by nelpaction | Jul 11, 2024 | Op-Ed
By Paul Sonn, Director, NELP Action
On the heels of the Supreme Court‘s attack on federal agencies’ ability to protect the public last week, a federal judge in Texas appointed by former president Donald Trump blocked a Biden administration rule banning corporations from locking workers into jobs with so-called “non-compete” requirements, which prevent workers from quitting to take better jobs.
The ban on non-competes was just one of many urgently needed and broadly popular protections for working families rolled out by the Biden administration. Others include making more workers eligible for overtime pay and preventing employers from misclassifying workers as independent contractors. All of these policies help working families struggling with the high cost of living by boosting their pay and ensuring access to better jobs.
But these pro-worker protections are being attacked and blocked by Trump-packed courts. Following the same playbook they used to roll back reproductive freedom, activist right-wing judges are erasing workers’ rights and undermining the government’s ability to crack down on abusive corporations.
Working families need state legislatures and governors to step in and protect them in the same way they’re doing when it comes to reproductive rights: by locking these standards into state law to safeguard workers.
The Biden administration has been actively updating worker protections to crack down on businesses’ unfair and abusive practices. In April, the Federal Trade Commission banned virtually all non-compete restrictions, which deny workers one of their most basic means of economic mobility: quitting a job for a better position with another employer. Non-competes are especially abusive when companies use them to lock workers into low-paying jobs, but they harm workers at all income levels. They have been shown to drive down pay, impede economic innovation, and even prevent workers from escaping abusive workplaces where they face sexual harassment.
That same month, the Labor Department updated overtime protections to restore the 40-hour workweek and promote work-life balance by ensuring that millions more workers are guaranteed time-and-a-half pay when they work long hours. And earlier this year, it issued new “independent contractor” guidance clarifying when workers are truly running their own businesses and so are not covered by federal minimum wage and overtime protections—guidance that will prevent companies from evading labor protections by claiming their workers are independent businesspeople rather than employees.
But all of these crucial new worker gains are now threatened by activist Trump-appointed federal judges. As with so many other issues, these judges are distorting legal doctrine to undermine government agencies’ long-established authority to protect workers and the public.
Last week’s ruling blocking the Biden non-competes ban—and the many other legal attacks—should be reversed on appeal. But because business groups manipulate the litigation process to bring these lawsuits before hand-picked conservative judges in regions of the country where they will then be reviewed by appellate courts dominated by Trump judges, the outcome is uncertain and pro-worker policies may be blocked in the end. The fast-approaching presidential election injects even more uncertainty into this picture, raising the possibility that many common-sense job protections could be undone even if they are upheld.
That’s why workers across the country need state leaders to step in to protect them, in the same way they have done to safeguard reproductive rights since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. States should start by banning non-competes—and they should do it for workers in all industries and all income levels, as California, North Dakota, and Oklahoma did more than a century ago and Minnesota did last year.
States should do the same for the Biden administration’s other key new worker protections, which are under attack by the Trump courts. They should restore a guarantee of overtime pay for far more workers—as states like Colorado and Washington have done. And they should protect workers from being stripped of fundamental employment protections, like the minimum wage and unemployment insurance, by adopting clear independent contractor standards that ensure that only persons who truly operate their own independent businesses are excluded, as Massachusetts and other states have done.
The judicial hijacking of the federal government’s ability to protect the public poses a grave threat to U.S. workers. More states need to act quickly to head it off.
This column originally appeared on Newsweek.com.
by nelpaction | Oct 30, 2023 | Uncategorized
Executive Summary
In the current uncertain economic environment, U.S. workers face serious threats, from eroding wages and unfair firings to union busting and entrenched occupational segregation based on race and gender. In response, workers are organizing and fighting back. Workers are demanding new policies to strengthen their power, raise labor standards, and crack down on abuses. With the very real prospect of federal gridlock, the best opportunities to advance a pro-worker, pro-equity agenda will likely be at the state and local level. This agenda outlines a range of policy responses that state and local governments are now taking to protect workers. These best practices from across the country provide a roadmap for how legislatures, governors, mayors, and city councils can promote a good jobs economy in the coming years.
- Empower workers to organize unions, collectively bargain, and protect their rights in the workplace.
The unequal power between workers and employers has hurt working families for decades. Increasing the power of workers is essential to create an economy that works for all.
a. Restore worker bargaining power by extending full collective bargaining rights to all workers. Enact state policies protecting union rights and requiring employers to collectively bargain with workers who form unions in public-sector, agricultural, or domestic occupations that otherwise lack coverage under federal labor laws due to longstanding racist exclusions. Repeal existing state bans or constraints on public-sector collective bargaining or strikes;
b. Repeal “right-to-work” laws designed to weaken unions;
c. Ensure all workers have access to unemployment insurance while on strike;
d. Adopt “temp worker bill of rights” laws to give contracted workers employed by temp and staffing agencies the right to refuse assignments as strike breakers.
e. Establish sectoral standards boards with authority to bring employers, workers, and community stakeholders together to set wages and working conditions in essential jobs and sectors with poor working conditions.
f. Leverage state contracting and purchasing power to increase worker power on projects and services funded with public dollars.
