Employee Ownership Blog

Corey Rosen

Rep. Foxx Says DOL Abused Its Authority in Sharing Information with Plaintiffs’ Attorney

In a strongly worded letter,  Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-NC, chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, says that the Department of Labor (DOL) abused its authority when it shared information from an ongoing investigation of Envision Radiology's ESOP with the law firm Cohen Milstein, which is acting as the counsel for the plaintiffs in an ESOP valuation lawsuit against the trustee, selling shareholders, and individuals at the company. Foxx called on the DOL’s Office of the Inspector General to investigate certain practices concerning “secretly sharing confidential information with a plaintiffs’ attorney for use against plan fiduciaries.”

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Madelyn Hammack

Democracy at Work Institute Releases Its 2023 Worker Cooperative State of the Sector Report

The Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) recently released its 2023 Worker Cooperative State of the Sector Report. The report, which covers two years of business progress among worker-owned and democratic workplaces in the US, takes into account the latest developments in the worker cooperative space and aims to increase understanding of the sector as a whole.

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Corey Rosen

New Research and Employment Opportunities in Employee Ownership

New Fellowships Available in Employee Ownership Research

The Institute for Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University will offer approximately 10 competitive research fellowships for the 2025–2026 academic year. Several $50,000, $25,000, and $10,000 fellowships will be offered. The deadline for applications is March 31, 2025.

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Corey Rosen

What Will the Trump Administration Mean for ESOPs?

President-elect Donald Trump has not said anything we are aware of about employee ownership during his political career, so it is difficult to know what approach he will take to the issue. Many of his former advisors and other people with similar views were involved with Project 2025, however, although he and his campaign have distanced themselves from it. Project 2025's proposed 180-day transition playbook, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, states (pp. 610-11):

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Matt Scott

DOD Rule Incentivizes Contracting with 100% ESOP-Owned Companies

On October 10, 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) published a final rule to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement Section 874 of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as well as improvements contained in Section 872 of the 2024 NDAA. The rule is set to take effect on November 25, 2024.

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Corey Rosen

Study Finds Employee Ownership Provides Best Worker Outcomes in Business Transitions

A new study by the Brookings Institution and Washington University’s Olin Business School finds that employees are significantly more likely to remain working for their employer and to be satisfied with their jobs in companies that transition ownership through ESOPs and other employee ownership models compared to other business transition models. The study also recommends that Congress pass the Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2023 and support efforts of private equity firms, such as those involved with Ownership Works, to include employee ownership in business transitions.

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