Elon Musk’s companies have repeatedly run afoul of federal worker safety rules and other labor laws. Now, Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency team has set its sights on the Department of Labor tasked with enforcing those rules.
Federal employees are working to block DOGE staff — a quasi-official group whose members are often volunteers — from accessing the Department of Labor or its data after employees were told late Tuesday that Musk and his team were planning to visit Wednesday afternoon. According to a lawsuit filed by unions representing Department of Labor workers, staff there were told not to push back or ask questions when Musk visits and to “do whatever they ask.”
Musk’s team already has accessed computer servers at the Office of Personnel Management and sought to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development. DOGE’s exact aims at the Department of Labor are unclear, but they come just days after the agency’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration faced a critical decision in the case of a worker’s death at Tesla’s Texas Gigafactory.
Former Labor officials say they’re concerned Musk’s influence inside the Trump administration could derail investigations into his business empire.
