Senate Advances Three New Workplace Bills

A U.S. Senate committee recently pushed ahead three bills that could impact union activity, paid sick leave and pay equity requirements for employers.

The PRO Act

The PRO Act would:

• Replace secret-ballot union elections with card-check elections.

• Prohibit employers’ captive-audience meetings to discuss union activity.

• Overturn state-level right-to-work laws that say workers can’t be required to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of the job.

• Require employers to give employees’ personal contact information to union organizers.

• Stipulate that a worker is an independent contractor only if they are free from the employer’s control and direction in how the work is performed, customarily engaged in an independently established occupation, and performing work outside the employer’s usual course of business.

• Change the federal joint-employer standard to make franchisors liable for actions by their franchisees.

• Permit secondary boycotts, meaning a union boycotting an employer’s customer or supplier.

The Paycheck Fairness Act

The Paycheck Fairness Act would stop employers from using salary history in hiring decisions, require employers to show a legitimate reason for gender pay disparities, make it easier for workers to join class-action lawsuits against companies for systemic wage discrimination, and protect workers against retaliation for discussing their salary with co-workers. This bill aims to close the gender pay gap, which currently refers to how U.S. women earn 77 cents for every dollar U.S. men earn.

“Women across the country have been shortchanged for far too much for far too long,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “Women are still being paid less than men, and employers are still able to brush off reports of discrimination with flimsy excuses like ‘he’s a better negotiator’ or ‘he was paid better in his last job.’ “

The pay disparity compounds over the course of a career. “When women are paid less hour after hour, year after year, a lifetime spent working under the wage gap cheats women out of a lifechanging amount of money,” Murray said. “We have to limit the use of previous wage history in the hiring process because otherwise we are just letting employers lock in pay discrimination, and we’re just letting the pay gap follow workers from job to job.”

However, Cassidy said, “The Paycheck Fairness Act has the potential to benefit trial attorneys more than working women. It is already illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender, so the law that we’re considering is redundant.”

Healthy Families Act

The Healthy Families Act would guarantee workers seven paid sick days, or 56 hours of paid sick time, per year. Small employers with fewer than 15 employees can provide unpaid sick days, instead of paid sick days. Employers can choose to provide more than the required amount.

“In my view every employee in America deserves paid sick days, regardless of where they work,” Sanders said.

Many private businesses voluntarily give paid sick days to their workers, Cassidy noted. “The market is clearly responding, so let’s let the market work,” he said. “It’s important to the employer that they not be hampered with additional costs and headaches associated with compliance with government mandates.”

Ninety-five percent of employers offered sick leave this year, compared with 96 percent in 2022, according to SHRM Research You can read this entire article by Leah Shepherd on SHRM.org.

Age is but a number — except when it comes to employee severance agreements. Written agreements can protect employers from future claims, including those related to age discrimination. If you’re parting with employees 40 years and older, it’s important to understand the provisions required by the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA), a part of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

The ADEA protects workers at least 40 years old by eliminating age discrimination and providing equal employment opportunities. In particular, the present-day ADEA prohibits discrimination in hiring, promotions, layoffs, terminations, wages, compensation, and benefits. The ADEA was signed into law in 1967.

In 1990, Congress amended the ADEA by adding the OWBPA, which serves as an extra layer of protection for workers 40 and older. The OWBPA safeguards older workers in many ways, including mandatory requirements when asking parting employees to “knowingly and voluntarily” waive their rights under the ADEA. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) pinpointed seven criteria that must be met to ensure a waiver of rights is known and voluntary under the OWBPA. The waiver of rights is most often included in the employee’s severance agreement.

OWBPA Requirements for Individual Separations

OWBPA applies to employers with 20 or more employees and requires that any waiver of ADEA rights meet the following seven requirements:

1. Voluntariness: The waiver must be made voluntarily, without coercion or undue influence.

2. Knowingness: The employee must have a full and complete understanding of the rights being waived.

3. Written Form: The waiver must be in writing and in plain language that the employee can understand.

4. Adequate Consideration: The employee must receive something of value in exchange for waiving their rights, such as severance pay or other benefits.

5. Waiver-Specific Information: The waiver must include specific information about the ADEA, including the employee’s right to file an age discrimination claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).