A Just Society: The Uplift Our Workers Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5073 To require a score of worker-friendliness of each employer before entering into a Federal contract, to establish a contracting preference for such score, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 13, 2019 Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ (for herself, Ms. MENG, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, and Ms. LEE of Cali- fornia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To require a score of worker-friendliness of each employer before entering into a Federal contract, to establish a contracting preference for such score, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘A Just Society: The 4 Uplift Our Workers Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5073 IH SEC. 2. WORKER-FRIENDLINESS SCORES FOR FEDERAL 1 CONTRACTS. 2 (a) SCORES REQUIRED.—With respect to any con- 3 tract or subcontract (at any tier) entered into on or after 4 the date on which the method for a score is developed pur- 5 suant to subsection (b), the head of the executive agency 6 shall— 7 (1) ensure that contracting officers consider the 8 score approximately equal in importance or signifi- 9 cantly more important than cost or price (as de- 10 scribed in section 3306 of title 41, United States 11 Code); and 12 (2) ensure that an offeror for a prime contract 13 does not subcontract with any entity that violates 14 the labor laws and executive orders listed in sub- 15 section (b). 16 (b) COMPONENTS OF SCORE.—Not later than 18 17 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 18 retary of Labor, in coordination with the Director of the 19 Office of Management and Budget, shall— 20 (1) develop a method to assess and provide a 21 score with respect to the worker-friendliness of each 22 prospective contractor or subcontractor (at any tier) 23 that is an employer that submits a bid for a Federal 24 contract before entering into the contract which 25 takes into account— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5073 IH (A) whether the employer is in compliance 1 with the applicable labor laws and executive or- 2 ders listed in subsection (c), including whether 3 the employer has been subject to any adminis- 4 trative or civil judgments or arbitral decisions 5 for any violations of such laws or orders; 6 (B) whether the employer guarantees that 7 the maximum amount of work that may be per- 8 formed under the contract by full-time workers 9 will be performed by such workers by working 10 40 hours per work week; 11 (C) whether the employer provides paid 12 overtime for any work that exceeds 40 hours 13 per work week; 14 (D) whether employers are paid at least 15 $15 an hour, and wages are otherwise reflective 16 of the prevailing wage; 17 (E) whether the employer has a policy of 18 providing employees with guaranteed predictive 19 scheduling, the quality of which shall be as- 20 sessed by determining— 21 (i) whether the policy is crafted for 22 the purpose of ending unstable scheduling 23 and allows workers to effectively provide 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5073 IH for their families financially and emotion- 1 ally; 2 (ii) whether an employer has clear 3 consistent processes in place to provide all 4 employees with a good faith written esti- 5 mate of (1) how many shifts an employee 6 is scheduled to work per month, (2) the 7 days and hours these shifts will occur, and 8 (3) whether the employee will be expected 9 to work on-call shifts; 10 (iii) whether an employer provides em- 11 ployees with their final schedules not less 12 than two weeks in advance, including 13 whether such final schedules are written 14 and posted in the workplace, or posted on 15 an electronic portal easily accessed by all 16 employees; 17 (iv) whether an employer reports 18 changes to an employee’s schedule within a 19 reasonable amount of time and com- 20 pensates employees when the employer 21 cancels or alters shifts; 22 (v) whether an employer limits ‘‘on 23 call’’ scheduling practices and provides rea- 24 sonable compensation, in addition to reg- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5073 IH ular pay, to employees that are given less 1 than 24 hours notice before the start of a 2 scheduled work shift; 3 (vi) whether an employer reasonably 4 compensates each employee who reports to 5 work anticipating that the employee will 6 work a certain number of hours (deter- 7 mined by the employer) but is sent home 8 by the employer before such hours are 9 complete; 10 (vii) whether an employer guarantees 11 a reasonable rest period when employees 12 work consecutive shifts; 13 (viii) whether an employer consistently 14 offers any ‘‘extra’’ hours or shifts to exist- 15 ing employees before hiring new employees, 16 using a temp agency, or using contractors 17 or subcontractors; 18 (ix) whether an employer maintains 19 and utilizes an easily accessible and univer- 20 sally available voluntary standby list of 21 current employees willing to work addi- 22 tional hours due to unanticipated need or 23 unexpected absence; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5073 IH (x) whether an employee avoids con- 1 sistent or systematic under-scheduling 2 which would result in employees consist- 3 ently working significantly more hours 4 than written in work schedule; 5 (xi) whether an employer allows em- 6 ployees to request not to be scheduled for 7 work shifts during certain times or at cer- 8 tain locations, and to identify preferences 9 for the hours or locations of work; and 10 (xii) whether an employer guarantees 11 its employees will not be subject to infor- 12 mal or formal retaliation (such a demotion, 13 reduction in hours, harassment, or termi- 14 nation) for requesting predictable sched- 15 ules; 16 (F) whether the employer has a policy of 17 guaranteeing access to paid sick leave, the qual- 18 ity of which shall be assessed by determining— 19 (i) whether an employer guarantees a 20 minimum of 56 hours paid sick leave annu- 21 ally for all employees; 22 (ii) in the case of an employer with 10 23 or more employees, whether the employer 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5073 IH guarantees more than 56 hours of paid 1 sick leave annually for all employees; 2 (iii) whether this paid sick leave is 3 distinct from time accrued as part of a 4 paid time off policy; 5 (iv) whether an employer provides 6 leave as an upfront allocation at the start 7 of employment and the start of subsequent 8 year of employment as opposed to requir- 9 ing that employees accrue paid sick leave; 10 (v) whether an employer allows