that fraud has been eliminated.

The Labor Department separately directed governors on June 17 to take immediate action related to unemployment-insurance fraud. That directive is a documented agency action under Sonderling’s acting leadership. It does not by itself resolve broader questions about verification, access for eligible claimants, program integrity or how states will administer unemployment benefits.

What workers and employers should watch

The next decisive step is Senate action. A committee hearing and Executive Calendar placement do not complete the confirmation process, and the current Senate record does not establish when a committee or floor vote will occur.

Workers and employers should watch for developments involving overtime rules, independent-contractor enforcement, workplace safety and wage investigations, unemployment-insurance administration, workforce-grant oversight and federal responses to AI-related changes in employment.

A confirmation would not automatically change every Labor Department policy. It would settle who holds the department’s permanent Cabinet post and give the administration a Senate-confirmed official to direct its labor agenda and answer to congressional oversight.

Sources

• U.S. Senate Cabinet nominations tracker
• Senate HELP Committee nomination record
• Associated Press hearing report