Biography
Samantha Sanders (she/her) works to ensure that policymakers and advocates have access to EPI research that supports improving the lives of workers and their families and reducing economic inequality. Sanders also works in partnership on behalf of EPI with allies and advocates in the progressive movement.
Prior to rejoining EPI in 2022, Sanders worked at More Perfect Union, a nonprofit media advocacy organization focused on covering stories about labor, worker power, and the economy primarily through video, social media, and online reporting. Sanders also worked on the team at the Groundwork Collaborative, designing programs and developing policy-informed messaging to advance a strong progressive narrative on the economy.
Sanders originally joined EPI in 2017. She came to EPI after serving as a policy adviser in the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Wage and Hour Division (WHD). At the WHD, she worked closely with agency leadership on issues including the future of work and employment, overtime pay regulations, communications and public engagement, strategic enforcement of labor standards, and more. Prior to joining DOL, Sanders led digital communications for the Religious Action Center, a faith-based advocacy organization.
Education
B.A. East Asian Studies, Yale University
By Content:
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Explaining the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule that will benefit 4.3 million workers
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Congress and President Biden should not trade away human rights and asylum protections for temporary defense funding
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EPI comments on DOL’s proposed overtime rule
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EPI comment regarding OSTP Request for Information on automated worker surveillance and management
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Troubling provisions to watch in the new debt limit deal
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Weaponizing the debt limit should not be normalized: President Biden should do “whatever it takes” to avoid an economic catastrophe
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Speaker McCarthy’s debt limit proposal = enormous human toll: Proposal would impose burdensome work reporting requirements to restrict access to Medicaid and food stamps
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EPI comment on the FTC’s noncompete clause rule
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Employers spend more than $400 million per year on ‘union-avoidance’ consultants to bolster their union-busting efforts
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The economic costs of worker misclassification
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News from EPI › Worker democracy is at risk if Congress does not increase NLRB funding
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What’s at stake for state and local governments in the year-end government funding negotiations
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First Day Fairness: An agenda to build worker power and ensure job quality
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Letter to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce opposing the Workflex in the 21st Century Act
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Renegotiating NAFTA: What should the priorities be?
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What’s at stake in the states if the 2016 federal raise to the overtime pay threshold is not preserved—and what states can do about it: State action to modernize overtime rules (research report)
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State action to save workers’ overtime pay: Fact sheet for “What’s at stake in the states if the federal raise to the overtime pay threshold is not resurrected—and what states can do about it”
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Specific policy and legislative guidance for updating state overtime protections: State action to modernize overtime rules (policy guidance)
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Letter to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions regarding Cheryl Stanton
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Policy Watch: Two more foxes nominated to run hen houses in the Trump administration
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Policy Watch: Spring Regulatory Agenda puts corporations first
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Policy Watch: Cuts to DOL budget, attacks on joint employer standard
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DHS and DOL should focus on improving protections for H-2B and U.S. workers rather than expanding a flawed guestworker program
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How President Trump and congressional Republicans are undercutting wages and protections for working people