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Here's a look at the employment law bills that could have a major impact on business owners.
1. Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act
Not just politicians were on hand for the unveiling of a package of bills intended to stop the practice of forced arbitration, but also a number of Google employees, according to The Hill. The effort, introduced by a group of Democrats that included House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, and Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, is intended to help employees who must deal with such issues as sexual harassment, overtime work disputes and other issues through the process instead of being able to turn to the courts for help.
The Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act would tackle forced arbitration in consumer, worker, civil rights and antitrust disputes, and the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Act would end the practice for such allegations. Bills are also planned by Democrats to end "forced arbitration in employment disputes, nursing home agreements and the armed services."
2.Transformation to Competitive Employment Act
Currently employers who obtain a certificate are allowed to hire people with disabilities at subminimum wage. The Transformation to Competitive Employment Act, introduced by Representative Bobby Scott, D-VA, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, Senator Bob Casey, D-PA and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-WA, would phase out that practice while providing some grant money to states and organizations to transition to competitive employment.
3. RESA and SECURE
The Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act of 2019 (RESA) and the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act both have bipartisan support, and according to the Society for Human Resource Management, could stand a real chance of passage if differences can be hammered out. According to John Lowell, an Atlanta-based partner with retirement plan advisory firm October Three, the bills are participant-focused: "While there are provisions that will appeal to plan sponsors, the driving forces appear to be ensuring retirement readiness in a 401(k)-only world."
The SECURE Act also includes RESA's proposal to allow small employers to band together in a 401(k) multiple-employer plan (MEP).
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4. Equality Act
As if to prove that everything old is new again, another measure is tackling discrimination—this time for LGBT and sexual orientation. According to HRDive the Equality Act seeks to "extend the protections of Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sexual orientation and gender identity." The bill would open up access to federally funded programs to LGBTQ individuals, as well as extend protections from discrimination in housing, public accommodations and the workplace.Employers might actually favor this one, since it would simplify the current hodgepodge of laws across the country dealing with the issue.
5. Paycheck Fairness Act
It's already passed the House, and though it's likely to have a tough time in the Senate, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which was first introduced by Representative Rosa DeLauro, D-CT back in 1997, might have a fighting chance in a new era of women speaking out on everything from #MeToo to the gender wage gap. Not only has the wage gap between what men and women earn widened over the past four years, but the law meant to protect women—the Equal Pay Act of 1963—has loopholes that the new bill would close.The Paycheck Fairness Act would ban employers from asking about salary histories, eliminate rules forbidding employees to discuss salary information and compel employers to share salary data with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for transparency on pay practices.
6. New Parents Act, CRADLE and FAMILY
Adding to the slurry of federal, state and local leave laws are the New Parent's Act, Child Rearing and Development Leave Empowerment Act and Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act. Both CRADLE and the New Parents Act would allow parents to delay or reduce future Social Security income to take leave for the birth or adoption of a new child.The FAMILY Act, supported by 179 House Democrats, according to SHRM, would partially fund up to 12 weeks of leave through a payroll tax. The coverage would not just be for new parents but include time needed to deal with a serious personal or family health issue.
7. Raise the Wage Act
According to a Vox, this bill would boost the national minimum wage to $15 by 2024, as well as tying future minimum wage changes to changes to median workers' pay. While neither business owners nor Republicans are happy about this one, individual cities and states, including Seattle, San Francisco, California itself, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, D.C. and New Jersey, have been taking action on their own—and polls indicate that Americans overall favor the action. The bill would also eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers.
8. BE HEARD Act
The "Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination in the Workplace Act" doesn't quite roll off the tongue, but the message is still important. Introduced in the House by Democrats, with the support of several 2020 presidential hopefuls, the Be Heard Act would extend federal discrimintion laws to groups that currently fall through the cracks by establishing a new, clearer set of anti-discrimination standards.The bill would further empower workers by eliminating the tipped minimum wage, ending mandatory arbitration and nondisclosure agreements, and extending the amount of time workers have to report sexual harassment.
