Chairman Scott Leads Members in Support of Proposed Rule to Protect Workers’ Rights
Proposed Rule Would Ensure Workers Can Hold Their Employers Accountable for Violating Labor Organizing Rights
WASHINGTON – Today, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) led a letter with 52 House Democrats to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in support of its proposed joint employer rule. The proposed rule would help ensure that workers—who are hired through subcontractors, temporary staffing agencies, and other intermediaries—can hold all the entities that control their working conditions accountable for their right to bargain collectively for higher pay, better benefits, and safer workplaces.
Specifically, the proposed rule would rescind the Trump Administration’s 2020 joint employer rule that weakened workers’ ability to hold their employers accountable by narrowing the joint employer standard to only cover entities that directly exercise control over workers’ terms of employment.
“We applaud the proposed rule for advancing the purposes of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by preventing employers from contracting out work to evade their bargaining obligations,” the Members wrote.
“When workers organize unions, the NLRA guarantees them the right to collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions without fear of retaliation. Where multiple entities control workers’ terms and conditions of employment, this right is rendered futile whenever workers are unable to bargain with all entities that control those wages and working conditions. The proposed rule is therefore necessary for holding entities accountable even if they reserve control, or exercise control indirectly, over employees’ working conditions.”
Under its traditional joint employer standard, the NLRB held that an entity could be considered an employer even if it indirectly controlled the terms of a worker’s employment. Unfortunately, the NLRB’s departure from this tradition has allowed corporations to use intermediaries—such as subcontractors and temporary staffing agencies—to evade their obligations to workers.
The letter was signed by Chairman Scott (VA-03) and Representatives Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-At-Large), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Andre? Carson (IN-07), Stephen F. Lynch (MA-08), Andy Levin (MI-09), Susan Wild (PA-07), Rau?l M. Grijalva (AZ-03), Frank J. Mrvan (IN-01), Steven Horsford (NV-04), Linda T. Sa?nchez (CA-38), Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Dina Titus (NV-01), Donald Norcross (NJ-01), Joe Courtney (CT-02), Judy Chu (CA-27), Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Adam Smith (WA-09), Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), Alma S. Adams (NC-12), Haley Stevens (MI-11), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Paul D. Tonko (NY-20), Katie Porter (CA-45), Mondaire Jones (NY-17), Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Jahana Hayes (CT-05), Gwen Moore (WI-04), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Nanette Diaz Barraga?n (CA-44), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Mark Takano (CA-41), Brendan F. Boyle (PA-02), Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), Jesus G. “Chuy” Garcia (IL-04), Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (NMI-At-Large), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03), Grace Meng (NY-06), Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-09), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Donald M. Payne, Jr. (NJ-10), and Susie Lee (NV-03).
To read the full letter, click here.
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