In today’s news and commentary, BLS statistics show the importance of foreign-born workers; district courts invalidate Biden-era EEOC protections; and the Supreme Court considers granting certiorari in a takings challenge. 

On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its annual report on the labor force characteristics of foreign-born workers. These statistics, which include both documented and undocumented workers, show that 1.2 million foreign-born workers entered the labor force last year; since the native-born workforce actually shrank in 2024, this increase in foreign-born workers accounts for all growth in the American labor force. The statistics also show that foreign-born workers continue to participate in unions at lower rates than their American-born counterparts — however, foreign-born workers have actually been increasing their share of union membership over time, a sign of their increasingly important role in this moment of precarity for unions and for immigrants.

Meanwhile, a federal judge in Louisiana invalidated part of an EEOC rule requiring reasonable accommodations for workers who choose to have an abortion. The rule was promulgated under the EEOC’s authority to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which was passed after Dobbs to provide protections for pregnant workers comparable to protections for disabled workers under the ADA. This ruling follows a decision in the Northern District of Texas that vacated an EEOC rule requiring accommodations for transgender workers. Acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas has also signaled her opposition to Biden-era rules on pregnancy and transgender rights, so further erosion may follow.

Finally, today the Supreme Court is scheduled to discuss whether to grant review in GHP Management Corp. v. City of Los Angeles, a potentially significant takings case. The plaintiffs, citing Cedar Point, argue that the eviction moratorium in Los Angeles effected a per se physical taking by depriving them of their right to exclude non-paying tenants. The Ninth Circuit disagreed. But the Eighth Circuit accepted similar arguments in a 2022 decision regarding an eviction moratorium in Minnesota. Cedar Point plausibly imperiled a whole host of worker rights that limit employers’ rights to exclude — resolving this split could thus help determine just how far Cedar Point might reach. But GHP has been continually relisted since March, and it’s possible that the Supreme Court continues to delay.