MEETING: Wednesday, Feb 5, 3pm 2020, 10am. 8 experts have voted for (and 2 against) this bill. BILL SUMMARY (by CRS): This bill amends the National Labor Relations Act and related labor laws to extend protections to union workers. Specifically, it revises the definition of "employee" and "supervisor" to prevent employers from classifying employees as exempt from labor law protections, expands unfair labor practices to include prohibitions against replacement of or discrimination against workers who participate in strikes, makes it an unfair labor practice to require or coerce employees to attend employer meetings designed to discourage union membership, permits workers to participate in collective or class action litigation, allows injunctions against employers engaging in unfair labor practices involving discharge or serious economic harm to an employee, expands penalties for labor law violations, including interference with the National Labor Relations Board or causing serious economic harm to an employee, and allows any person to bring a civil action for harm caused by labor law violations or unfair labor practices. THE BILL TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-116hr2474rh/pdf/BILLS-116hr2474rh.pdf THE COST OF THE BILL CAN BE FOUND HERE (by CBO): https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-12/hr2474_0.pdf THE BILL REPORT CAN BE FOUND HERE: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-116hrpt347/pdf/CRPT-116hrpt347.pdf AMENDMENTS SUBMITTED: 1 Version 1 Wright (TX) Republican Strikes the section of the bill that mandates binding arbitration to settle first negotiation impasses. Submitted
2 Version 1 Rooney (FL) Republican Amends the National Labor Relations Act to permit the cancelation of the due’s checkoff provisions from the employee’s paycheck by the employer to a labor organization when the agreement establishing such a deduction expires. In right-to-work states, allows employees to cancel such deductions at any time. Submitted
3 Version 1 Rooney (FL) Republican Adds transparency reporting requirements to union trust funds, officers’ compensation packages, and disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. Also includes protections for union employees who report misconduct. Submitted
4 Version 1 Rooney (FL) Republican Provides whistleblower protection for union employees. Submitted
5 Version 1 Rooney (FL) Republican Clarifies that organizations claiming to represent employees regarding the terms and conditions of employment with employers follow the same Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act requirements as labor unions. Submitted
6 Version 1 Rooney (FL) Republican Allows employees to petition for a union certification election when fewer than 50% of current ‘unit members’ were members during the last election. Submitted
7 Version 1 Allen (GA) Republican Strikes provision overturning state right-to-work laws. Submitted
8 Version 1 Johnson, Dusty (SD) Republican Permits employers to reward employees with higher compensation than what is agreed upon in a collective bargaining agreement. Submitted
9 Version 1 Walberg (MI) Republican Ensures no action taken to reduce the risk of human trafficking in the supply chain shall be used as evidence of a joint-employer relationship under the National Labor Relations Act. Submitted
10 Version 1 Comer (KY) Republican Strikes provision legalizing secondary boycotts. Submitted
11 Version 1 Stefanik (NY) Republican Strikes provision that significantly narrows independent-contractor status by defining a worker as an “employee” unless he or she is “free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both under the contract for the performance of the service and in fact;” “the service is performed outside the usual course of business of the employer;” and “the individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed.” Submitted
12 Version 1 Byrne (AL) Republican Strikes provision allowing a joint-employer relationship to be determined by “indirect or reserved control” over “essential terms and conditions of employment” and replaces it with a standard requiring that a person “directly, actually, and immediately, and not in a limited and routine manner, exercises significant control over essential terms and conditions of employment” in order to be considered a joint employer. Submitted
13 Version 1 Ryan (OH), Kaptur (OH) Democrat Revises the priorities section of the bankruptcy code to re-define all claims for unfunded vested benefits in defined benefit pension plan as “administrative expenses” which under bankruptcy law, must be paid before all other claims. This puts pension benefits on the same level as bankruptcy attorneys’ fees and other highest-priority claims that a company must pay out in full before paying other claims. Submitted
14 Version 1 DelBene (WA), Stevens (MI) Democrat Authorizes a total of $20 million for competitive grants to fund a portable benefits pilot program to encourage an entrepreneurial economy. Submitted
