Employee Rights Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2700 To reform the labor laws of the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 19, 2023 Mr. ALLEN (for himself, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. LATURNER, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. GOOD of Vir- ginia, Mrs. HOUCHIN, Mr. COLE, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. COMER, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. C. SCOTT FRANKLIN of Florida, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. MEUSER, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, and Mr. OWENS) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce A BILL To reform the labor laws of the United States, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Employee Rights Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. ENHANCED EMPLOYEE RIGHTS. 5 The National Labor Relations Act is amended in sec- 6 tion 9(a) (29 U.S.C. 159(a)) by striking ‘‘designated or 7 selected for the purposes of collective bargaining’’ and in- 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Apr 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2700.IH H2700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2700 IH serting ‘‘for the purposes of collective bargaining selected 1 by secret ballot in an election conducted by the Board,’’. 2 SEC. 3. EMPLOYEE PRIVACY. 3 (a) NOTICE OF RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS; VOTER 4 REGISTRATION LISTS.—Section 8 of the National Labor 5 Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at 6 the end the following: 7 ‘‘(2) Whenever the Board directs an election 8 under section 9(c) or approves an election agree- 9 ment, the employer of employees in the bargaining 10 unit shall, not later than two business days after the 11 Board directs such election or approves such election 12 agreement, provide a voter list to a labor organiza- 13 tion that has petitioned to represent such employees. 14 Such voter list shall include the names of all employ- 15 ees in the bargaining unit and not more than one 16 additional form of personal contact information for 17 the employee (such as a telephone number, an email 18 address, or a mailing address) chosen by the em- 19 ployee in writing. The voter list shall be provided in 20 a searchable electronic format generally approved by 21 the Board unless the employer certifies that the em- 22 ployer does not possess the capacity to produce the 23 list in the required form. Not later than nine months 24 after the date of enactment of the Employee Rights 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Apr 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2700.IH H2700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2700 IH Act, the Board shall promulgate regulations imple- 1 menting the requirements of this paragraph. 2 ‘‘(3) It shall be an unfair labor practice for an 3 employer to violate any requirement under this sub- 4 section.’’. 5 (b) LABOR ORGANIZATION USE OF PERSONAL IN- 6 FORMATION.—Section 8(b) of the National Labor Rela- 7 tions Act (29 U.S.C. 158(b)) is amended— 8 (1) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 9 inserting a semicolon; 10 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘8(b).’’ and 11 inserting ‘‘8(b); and’’; and 12 (3) by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(8) to fail to protect the personal information 14 of an employee received for an organizing drive, to 15 use such information for any reason other than a 16 representation proceeding, or to use such informa- 17 tion after the conclusion of a representation pro- 18 ceeding.’’. 19 (c) RIGHT NOT TO SUBSIDIZE LABOR ORGANIZA- 20 TION NONREPRESENTATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—Title I of 21 the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 22 1959 (29 U.S.C. 411 et seq.) is amended by adding at 23 the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Apr 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2700.IH H2700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2700 IH ‘‘SEC. 106. RIGHT NOT TO SUBSIDIZE LABOR ORGANIZA- 1 TION NONREPRESENTATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 2 ‘‘No employee’s labor organization dues, fees, assess- 3 ments, or other contributions shall be used or contributed 4 to any person, organization, or entity for any purpose not 5 directly related to the labor organization’s collective bar- 6 gaining or contract administration functions on behalf of 7 the represented unit employee unless the employee mem- 8 ber, or nonmember required to make such payments as 9 a condition of employment, authorizes such expenditure in 10 writing, after a notice period of not less than 35 days. 11 An initial authorization provided by an employee under 12 the preceding sentence shall expire not later than 1 year 13 after the date on which such authorization is signed by 14 the employee. There shall be no automatic renewal of an 15 authorization under this section.’’. 16 SEC. 4. EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS. 17 (a) AMENDMENTS TO THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS 18 ACT OF 1938 TO HARMONIZE THE DEFINITION OF EM- 19 PLOYEE.— 20 (1) DEFINITION OF EMPLOYEE.—Section 21 3(e)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 22 (29 U.S.C. 203(e)(1)) is amended by inserting be- 23 fore the period the following: ‘‘, as determined under 24 the usual common law rules’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Apr 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2700.IH H2700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 2700 IH (2) DEFINITION OF EMPLOY.