Posts tagged Senate HELP Committee
Over 30 Leading Policy Groups Send Coalition Letter to Congress Raising Concerns with Department of Labor’s Independent Contractor Rule and Its Crushing Impact on Independent Workers
March 11, 2024 // Vincent Vernuccio, president of Institute for the American Worker, said, “Instead of empowering workers to make their own decisions to earn a living in the best way to support their families, many policymakers in Congress and the White House want to stifle worker freedom and flexibility. The vague and authoritarian DOL rule will hold back growth, destroy jobs, and harm the very workers it purports to help.”
Commentary: NLRB v. EEOC: Damned if you fire, damned If you don’t
February 28, 2024 // The concern is not theoretical. The EEOC has told the NLRB not to be too lenient regarding hostile rhetoric. The EEOC argued in a 2019 amicus brief, in a case called General Motors v. Robison that “[E]mployers must address racist or sexist conduct that violates Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964], and may need to do so even before the conduct becomes actionable in order to avoid liability for negligence … the EEOC urges the NLRB to consider a standard that permits employers to address such conduct, including by disciplining employees, as appropriate.” The case involved a worker directing racially charged language at a supervisor. In short, companies can find themselves trapped in a damned-if-you-fire, damned-if-you-don’t situation between two powerful regulatory agencies. Because regulators are supposed to issue clear rules of behavior, this is troubling. Businesses can’t follow the rules if they can’t know what the rules are. The public is entitled to have agencies require mutually consistent standards of behavior before they start enforcing them on the rest of us.
10 Questions Julie Su Is Afraid to Answer in Front of the American People
February 27, 2024 // Under the rule of Chairman Bernie Sanders, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will instead hold a closed-door executive session to rubber-stamp Su’s nomination. It does not appear that Senators will have any opportunity to question the nominee––in fact, she likely won’t even be required to appear in person. Moreover, as the HELP website states, “There is no video broadcast for this event.”
Ranking Member Cassidy Urges HELP Committee Chair to Hold Hearing on Renomination of Julie Su
February 16, 2024 // I respectfully request that you hold a hearing for Ms. Su’s renomination so that Senators may question her record, and that you hold a public mark-up on her nomination,” continued Dr. Cassidy. “Any other act will circumvent this Committee’s constitutionally mandated advice and consent role for Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed (PAS) positions.”
Chairwoman Foxx, Ranking Member Cassidy Introduce Bill Recouping Pension Bailout Sent for Dead People, Increasing Oversight of Pension System
January 31, 2024 // In November, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a report disclosing that the PBGC overpaid the Central States fund by $127 million after the plan included at least 3,479 dead participants in its bailout request. According to the PBGC OIG, the PBGC’s review process did not require cross-checking the plan participant list with the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Full Death Master File (Full DMF), despite this practice being recommended as a standard procedure by the OIG. As far back as 2018, the OIG instructed PBGC that using the Full DMF is not only crucial, but essential, to prevent overpayments of annuities to people who are already dead. Under questioning from Sen. Cassidy, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who represents nearly 350,000 Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund (Central States Pension Fund) retiree participants, stated that the fund should return $127 million in taxpayer dollars that were wrongfully paid to it. However, the PBGC has indicated it does not intend to recoup this money, even though it has the legal authority to claw back wrongfully obtained funds. Further, the Central States Pension Fund has not returned the overpayment of taxpayer funds and is treating them as a fund asset. We still do not know how much the PBGC has overpaid for ghost annuities in total to all multiemployer pension plans.
Ranking Member Cassidy Releases Troubling Report Detailing Weaponization of NLRB Against American Workers, Demands Accountability
January 10, 2024 // Alarming reports highlight that under the Biden administration, the NLRB ignored its statutory obligation of neutrality and abused its authority by influencing union elections in favor of union organizers. In early 2023, a whistleblower came forward with information and documents alleging that NLRB regional officials in St. Louis, MO improperly coordinated with Starbucks Workers United (SWU) to tip union elections in favor of SWU. Following an investigation into the claims, the NLRB Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that NLRB officials in St. Louis engaged in “gross mismanagement” in an attempt to promote a union election victory at a Starbucks retail location. Similar allegations of improper election management have also been made at the NLRB’s Buffalo, NY office. As a result of its investigation, the OIG urged NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo to take steps to reform the NLRB’s regional offices engaged in improper conduct with SWU.
Opinion: Senate minimum wage bills make bipartisan compromise possible
January 7, 2024 // Setting a national minimum wage is difficult politically. State and local economies vary significantly . For example, both average salaries and cost of living in states with the highest, Massachusetts and Hawaii, respectively, are more than 70% greater than in Mississippi, one of the poorest, where the average salary is $45,000 and the cost of living is $32,000. As of Monday, 22 states increased their minimum wages, raising pay for an estimated 9.9 million workers and resulting in $6.95 billion in additional income, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute estimates. Minimum wages in Maryland, New Jersey, and upstate New York reached or exceeded $15 an hour for the first time, joining California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington, and the rest of New York. Seven more states have passed legislation or ballot measures to reach or surpass $15 an hour in the coming years: Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Washington has the highest state minimum wage, increased from $15.74 to $16.28 due to an inflation adjustment. Still, by increasing the federal minimum to $17 an hour over five years, the Democrats’ Raise the Wage Act of 2023 would affect 28 million workers,
U.S. labor board delays new unionization rule after business groups sue
November 20, 2023 // The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups — including the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the International Franchise Association and the National Retail Federation — sued the NLRB in federal court in Texas last week to block the rule. They say the rule upends years of precedent and could make companies liable for workers they don’t employ at workplaces they don’t own. But the NLRB says the current rule makes it too easy for companies to avoid their legal responsibility to bargain with workers.
Ranking Member Cassidy Rebukes DOL’s Failure to Provide Requested Information on New Policy Unfairly Targeting Businesses
October 25, 2023 // U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, rebuked the Department of Labor (DOL) for failing to provide details on its new policy that compels businesses to produce information related to union activity beyond the scope of DOL’s authority. Earlier this year, Cassidy requested DOL provide details about its enforcement of this policy as well as its legal authority to force businesses to provide this information. To date, DOL has failed to provide adequate responses to Cassidy’s inquiry. Under the Landrum-Griffin Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), employers are required to disclose any funds spent on “persuader activity,” or funding used during union representation campaigns to persuade employees against unionizing. The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS), the office within DOL responsible for enforcing LMRDA, has begun enforcing a new policy that compels employers to provide information such as employee wages that is not related to LMRDA and beyond the scope of its enforcement power.
Kamala Harris refuses to call Julie Su ‘acting’ labor secretary
August 9, 2023 // Harris made the comment when introducing President Joe Biden's nominee for the position at a speech in Philadelphia Union Hall. Su's confirmation has been on hold for 147 days as the White House attempts to gather enough votes in the Senate. Harris introduced “acting Secretary Julie Su” to applause before pausing and adjusting the title. “And I just have to tell you — I’ll call her labor secretary. I’m not going to say the word ‘acting,’” she said.