Democrats Introduce Broad Employment Reform Bill

The Democratic leader of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Patty Murray (D-WA), recently introduced legislation, the Worker Flexibility and Small Business Protection Act (S.4738), alongside Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). The bill would make numerous sweeping changes to federal employment laws.

The Worker Flexibility and Small Business Protection Act would:

• Codify California’s “ABC test” for independent contractors as part of most federal labor and employment laws;
• Expand joint-employer tests throughout labor and employment laws, and extend liability to certain owners, officers, and shareholders;
• Create a “standalone violation” for incorrectly classifying a worker as an independent contractor, rather than an employee;
• Set unique wage and hour standards for certain “transportation and network dispatching workers”;
• Require temporary employees to be paid the same as “direct” employees and require that temporary employees be converted to “direct” employees after one year of service;
• Amend the FLSA to include a “private attorneys general” provision;
• Require an employer with 100 or more employees to file with the DOL a “supply chain responsibility plan” describing its processes for ensuring that its suppliers and vendors do not violate labor and employment laws in the U.S. and abroad; and
• Require an employer to publicly post on its website and main entryways its labor and employment law compliance record and “rating” over the last three years.

A section-by-section summary of the bill can be found HERE.

It is extremely unlikely that the Senate will consider this legislation during the current session of Congress. However, a shift in partisan control on Capitol Hill or in the Administration following the November 3 election could result in increased pressure for Democratic labor legislation such as S.4728 or the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act to be advanced.