- Make effective federal and state pandemic policies permanent.
Important policy responses to the economic impact of the pandemic made the COVID downturn both shorter-lived and less painful for working families than the Great Recession. Many of these measures were temporary but have proven their usefulness and should be made permanent at the state level.
a. Permanently expand unemployment insurance for all workers—including app-based workers, self-employed persons, part-time workers, and undocumented workers;
b. Rebuild unemployment insurance trust funds through progressive employer payroll taxes that shift the burden of financing these vital systems away from small employers and ensure adequate benefits of sufficient duration for workers during the next economic crisis and beyond;
c. Permanently expand paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave;
d. Permanently expand anti-retaliation protections to ensure that worker whistleblowers can speak up about dangerous working conditions and other mistreatment; and
e. Enact state-level fully refundable child tax credits.
- Raise wages and improve job quality to help workers and families thrive.
Bad jobs are a policy choice. Policymakers have tools available to ensure high quality jobs in every state.
a. As the highest inflation in 40 years erodes paychecks and squeezes families, states and cities need to raise the minimum wage well beyond $15, establish automatic annual adjustments so that wages keep up with the cost of living, close sexist and racist labor law exemptions that exclude many workers from the protection of the minimum wage, and restore access to overtime pay, including for farmworkers, education workers, and others who have long been excluded from this basic protection;
b. Fight wage theft and enforce minimum wage laws, overtime laws, and other labor standards and protections. Support co-enforcement models at the local level;
c. Ensure all workers have full labor and employment rights, including rights to organize and bargain, by preventing employers from mislabeling workers as “independent contractors.” Adopt clear and strong legal definitions (e.g., the “ABC test”) for determining employee status. Strengthen state enforcement and penalties for employers who illegally misclassify workers;
d. Protect contracted temp and staffing workers in our fissured economy by adopting temp and staffing agency worker protection laws and issuing clear guidance stating that the businesses that control their work are “joint employers” and thus responsible for their working conditions;
e. Fight forced arbitration requirements and other coercive waivers in employment contracts that prevent workers from enforcing their rights by adopting “qui tam” laws (which give workers or organizations the ability to bring enforcement actions on behalf of the state). Ban noncompete agreements, no-poaching requirements, independent contractor waivers (purporting to waive an individual’s employment status), and COVID-19 liability waivers;
f. Protect workers from abusive workloads and intrusive workplace monitoring and surveillance practices that are causing sky-high worker injury rates, worsening workplace inequities, and magnifying power imbalances between workers and employers;
g. As dangerous heat, fires, flooding, and storms become more frequent, guarantee workers the right to refuse to work under such dangerous conditions or during declared emergencies. Adopt OSHA heat standards and other protections against workplace climate hazards;
h. End arbitrary and retaliatory firings with “just cause” employment protections, replacing the “at-will” system that gives employers inordinate control over workers’ livelihoods. As part of these policies, guarantee all workers severance pay and regulate the growing use of electronic monitoring in the workplace and its use in employee discipline and discharge;
i. Repeal abusive state preemption laws that prohibit cities and counties from enacting additional worker protections like higher minimum wages, rent control, and fair scheduling ordinances;
j. Protect immigrant workers from exploitation by prohibiting retaliation against immigrants who report wage theft and other abuses, preventing employer abuses of the employment verification process, and expanding access to drivers and professional licenses; and
k. Provide public investment to increase wages and improve working conditions for workers in all sectors of the care economy, including residential long-term care facility workers, child care workers, and home healthcare workers.
- Promote equitable access to jobs for Black and Hispanic workers, who are hit hardest by occupational segregation, high unemployment, mass incarceration, and negative effects of COVID-19.
Race-blind policies do not exist. Policymakers need to actively tackle structural racism in every part of society.
a. Promote access to good jobs for Black, brown, and low-income communities by adopting targeted local hiring policies and strong labor standards for publicly funded infrastructure and green economy projects;
b. Fight racial and gender discrimination and occupational segregation with stronger civil rights protections and data gathering;
c. Promote fair hiring for people with arrest or conviction records by adopting fair chance hiring and clean slate reforms (which prevent early disclosure of records in the hiring process and expunge records after a certain period), removing occupational licensing barriers, and ending unfair fees and fines imposed by the criminal justice system for traffic and other violations that trap workers in endless cycles of debt; and
d. Introduce policies to reduce racial disparities in wealth, including Baby Bonds.
- Ensure states and cities have the resources they need to rebuild and sustain high-quality public services.
The pandemic crisis is behind us, but that does not mean that most communities are better off. Schools, hospitals, transit systems, and other public services remain severely weakened by the pandemic’s impact—and in most places, a return to the pre-pandemic status quo is insufficient. We must build a rejuvenated public sector that meets the needs of every community. State policymakers can also do their part to make investments that support green jobs and address climate impacts.
a. Restore the public-sector workforce by increasing compensation for public-sector jobs, especially in public education, and supporting collective bargaining;
b. Address the shortage of teachers and other education staff by fully funding primary and secondary education and raising wages; and,
c. Crack down on wasteful corporate giveaways by granting taxpayer-funded incentives only to businesses and development projects that produce specific, negotiated community benefits such as affordable housing and family-sustaining jobs for local residents.