—Section 3(g) of 1 the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 2 203(g)) is amended by inserting ‘‘an employee’’ after 3 ‘‘permit’’. 4 (b) CLARIFICATION OF JOINT EMPLOYMENT.— 5 (1) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT.—Sec- 6 tion 2(2) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 7 U.S.C. 152(2)) is amended— 8 (A) by striking ‘‘The term ‘employer’ ’’ and 9 inserting ‘‘(A) The term ‘employer’ ’’; and 10 (B) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(B) An employer may be considered a 12 joint employer of the employees of another em- 13 ployer only if each employer directly, actually, 14 and immediately, and not in a limited and rou- 15 tine manner, exercises significant control over 16 the essential terms and conditions of employ- 17 ment of the employees of the other employer, 18 such as hiring such employees, discharging such 19 employees, determining the rate of pay and ben- 20 efits of such employees, supervising such em- 21 ployees on a day-to-day basis, assigning such 22 employees a work schedule, position, or task, or 23 disciplining such employees.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Apr 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2700.IH H2700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 2700 IH (2) FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938.— 1 Section 3(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 2 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203(d)) is amended— 3 (A) by striking ‘‘ ‘Employer’ includes’’ and 4 inserting ‘‘(1) ‘Employer’ includes’’; and 5 (B) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(2) An employer may be considered a joint 7 employer of the employees of another employer for 8 purposes of this Act only if each employer meets the 9 criteria set forth in section 2(2)(B) of the National 10 Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152(2)(B)) except 11 that, for purposes of determining joint-employer sta- 12 tus under this Act, the terms ‘employee’ and ‘em- 13 ployer’ referenced in such section shall have the 14 meanings given such terms in this section.’’. 15 (c) PROVISION OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Not- 16 withstanding any other provision of law, under the Fair 17 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), 18 the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), 19 or any other Federal law, none of the following may be 20 construed, alone or in combination with any other factor, 21 as establishing an employer and employee relationship be- 22 tween a franchisor (or any employee of the franchisor) and 23 a franchisee (or any employee of the franchisee): 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Apr 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2700.IH H2700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 2700 IH (1) The franchisor (or any employee of the 1 franchisor) provides the franchisee (or any employee 2 of the franchisee) with, or requires such franchisee 3 (or any employee of the franchisee) to use, a hand- 4 book, or other training, on sexual harassment, 5 human trafficking, workplace violence, discrimina- 6 tion, or opportunities for apprenticeships or scholar- 7 ships. 8 (2) The franchisor (or any employee of the 9 franchisor) requires the franchisee (or any employee 10 of the franchisee) to adopt a policy on sexual harass- 11 ment, human trafficking, workplace violence, dis- 12 crimination, opportunities for apprenticeships or 13 scholarships, child care, or paid leave, including a 14 requirement for such franchisee (or any employee of 15 the franchisee) to report to the franchisor (or any 16 employee of the franchisor) any violations or sus- 17 pected violations of such policy. 18 SEC. 5. TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY. 19 Section 2 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 20 U.S.C. 152) is amended— 21 (1) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘or any In- 22 dian Tribe, or any enterprise or institution owned 23 and operated by an Indian Tribe and located on its 24 Indian lands,’’ after ‘‘subdivision thereof,’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Apr 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2700.IH H2700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 2700 IH (2) by adding at the end the following: 1 ‘‘(15) The term ‘Indian Tribe’ means any In- 2 dian Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, or other organized 3 group or community which is recognized as eligible 4 for the special programs and services provided by 5 the United States to Indians because of their status 6 as Indians. 7 ‘‘(16) The term ‘Indian’ means any individual 8 who is a member of an Indian Tribe. 9 ‘‘(17) The term ‘Indian lands’ means— 10 ‘‘(A) all lands within the limits of any In- 11 dian reservation; 12 ‘‘(B) any lands title to which is either held 13 in trust by the United States for the benefit of 14 any Indian Tribe or Indian or held by any In- 15 dian Tribe or Indian subject to restriction by 16 the United States against alienation; and 17 ‘‘(C) any lands in the State of Oklahoma 18 that are within the boundaries of a former res- 19 ervation (as defined by the Secretary of the In- 20 terior) of a Federally recognized Indian Tribe.’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Apr 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2700.IH H2700 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB