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Keith Sonderling
The Senate confirmed Keith Sonderling as secretary of labor on Wednesday evening in a 47-to-41 vote along party lines.
The confirmation came nearly six months after Sonderling became acting labor secretary, following the April 20 resignation of former Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer while she was being investigated for professional misconduct.
President Donald Trump nominated Sonderling to the post on June 29. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions then voted 12 to 11—again along party lines— on July 30 to advance Sonderling’s nomination to the full Senate.
Prior to becoming acting secretary, Sonderling served as deputy secretary of labor after being confirmed by the Senate in a 53-to-46 vote in March 2025. Sonderling served in previous administrations as well: He was commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from September 2020 until August 2024 and had served as the acting and deputy administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division from 2017 to 2020.
Sonderling has been lauded by Republican lawmakers for his experience at the DOL and EEOC, while criticized by Democrats for his support of Trump’s labor agenda.
In a July 16 hearing before the HELP Committee, he outlined an agenda centered on workforce development, expanding retirement investment opportunities, modernizing labor regulations and preparing workers for the growing impact of artificial intelligence. Sonderling also pledged to finalize long-awaited guidance on missing retirement plan participants; to improve access to portable workplace benefits for independent workers; and to continue efforts to expand retirement investment options for defined contribution plans.
Several industry groups, including the Employee Stock Ownership Plan Association, the Insured Retirement Institute and the American Council of Life Insurers, have expressed support for Sonderling’s confirmation.
James Bonham, president of the ESOP Association, praised Sonderling for the DOL’s January removal of ESOPs as a national enforcement priority, promising investigations would be “more efficient, responsive, and prioritize serious misconduct rather than minor footfalls.” Sonderling, then a deputy to Chavez-DeRemer, was quoted in the announcement.
Bonham added that Sonderling has also addressed the need to curb Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation abuse by plaintiffs’ attorneys, which Sonderling, and Assistant Secretary Daniel Aronowitz who leads the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, have previously referred to as ending “regulation by litigation.”
Born in New York City and raised in Florida, Sonderling earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Florida and a J.D. from the Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University, also in Florida.