The Brief

On Monday, March 24, Catherine Eschbach, the new head of a civil rights agency within the Labor Department, sent an email to her staff introducing herself and announcing her plans to downsize the agency and investigate whether the work it's been engaged in for decades is constitutional.

"I look forward to meeting and working with you as we implement the agenda that the American people elected President Trump to enact," she wrote in the email, shared with NPR by a Department of Labor employee who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation.

"We will restore the agency to full compliance with its constitutional and statutory authority," concluded Eschbach.

Eschbach is now leading the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, a watchdog agency within the Department of Labor that both audits and investigates federal contractors to ensure they are obeying equal opportunity and anti-discrimination laws.

Eschbach comes to the watchdog agency after most recently working at private law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, where she represented SpaceX in an ongoing legal battle between SpaceX and the National Labor Relations Board, an independent agency that investigates and adjudicates unfair labor practice charges. The chief executive of SpaceX, Elon Musk, is also a senior adviser to President Donald Trump.

The NLRB was examining the firings of eight SpaceX employees when the company, represented by lawyers including Eschbach, filed suit last year against the agency arguing that its structure was unconstitutional. The board dropped its opposition to SpaceX's arguments on constitutionality in court after Trump fired one of its members, but it's unclear how or when that case will be resolved.

Now, Eschbach appears to be considering dismantling the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the agency she leads.

That would largely put an end to the agency's work holding contractors, including companies led by Musk, accountable to federal anti-discrimination laws and leave many American workers less protected. Her appointment raises conflict-of-interest concerns, given her previous work for SpaceX.

The Department of Labor did not respond to a request for comment from NPR.

"It's a free for all," said the Labor Department employee who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity. "Federal contractors and subcontractors will basically be unregulated because they don't know what to do to stay in compliance."

Limiting the agency's authorities 

The scope of the watchdog agency's work is significant, given federal contractors employ an estimated 20% of the U.S. workforce. Federal contracts amounted to over $750 billion in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Every year, the Office of Federal Contracting Compliance Programs selects hundreds of contractors and subcontractors for audits. The agency's audit list for 2025 includes tech giants Google, Meta, Amazon and Salesforce; major airlines including American, United and Delta; the automaker General Motors; defense giant Raytheon; the hotel brand Marriott; and many others.

Some of the agency's audits eventually lead to investigations. And some of those investigations lead to settlements, with companies paying millions to workers subjected to alleged discrimination.

Craig Leen, a partner with K&L Gates who served as director of the watchdog agency under the first Trump administration, says the agency was busy during those years, recovering approximately $117 million for workers. In a news release published in October 2020, the Department of Labor praised the agency's efforts to protect employees from discrimination, calling it the "best" year ever for compliance assistance.

"It was a very productive time. I would say it was the high watermark of" the agency, says Leen. "We helped a lot of workers. We helped a lot of businesses comply with the law."

But now, things are changing.

In the email to staff, Eschbach noted that Trump had already rescinded the executive order that the agency was created to enforce. Executive Order 11246, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, required federal contractors to take steps to identify and address barriers to employment and create affirmative action plans, detailing how they would reach a diverse pool of applicants. Notably, the order did not permit employers to use race or gender in hiring decisions.

"We were very clear about that," says Leen. "No preferences, no quotas, no set-asides. Those are illegal."

Still, Eschbach noted that Trump had revoked that policy in January because it "facilitated federal contractors' adoption of discriminatory [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] practices out of step with our nation's civil rights laws."

Leen doesn't believe anything the agency did on his watch was problematic, but thinks given the intense focus on diversity, equity and inclusion during the Biden years, it's possible some companies went too far.

"You cannot consider race or gender in decision-making. Frankly, even in determining what particular individual to recruit, you can't consider race or gender," says Leen. "What you could do is, in a broader sense, if you identified underrepresentation of women and minorities in certain positions, you could do broader recruiting to areas where you're more likely to recruit women and minorities to try to ensure equal opportunity."

His advice to companies he's working with now is to do a thorough review of their practices to ensure that their recruiting efforts, their hiring and pay policies, their mentoring programs and other steps they may have taken to comply with Executive Order 11246 don't exclude or close opportunities for anyone, including white men.