paid 11 sick leave to be used by its employees to 12 recover from illness, injury, medical condi- 13 tion as well as to seek medical diagnosis, 14 preventive care, and other medical reasons; 15 (vi) whether an employer allows this 16 paid sick leave to also be used to aid, care 17 for, or attend medical appointments with 18 an employee’s family (including the em- 19 ployee’s child, parent, legal guardian or 20 ward, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, 21 spouse, registered domestic partner under 22 any State or local law, or other person rea- 23 sonably designated as family); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 5073 IH (vii) whether an employer ensures 1 that any verification requirements or policy 2 around use of paid sick leave is reasonable 3 and in no way onerous; and 4 (viii) whether an employer allows em- 5 ployees to use paid sick leave to recover 6 from or seek assistance in the aftermath of 7 domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual vi- 8 olence, or stalking; 9 (G) whether the employer has a policy of 10 providing employees access with paid parental 11 and family leave, the quality of which shall be 12 assessed by determining— 13 (i) whether an employer guarantees 14 12 weeks or more paid family or parental 15 leave annually after birth of a child, adop- 16 tion of a child, foster placement, or serious 17 illness of the employee or the employee’s 18 family member serious illness (as defined 19 in section 101 of the Family and Medical 20 Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611)); 21 (ii) whether an employer provides 22 leave as an upfront allocation at the start 23 of employment as opposed to requiring 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 5073 IH that employees accrue or earn paid family 1 leave; 2 (iii) whether an employer guarantees 3 such leave for both full-time and part-time 4 employees; 5 (iv) whether an employer guarantees 6 full or significant wage replacement during 7 the course of this leave; 8 (v) whether an employer guarantees a 9 high weekly benefit cap or no such cap; 10 (vi) whether the employer’s paid fam- 11 ily leave policy include job protection for 12 all employees; 13 (vii) whether such leave may be used 14 when an employee’s child, parent, legal 15 guardian or ward, sibling, grandparent, 16 grandchild, spouse, registered domestic 17 partner under any State or local law, or 18 other person reasonably designated as fam- 19 ily is deployed abroad on active military 20 service; and 21 (viii) whether such policy allows for 22 flexible hours once an employee returns to 23 work following paid family and medical 24 leave; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 5073 IH (H) whether the employer has a policy to 1 employ individuals who are represented by a 2 labor organization that has entered into a col- 3 lective bargaining agreement on the behalf of 4 such individuals, the quality of which shall be 5 assessed by determining— 6 (i) whether an employer has policies 7 guaranteeing the employees’ right to be 8 represented by a labor organization and 9 has committed to engage in timely good 10 faith negotiations with the such labor orga- 11 nization; 12 (ii) whether an employer has policies 13 that recognize labor organizations formed 14 as a result of an election or use of author- 15 ization cards; 16 (iii) whether an employer has policies 17 guaranteeing its employees right to strike; 18 and 19 (iv) whether an employer has policies 20 guaranteeing that an employee will not be 21 subject to informal or formal retaliation 22 (such a demotion, reduction in hour, har- 23 assment, or termination) for joining or at- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 5073 IH tempting to be represented by a labor or- 1 ganization; 2 (I) whether the employer provides high- 3 quality healthcare that is subsidized by the em- 4 ployer; 5 (J) whether the employees have an oppor- 6 tunity to form a worker or employment coopera- 7 tive; 8 (K) whether the employer has policies in 9 places to proactively manage the ethical, social, 10 and environmental risks in the supply chain; 11 and 12 (L) any other relevant requirements as de- 13 termined by the Secretary and the Director; 14 (2) provide the head of each executive agency 15 with recommendations on how to evaluate such a 16 score in making contracting decisions, and ensure 17 that such recommendations will result in a pref- 18 erence for an employer that has higher scores with 19 respect to worker-friendliness; 20 (3) identify best practices for the implementa- 21 tion of the scoring process described in paragraph 22 (1), including best practices to— 23 (A) ensure that contracting officers con- 24 sider this score approximately equal in impor- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 5073 IH tance or significantly more important than cost 1 or price (as described in section 3306 of title 2 41, United States Code); and 3 (B) ensure that an offeror for a prime con- 4 tract does not subcontract with any entity that 5 violates the labor laws and executive orders list- 6 ed in subsection (c); 7 (4) maintain such scores in a database that is 8 publicly accessible, which may be an existing data- 9 base or a new database developed and maintained by 10 the Secretary of Labor; 11 (5) create a process for an employer to appeal 12 a score, including by submitting additional data or 13 requesting a new score due to changes to employee 14 policy; 15 (6) review each score every 5 years to ensure 16 that such score is up-to-date; and 17 (7) enable employers that are not Federal con- 18 tractors to request such a score for purposes of pro- 19 moting worker-friendly policies. 20 (c) LABOR LAWS AND EXECUTIVE ORDERS.—The 21 laws and executive orders listed in this subsection are as 22 follows: 23 (1) The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 24 U.S.C. 201 et seq.). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 •HR 5073 IH (2) The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1 1970 (29 U.S.C. 652 et seq.). 2 (3) The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural 3 Worker Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). 4 (4) The National Labor Relations Act (29 5 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). 6 (5) Subchapter IV of chapter 31, of title 40, 7 United States Code (commonly referred to as the 8 ‘‘Davis-Bacon Act’’). 9 (6) Chapter 67 of title 41, United States Code 10 (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Service Contract 11 Act’’). 12 (7) Executive Order 11246 of [Text truncated for display. 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