Unpacking Kamala Harris’ Record on Federal Workforce Issues

If elected, Vice President Kamala Harris — the likely Democratic presidential nominee after Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection on Sunday — would bring considerable experience in federal workforce issues and a strong track record of advocating for employees and their labor groups to the Oval Office.

As vice president, Harris led a White House task force that provided recommendations to reduce barriers for workers in both the public and private sectors to organize or join a union. Following the implementation of these recommendations, the number of federal employees who are dues-paying union members increased by 20%.

“We are fighting to protect the sacred right to organize. We are protecting the sacred right to organize because we know when unions are strong, America is strong,” Harris said at a Service Employees International Union convention in May.

The task force also promoted including requirements in federal grants and contracts to use organized labor, particularly for projects under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, and the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act.

Harris contributed to the development of new regulations that prevent agencies from using a job applicant’s salary history to determine their pay.

“One factor that contributes to the gender pay gap is the common practice of requiring applicants to share their salary history. For many women, this practice can mean inequitable pay from a previous job will follow them to their current job, and so on and so on,” Harris said at an Equal Pay Day event in 2022. “Our administration is committed to eliminating discriminatory pay practices that inhibit the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of the federal government.”

She also played a role in creating artificial intelligence policy, including guidance to establish safeguards for the federal government’s use of AI while encouraging its adoption.

“If the [Veterans Affairs Department] wants to use AI in VA hospitals to help doctors diagnose patients, they would first have to demonstrate that AI does not produce racially biased diagnoses,” Harris said in March, illustrating the policy’s practices.

Harris led the White House’s response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. This response included the VA providing abortions in certain cases, allowing government workers to use sick leave to travel for reproductive health care, and a Defense Department policy providing travel allowances for military personnel seeking the procedure.

Before becoming vice president

Before her vice presidency, Harris served as a senator from California for four years. She was a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees federal management. In the Senate, she became known for her incisive questioning of witnesses, leading to several high-profile exchanges with Trump administration officials.

During a 2018 hearing with then-Office of Personnel Management Director Jeff Pon, Harris questioned the Trump administration’s proposal to merge OPM with the General Services Administration and the White House’s Executive Office of the President.

“My concern is if OPM is eliminated, who will take on this independent role in the executive branch to ensure that HR decisions adhere to merit-based principles as opposed to politics?” she asked.

Harris also expressed concerns about executive orders issued by then-President Trump to make it easier to fire federal employees and limit the power of their unions. She focused particularly on the administration’s attempt to restrict workers’ ability to engage in representation activities, or “official time,” while on the clock.

“Have you ever had the responsibility of actually working with an employee on a grievance?” Harris asked Pon, criticizing a provision that limited the time a federal employee could spend on official time. “Because if you have, you would appreciate that it takes time to establish a relationship of trust, understand their experience, and be familiar with the facts to sufficiently represent them in their grievance.”