"Being white is a protected class just as much as being Black or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or Pacific Islander," says Leen.

In her email, Eschbach ordered Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs employees to "verify" that federal contractors had "wound down" their use of affirmative action plans after 90 days, as specified by Trump, and said the agency would be examining previously submitted plans to determine whether they are discriminatory.

However, she also questioned the agency's remaining authorities under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act, which protect individuals with disabilities and specific categories of military veterans respectively.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs currently requires federal contractors to take steps to comply with those statutes, including addressing barriers to employment and creating affirmative action plans detailing outreach to job candidates from those communities.

The acting secretary of labor ordered that the agency pause enforcement actions relating to those authorities "pending further guidance" on January 24, though compliance lawyers tell NPR they believe the agency is not currently ending its work relating to enforcing those laws.

"We will need to examine those statutes closely," Eschbach wrote. "The reality is, most of what OFCCP [the agency] had been doing was out of step, if not flat out contradictory, to our country's laws."

Several Democratic lawmakers have already protested the Trump administration's actions with respect to diminishing the agency's authorities, and insist contractors still have responsibilities to their workers.

"Despite the President's actions to rescind EO 11246, federal contractors are still responsible for complying with the Civil Rights Act of 1964," says Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the ranking member on the House Education Committee, in a statement provided to NPR.

"President Trump claims that we are 'returning' to a 'merit-based' society, but he has a fundamental misunderstanding of the work of the OFCCP," Scott adds. "The OFCCP enforces civil rights law to ensure that workers are hired because of their merit and that an individual's merit is not overlooked because of an employer's discriminatory practices."

Slashing the agency 

On Feb. 25, the acting director of the office submitted an internal memo to Acting Secretary of Labor Vincent Morris laying out a plan to "reduce its workforce by 90 percent," a copy of which was also shared with NPR. Employees, including NPR's source at the Labor Department, now worry the plan is to get rid of nearly all the agency's authorities, employees, funds and offices while appearing to technically abide by congressional and legal requirements.

If the federal labor watchdog is dismantled and its remaining work is put under the larger umbrella of the Department of Labor, some employees worry that remaining staff won't have the resources or the investigative authorities they need.

"We as an agency are supposed to be serving the American people and investigating companies that break the law, and that is through regular audits or complaint investigations" said the Labor Department employee. "Now a lot of that work will never get completed."

Trump's new government body, the Department of Government Efficiency, is working to reduce headcount and slash budgets across the federal government, effectively under the direction of Musk. Agencies and federal departments dealing with civil rights and worker protections have been hit hard.

Eschbach wrote that the agency would have a "reduced scope of mission" and that there would soon be reductions in force "consistent with the administration-wide DOGE agenda."

Rep. Scott was particularly concerned about the plan to slash the agency's headcount. "The decision to reduce OFCCP staff by roughly 90 percent will almost certainly set the office up for failure, and American workers will pay the price," he said. "It is troubling that yet another agency investigating Elon Musk's private company, Tesla, is being actively dismantled."

The work has already been disrupted. Before Eschbach arrived at the agency, its ongoing audit of Elon Musk's Tesla Inc. was halted, according to the Labor Department employee who spoke with NPR, which was first reported by the San Francisco Standard.

Leen notes that while the agency may be dramatically reducing its enforcement work, the Trump administration has signaled greater involvement by the Department of Justice in employment law.

In a memo from early February, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote that "the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division will investigate, eliminate, and penalize illegal DEI and DEIA preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities in the private sector and in educational institutions that receive federal funds."

"That's a big change, because now there's a new sheriff in town," says Leen.

Others are skeptical that the Trump administration's actions will do much to hold contractors accountable for violating equal employment opportunity laws.

"Every president since Lyndon Johnson has taken seriously the responsibility to ensure that American taxpayers' money is used to make our country more fair and to expand opportunity," wrote Sharon Block, the executive director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School, in an email to NPR.

"It doesn't seem like it is too much to ask businesses that profit from government work, to treat their workers fairly. But this administration won't even make that basic ask of corporations contracting with the government."

Copyright 2025 NPR

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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J.W. Hendricks

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The LA Local

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.