Keith Sonderling

Keith Sonderling
Official portrait, 2025
Acting United States Secretary of Labor
Incumbent
Assumed office
April 20, 2026
PresidentDonald Trump
DeputyHimself
Preceded byLori Chavez-DeRemer
38th United States Deputy Secretary of Labor
Incumbent
Assumed office
March 14, 2025
PresidentDonald Trump
Secretary
Lori Chavez-DeRemer
Himself (acting)
Preceded byJulie Su
Additional offices 2019‍–‍2025
Acting Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services
In office
March 20, 2025 – November 16, 2025
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byCyndee Landrum (acting)
Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Minority Business Development
In office
March 18, 2025 – November 16, 2025
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byEric Morrissette
Vice Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
In office
September 22, 2020 – January 20, 2021
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byJenny R. Yang
Succeeded byJocelyn Samuels
Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
In office
September 22, 2020 – August 30, 2024
President
Preceded byCharlotte Burrows
Succeeded byBrittany Panuccio
Acting Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division
In office
c. February 2019 – April 29, 2019
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byBryan Jarrett (acting)
Succeeded byCheryl Stanton
Personal details
BornKeith E. Sonderling
(1982-11-25) November 25, 1982
New York City, New York, U.S.
PartyRepublican
Spouse
Fara Klein
​
(m. 2019)​
Children2
Education

Keith E. Sonderling (born November 25, 1982) is an American attorney who has served as the acting United States secretary of labor since 2026. Sonderling has additionally served as the United States deputy secretary of labor since 2025. He served as the acting director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the acting under secretary of commerce for minority business development from March to November 2025; as the vice chair and a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 2020 to 2021; and as the acting administrator of the Wage and Hour Division in 2019.

Sonderling graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science and from Nova Southeastern University's Shepard Broad College of Law with a Juris Doctor. He joined Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart as an associate in 2008. Sonderling's work specialized in employment and business litigation. In September 2017, he became a senior policy advisor at the Wage and Hour Division and later served as its deputy administration and acting administrator. In July 2019, President Donald Trump nominated Sonderling to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He was confirmed by the Senate in September 2020 and served as its vice chair until January 2021. Sonderling's term ended in August 2024.

In November 2024, Trump named Sonderling as his nominee to serve as the deputy secretary of labor. Sonderling was confirmed by the Senate in March 2025. In his tenure as the deputy secretary of labor, Sonderling largely managed the operations of the Department of Labor, particularly amid Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer's frequent absences. In April 2026, Sonderling became the acting secretary of labor after Chavez-DeRemer resigned over several inquiries into her conduct.

Early life and education (1982–2008)

Keith E. Sonderling[1] was born on November 25, 1982,[2] in New York City, New York.[3] Sonderling's grandparents survived The Holocaust.[4] He attended Spanish River Community High School in Boca Raton, Florida.[5] Sonderling graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science and from Nova Southeastern University's Shepard Broad College of Law with a Juris Doctor[6] in 2008.[3]

Career

In November 2008, Sonderling joined Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart as an associate specializing in employment and business litigation.[1] He represented Palm Beach's pops orchestra and its conductor, Bob Lappin, in a federal lawsuit accusing Lappin of sexual impropriety.[7] Sonderling became a partner in Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart in March 2015.[8] He additionally represented plaintiffs who alleged that the operators of the Palm House condominium-hotel had engaged in a conspiracy to defraud investors,[9] as well as Florida Atlantic University in a lawsuit filed by the scholar James Tracy, who was fired for claiming the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.[10]

In November 2012, Florida governor Rick Scott appointed Sonderling to the judicial nominating commission for the state's Fourth District Court of Appeal;[11] he was reappointed to the commission and named its chairman in October 2016.[12] He additionally served on the Jewish Community Relations Council in Palm Beach,[13] on Jeb Bush's Jewish leadership committee for his 2016 presidential campaign,[14] and on Carlos Lopez-Cantera's finance team for his campaign in the 2016 United States Senate election in Florida.[15]

Wage and Hour Division (2017–2020)

In September 2017, Bloomberg Law reported that Sonderling had become a senior policy advisor at the Wage and Hour Division as its first political appointee.[16] By 2019, he had become the division's deputy administrator[17] and its acting administrator.[18] Sonderling was involved in sending resources to Guam in the aftermath of Typhoon Wutip.[17] The Wage and Hour Division determined that gig workers were independent contractors, not employees, in Sonderling's tenure.[19]

Other activities

Sonderling served on the board of directors of the Morse Life Health System, the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, and Leadership Florida.[20] By April 2026, he had become an adjunct professor of employment law at the George Washington University Law School.[20]

Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2020–2024)

On July 8, 2019, President Donald Trump nominated Sonderling to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as a Republican member.[21] Sonderling's nomination was delayed after Trump did not immediately name a Democratic member.[22] Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed a motion of cloture for a confirmation vote on his nomination in September 2020.[23] He was sworn in that month.[3] Sonderling additionally served as the commission's vice chair[24] until January 2021, when President Joe Biden appointed Jocelyn Samuels to the position. In July 2024, Sonderling announced that he would leave the following month at the expiration of his term.[25]

United States Deputy Secretary of Labor (2025–present)

Nomination and confirmation

Sonderling led Donald Trump's second presidential transition for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alongside Janet Dhillon[26] and led the landing team at the Department of Labor.[27] In November 2024, Bloomberg Law reported that Sonderling was among several possible candidates to serve as Donald Trump's secretary of labor.[28] Several business organizations proposed that Trump nominate Sonderling as his deputy secretary of labor; according to Politico, Sonderling considered moving to the private sector after his term ended from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.[29]

On January 15, 2025, Trump named Sonderling as his nominee for deputy secretary of labor.[30] After Trump's inauguration, Sonderling served as a senior advisor to acting Secretary of Labor Vince Micone.[31] He appeared before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on February 27.[32] The Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to institute mass firings at the agency overshadowed Sonderling's hearing[33] as he was questioned by Democrats on the committee over whether he was aware of personnel firings at the Department of Labor.[31] He told the committee that he did not know how many workers had been fired.[31] Sonderling was confirmed by the committee on March 6[34] and by the Senate in a vote along party lines on March 12.[35]

Tenure

In his tenure as the deputy secretary of labor, Sonderling managed the Department of Labor amid frequent absences by Chavez-DeRemer. His work involved meeting with the heads of enforcement agencies and setting the department's policies.[36] Sonderling assisted in selecting candidates for several agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board.[37] In January 2026, Sonderling stated that he would seek to include investments such as private-equity and private-credit in pension plans.[38] That month, he addressed the press on the monthly jobs report, a responsibility usually reserved for the secretary of labor.[39]

Acting positions

On March 20, 2025,[40] Trump named Sonderling as the acting director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services in an effort to minimize the agency to its constitutional framework.[41] That day, he visited the agency's office with a team, including a member of the Department of Government Efficiency.[42] Several senators sent a letter to Sonderling that month requesting that he continue the intent of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.[43] In April, he fired every member of the agency's board.[44] Sonderling was additionally appointed to serve as the acting under secretary of commerce for minority business development. Nate Cavanaugh, a member of the Department of Government Efficiency, invoked Sonderling's authority to terminate grants to the agency's business centers in April 2025.[45]

Acting Secretary of Labor (2026–present)

On April 20, 2026, Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned as the secretary of labor amid several investigations into her conduct.[46] Sonderling became the acting secretary of labor that day.[47] He was supported by several officials in the Trump administration,[47] allies of Donald Trump, including Jason Miller and Alex Bruesewitz, as well as business organizations.[48] Federal law allows for Sonderling to serve as the acting secretary of labor, according to an interpretation of a statute that was utilized by the Biden administration to have Julie Su serve as the acting secretary of labor indefinitely.[37]

Views

In an interview with Politico in December 2023, Sonderling stated that employers should have discretion on whether to disclose the use of artificial intelligence in hiring—while remaining compliant with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's regulations and federal law—and advocated for the government to promulgate guidance on artificial intelligence.[49] At the commission, Sonderling voted against its final rule on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act[50] and against guidance that would consider violations of employee's preferences on bathrooms and pronouns to be workplace discrimination.[3]

Personal life

In September 2019, Sonderling married Fara Klein, a government affairs manager at the American Forest & Paper Association, in Jerusalem;[51] they have two children.[52][53]

References

  1. ^ a b "Newsmakers". The Palm Beach Post. November 24, 2008. Retrieved May 2, 2026.
  2. ^ Palmer, Anna; Sherman, Jake; Lippman, Daniel (November 25, 2018). "Trump's border dealmaking". Politico. Retrieved May 2, 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d Scheckner, Jesse (January 15, 2025). "Donald Trump appoints Keith Sonderling as Deputy Labor Secretary". Florida Politics. Retrieved May 2, 2026.
  4. ^ Deutch, Gabby (April 28, 2026). "Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling guided by Holocaust survivor grandparents". Jewish Insider. Retrieved May 31, 2026.
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