Skip to main content

Updated: The Save Local Business Act Continues to Pick Up Steam


Back in July, I pointed readers to a bill that was being introduced in Congress:  H.R. 3441 a/k/a the Save Local Business Act.  This bipartisan bill seeks to reverse a 2015 National Labor Relations Board ('NLRB') decision, Browning-Ferris, which changed the definition of joint employer.  Almost immediately after this decision was issued, employers and pro-business groups cried foul as Browning-Ferris made it easier for companies to be considered joint employers and therefore become liable for subsequent labor law violations committed by franchisees and contractors.

At this point, readers might be wondering what is next?  Could the NLRB take action before this bill would become law?  Doubtful.  Although the NLRB has recently taken on a 3 - 2 Republican majority (and could therefore issue a decision to 'undo' Browning-Ferris), the Republican controlled Congress is aggressively moving this bill along.  Today, Wednesday October 4th, the House Education and Workforce Committee is expected to vote on and approve the bill.  If/when the bill makes it out of the Committee, it would head to the full House for further debate and subsequent vote.  With Republicans controlling the House (and being able to choose what bills to debate and vote on, as the majority party), I would expect this bill to move along to a final vote sooner rather than later.

Won't this bill need Democratic support to pass?  In short, Republicans in Congress hungry for a legislative victory will likely do what they can to reach across the aisle.  In fact, the bill, originally introduced by Republican Congressman Bradley Byrne has apparently picked up the support of several Democratic Congressmen including Henry Cuellar, Lou Correa, and Collin Peterson.  I would expect additional Democrats in the House to jump on board in the coming weeks (or at least by the time the full House would vote on H.R. 3441.)  The question will then turn to what Senate Democrats will do.  I would expect less support for the bill in the Senate among Democrats (which have thus far done little to support Republican led bills) but it is certainly possible that a few Democratic Senators would voice their support for this legislation.

As for pro-business groups?  Earlier this week, approximately 28 pro-business groups published a letter announcing their support for the bill.  While this support alone will not carry the bill across the finish line, it certainly conveys the growing vocalness among pro-business groups in the private sector for Congress to do something about Browning-Ferris.

Stay tuned.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum, it was noted that emplo
Post a Comment
Read more

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa
Post a Comment
Read more

Utah Non-Compete Bill Falters in House

Last month, a non-compete bill sponsored by Representative Brian Greene (Republican from Pleasant Grove) & up for vote in the Utah House failed to make it through the Legislature.  The bill sought to ban enforcement of non-competes if they came after a worker was already employed, given no compensation (such as a bonus or promotion) for signing the non-compete, and laid off within six months.  However, by a 22 - 49 vote, the bill was resoundingly defeated after some business groups lobbied to kill the non-compete bill.  One group in particular, The Free Enterprise Utah coalition, argued that the Utah State Legislature should hold off on any changes to non compete laws in the state until a survey about non competes was done among Utah businesses.  Representative Greene had countered this claim and argued that a survey was not needed to show that the current non compete laws in the states allowed many businesses, including some small high tech companies in the state, to per
Post a Comment
Read more