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Here's a look at the employment law bills that could have a major impact on business owners.
1. Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act
Not just politicians were on hand for the unveiling of a package of bills intended to stop the practice of forced arbitration, but also a number of Google employees, according to The Hill. The effort, introduced by a group of Democrats that included House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, and Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, is intended to help employees who must deal with such issues as sexual harassment, overtime work disputes and other issues through the process instead of being able to turn to the courts for help.
The Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act would tackle forced arbitration in consumer, worker, civil rights and antitrust disputes, and the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Act would end the practice for such allegations. Bills are also planned by Democrats to end "forced arbitration in employment disputes, nursing home agreements and the armed services."
2.Transformation to Competitive Employment Act
Currently employers who obtain a certificate are allowed to hire people with disabilities at subminimum wage. The Transformation to Competitive Employment Act, introduced by Representative Bobby Scott, D-VA, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, Senator Bob Casey, D-PA and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-WA, would phase out that practice while providing some grant money to states and organizations to transition to competitive employment.
3. RESA and SECURE
The Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act of 2019 (RESA) and the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act both have bipartisan support, and according to the Society for Human Resource Management, could stand a real chance of passage if differences can be hammered out. According to John Lowell, an Atlanta-based partner with retirement plan advisory firm October Three, the bills are participant-focused: "While there are provisions that will appeal to plan sponsors, the driving forces appear to be ensuring retirement readiness in a 401(k)-only world."
The SECURE Act also includes RESA's proposal to allow small employers to band together in a 401(k) multiple-employer plan (MEP).
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4. Equality Act
As if to prove that everything old is new again, another measure is tackling discrimination—this time for LGBT and sexual orientation. According to HRDive the Equality Act seeks to "extend the protections of Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sexual orientation and gender identity." The bill would open up access to federally funded programs to LGBTQ individuals, as well as extend protections from discrimination in housing, public accommodations and the workplace.Employers might actually favor this one, since it would simplify the current hodgepodge of laws across the country dealing with the issue.
5. Paycheck Fairness Act
It's already passed the House, and though it's likely to have a tough time in the Senate, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which was first introduced by Representative Rosa DeLauro, D-CT back in 1997, might have a fighting chance in a new era of women speaking out on everything from #MeToo to the gender wage gap. Not only has the wage gap between what men and women earn widened over the past four years, but the law meant to protect women—the Equal Pay Act of 1963—has loopholes that the new bill would close.The Paycheck Fairness Act would ban employers from asking about salary histories, eliminate rules forbidding employees to discuss salary information and compel employers to share salary data with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for transparency on pay practices.
6. New Parents Act, CRADLE and FAMILY
Adding to the slurry of federal, state and local leave laws are the New Parent's Act, Child Rearing and Development Leave Empowerment Act and Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act. Both CRADLE and the New Parents Act would allow parents to delay or reduce future Social Security income to take leave for the birth or adoption of a new child.The FAMILY Act, supported by 179 House Democrats, according to SHRM, would partially fund up to 12 weeks of leave through a payroll tax. The coverage would not just be for new parents but include time needed to deal with a serious personal or family health issue.
7. Raise the Wage Act
According to a Vox, this bill would boost the national minimum wage to $15 by 2024, as well as tying future minimum wage changes to changes to median workers' pay. While neither business owners nor Republicans are happy about this one, individual cities and states, including Seattle, San Francisco, California itself, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, D.C. and New Jersey, have been taking action on their own—and polls indicate that Americans overall favor the action. The bill would also eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers.
8. BE HEARD Act
The "Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination in the Workplace Act" doesn't quite roll off the tongue, but the message is still important. Introduced in the House by Democrats, with the support of several 2020 presidential hopefuls, the Be Heard Act would extend federal discrimintion laws to groups that currently fall through the cracks by establishing a new, clearer set of anti-discrimination standards.The bill would further empower workers by eliminating the tipped minimum wage, ending mandatory arbitration and nondisclosure agreements, and extending the amount of time workers have to report sexual harassment.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