15 Version 1 Rooney (FL) Republican Amends the National Labor Relations Act to protect religious organizations. Submitted
16 Version 1 Norcross (NJ) Democrat Requires that pre-election hearings before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are conducted on a day-to-day basis. Submitted
17 Version 1 Norcross (NJ) Democrat Adds contributions to the pension fund, 401(k) or any other retirement contribution that the employer and employee were in contractual agreement to list of available relief. Submitted
18 Version 1 Foxx (NC) Republican Revokes the exclusive bargaining status of unions that engage in violence and prevents the National Labor Relations Board from reinstating employees who are fired for engaging in violence. Submitted
19 Version 1 Smucker (PA) Republican Requires unions to receive express consent from a worker before using his or her union dues for purposes other than collective bargaining. Submitted
20 Version 1 Roe (TN) Republican Strikes provision allowing unions to be certified without winning a secret ballot election under certain circumstances and replaces with a requirement that all unions win a secret-ballot election in order to be certified. Submitted
21 Version 1 Foxx (NC) Republican Strikes provision requiring that employers turn over employees’ personal information to a labor union within two days of the National Labor Relations Board ordering a representation election. Submitted
22 Version 1 Foxx (NC) Republican Codifies health insurance benefits as a mandatory subject of collective bargaining. Submitted
23 Version 1 Foxx (NC) Republican Clarifies that profanity or language that is derogatory on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability is not protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act and that employers may suspend, permanently discharge, or otherwise discipline employees for using such language. Submitted
24 Version 1 Hayes (CT) Democrat Codifies the current precedent of the National Labor Relations Board governing voluntary recognition of a union by an employer which ensures collective bargaining between the union and employer can proceed for a reasonable period of time (one year) without requiring an intervening election. Submitted
25 Version 1 Foxx (NC) Republican Requires that unions covered under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act that have had at least one President or Vice President convicted of a felony related to financial malfeasance with respect to the union within the past year file more detailed financial disclosures with the Office of Labor-Management Standards. Submitted
26 Version 1 Keller (PA) Republican Strikes provisions of H.R. 2474 that allow intermittent strikes and that make it illegal for employers to replace striking workers permanently. Submitted
27 Version 1 Thompson, Glenn (PA) Republican Requires each employer to include explanations of employee rights and protections under the National Labor Relations Act to not pay for union spending beyond collective bargaining (Beck rights) and the process to decertify a union. Submitted
28 Version 1 Phillips (MN), Davis, Rodney (IL), Johnson, Dusty (SD), Roe (TN), Schrader (OR) Bi-Partisan Clarifies that the maintenance and control exercised by a franchisor over a franchisee as required by the Lanham Act cannot be used to establish an employer-employee relationship between franchisor and franchisee or franchisor and employees of the franchisee. Submitted
29 Version 1 Cuellar (TX), Chabot (OH), Peters (CA), Phillips (MN), Correa (CA), Reed (NY), Davis, Rodney (IL), Johnson, Dusty (SD), Hern (OK), Hagedorn (MN), Schrader (OR) Bi-Partisan Clarifies the franchisor brand’s efforts to preserve their trademark by ensuring franchisee brands are uniform and guaranteeing franchisee brands would not be classified as evidence of joint employment. Employment controls, such as hiring, firing, pay and scheduling would not be considered a protected trademark control. Submitted
30 Version 1 Vargas (CA) Democrat Requires regional directors to transmit the notice of election at the same time as the direction of election unless extraordinary circumstances warrant otherwise. Both may be transmitted electronically. Submitted
31 Version 1 Lawrence (MI) Democrat Eliminates the waiting period for union elections and returns the requirement that NLRB’s regional directors schedule elections as “early as practicable.” The amendment ensures that the election will happen no later than 20 days after it’s directed, unless extraordinary circumstances warrant otherwise. Submitted
32 Version 1 Hern (OK) Republican Ensures this bill does not take effect until the Secretary of Labor certifies that the bill will not have an adverse impact on rates of employment in the United States. Submitted
33 Version 1 Hern (OK) Republican Ensures this bill does not