Read the full 2023-2024 State and Local Policy Agenda here.
by nelpaction | Sep 10, 2020 | Press-Release
Raleigh, North Carolina – Last week North Carolina’s Labor Commissioner helped kill a proposed executive order to protect meatpacking and farmworkers — the Labor Commissioner’s latest refusal to act to protect workers from COVID-19 during the pandemic. The action comes as a coalition of worker and racial justice groups launches a public education campaign highlighting the Labor Commissioner’s failures – and calling for the election of Jessica Homes in November as the new Labor Commission. Holmes has a long record of fighting for working families and has pledged strong action to protect North Carolina’s workers during the pandemic.
“While states like Virginia are making sure employers protect workers from COVID-19 on the job, North Carolina’s Labor Commissioner and legislature have done nothing during the pandemic – or frankly before it – to keep the state’s workers safe. North Carolina needs a labor commissioner like Jessica Holmes who will be a champion for working families,” said Phaedra Jackson, Deputy Campaigns Director for Working America.
North Carolina’s current labor commissioner, Cherie Berry, is retiring. Democratic Wake County Commissioner Jessica Holmes and Republican state Representative Josh Dobson are running to replace her. North Carolina is one of just a few states where voters elect the state labor commissioner directly. Dobson has praised Berry’s record and said he would continue her approach.
The current Labor Commissioner and the Republican-led legislature in which Dobson serves have done little to protect the state’s more than 4 million workers from COVID-19. The Labor Commissioner has received over 700 COVID-19-related safety and health complaints from terrified workers but has not inspected a single workplace during the pandemic and instead closed every case. As a result, COVID-19 has spread like wildfire through workplaces like poultry and meat processing plants that weren’t taking necessary precautions to protect their workers.
Unlike Virginia, North Carolina’s Labor Commissioner has refused to issue COVID-19 workplace standards to require employers to keep workers safe. Because President Trump’s US Department of Labor has also refused to issue COVID-19 workplace standards, North Carolina workers have no protections as they return to work.
The coalition launching the public education campaign to elect Jessica Holmes includes Advance Carolina, the North Carolina Association of Educators, Working America, BlackPAC, Poder NC Action, the Carolina Federation, and the National Employment Law Project Action Fund.
“As schools reopen, educators are on the frontlines of the COVID crisis. But the Labor Commissioner’s refusal to keep workers in schools and across the state safe is endangering all of us. We need a Labor Commissioner like Jessica Holmes who will protect workers during the pandemic and help get everyone back to work once it’s over,” said Rukiya Dillahunt, education and labor activist with the North Carolina Association of Educators.
“Black workers in frontline jobs and their families are being put in danger by the Labor Commissioner’s refusal to do her job as COVID-19 has spread in workplaces across our State. Josh Dobson says he’ll continue the current approach if he is elected to replace her– which means further harm to the most critical employees in North Carolina. To keep workers safe we need a Labor Commissioner like Jessica Holmes who will protect workers during the pandemic and beyond, rather than maintaining the status quo,” said Marcus Bass, Executive Director of Advance North Carolina.
Black and Latinx workers in North Carolina have been hurt most by the Labor Commissioner’s refusal to act. They are the frontline and essential workers who have been put at greatest risk during the pandemic — and they make up a large share of workers in workplaces such as meat processing plants whom the Labor Commissioner has failed to protect.
“Workers on farms and in meat and poultry plants are sustaining North Carolinians during the pandemic—yet many of their employers have failed to implement the basic measures needed to protect them at work, resulting in widespread COVID-19 infection at work and putting their communities at risk. It is outrageous that North Carolina’s labor commissioner last week blocked action to protect these workers — and has refused to mandate any COVID-19 standards for employers. That’s why North Carolina voters need to elect Jessica Holmes in November to keep the state’s workers safe,” said Debbie Berkowitz, Health and Safety Program Director at the National Employment Law Project Action Fund.
Dobson and the other leaders of the North Carolina legislature have blocked efforts to protect workers during the pandemic and for years before. They gave corporations that get their workers sick immunity from being held responsible. They refused to raise the state’s $7.25 minimum wage or to guarantee paid sick days for North Carolina workers, and blocked cities from taking action to help workers.
Jessica Holmes, by contrast, is a labor and employment law attorney who has spent her career advocating for workers. After being elected as the youngest ever member of Wake County’s Board of Commissioner, she passed living wage, paid family leave and fair hiring rules for county and school employees. Holmes has pledged that as Labor Commissioner she will take action to protect North Carolinians during the pandemic and afterwards. If elected, she would be the first Black woman to serve as a state labor commissioner.
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Paid for by National Employment Law Project Action Fund, a project of Tides Advocacy. Not authorized by a candidate.
