Labor Board Decision and Worker Scheduling Requests on Congress’ Plate

Congress will grapple with bills to overturn the federal labor board’s decision on joint employers and to make work schedules more predictable for workers in 2016.

Lawmakers have introduced identical legislation in both chambers of Congress to overturn a landmark decision by the National Labor Relations Board intended to broaden joint employer liability. By including employers who may only indirectly affect employees’ terms and conditions of employment, or have the right to affect such terms and conditions, the controversial Board decision has swept many more businesses under the “joint employer” umbrella and increased labor union bargaining power. (For details of the Board decision, see our article, Labor Board Sets New Standard for Determining Joint Employer Status.) The bills, H.R.3459 and S.2015, have been referred to committee. The House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions has held hearings on the H.R.3459. At the beginning of December, the Senate bill had 48 cosponsors.

Requiring employers to consider their employees’ requests for changes to their work schedules and to provide more predictable and stable schedules for employees in certain occupations with evidence of unpredictable and unstable scheduling practices is the purpose of the Schedules That Work Act, H.R.3071 and S.1772. It also would require employers to make, keep, and preserve records of compliance with the Act, and post a notice in the workplace explaining employees’ rights under the Act. (For details, see our article, Bill in Congress Would Allow Employees to Request Changes to Schedules.)

Jackson Lewis attorneys in the Government Relations practice are available to answer inquiries regarding these and other workplace issues.