Biden anticipated to usher in an period of worker-friendly labor insurance policies

Worker activists who want to capitalize on the mood for workers created by the pandemic will soon have a friend in the White House.

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to urge workers to unionize more easily and to hold employers accountable for working conditions. This is a sharp U-turn from the pro-business employment policy pursued by President Donald Trump.

Among the most immediate changes is the new leadership of the National Labor Relations Board and Department of Labor, currently headed by Eugene Scalia, a former corporate attorney who has been criticized by union leaders for joining industry against workers.

“They are meant to be labor lawyers agencies,” said Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. “It’s important to make sure that employers don’t run the table.”

Business leaders worry about a return to tighter regulations that create red tape and costs.

“This is a time when we should give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and until we see tough proposals, we can hope for the best,” said Todd Maisch, president and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

Labor policy often sways back and forth as Republicans and Democrats take control of the White House and institute new leadership in the Department of Labor, which enforces wage and hourly laws, and the NLRB, which enforces labor law on union formation and bargaining .

A split Congress will undo big changes as the legislation that weighs on business will face an uphill battle if the Senate stays in Republican hands (two seats hanging in Georgia, which is slated for a runoff election in January). But next year a more worker-friendly era could be heralded by presidential decrees and rules set by agencies in the new administration.

Here are four workplace policies that may change.

Common employer

Determining who is a joint employer and who is therefore liable for improper treatment of employees has become more urgent in recent years as more and more companies are outsourcing their work. Companies that use subcontractors and recruitment agencies as well as franchise companies are affected. Companies that are considered to be joint employers may be forced to negotiate and pay with unions when workers’ rights are violated.

One high profile dispute was over whether McDonald’s is a joint employer with its franchisees. That status would have piqued the Chicago-based fast food giant for alleged labor law violations in franchise restaurants. The NLRB, dominated by Trump appointees, sided with McDonald’s last year, approving a settlement that gave workers reimbursement but did not establish a joint employer relationship.

This year, the NLRB also reversed the landmark 2015 Browning-Ferris decision, which made it difficult for companies to bypass common employer responsibilities. The Obama-era decision that shocked the business world had broadened the definition of common employer to include companies that have indirect control over the employees of another company.

The Trump agency has instead finalized a rule that defines a common employer more narrowly than one that exercises “substantial direct and immediate control” over terms of employment.

Meanwhile, in September, a federal judge in New York struck down a business-friendly ruling issued by the Trump Department of Labor that sets a high standard for starting this company as a co-boss and is therefore liable for working conditions.

Biden advocates the broader definition of the common employer for work. The president-elect said on his campaign website that he would enact laws that codify the Browning-Ferris definition into law.

Maisch fears that such a move, which he believes will “facilitate union formation by franchise companies,” would undermine the franchise model, which enables small operators to grow with the support of a parent company.

“We think it is very important to realize that the franchise model can be very beneficial for people who are looking for work,” he said.

Independent contractor

Labor advocates have long been concerned about employers treating employees as independent contractors rather than employees in an attempt to keep costs down.

Independent contractors are not covered by federal minimum wage and overtime laws, do not need to have health insurance, and are typically not eligible for unemployment insurance or employee compensation. The biggest struggles in recent years have been over gig workers like Uber and Lyft drivers, though many industries rely heavily on independent contractors, including truck drivers and sales reps.

The Ministry of Labor proposed a rule this year to make it clear who counts as an employee, using a test to assess, for example, whether employees are really in business for themselves or economically dependent on their employers. Critics say the rule will encourage companies to categorize more workers as independent contractors.

Biden’s labor department is expected to take the reverse route and expand the status of workers to more workers.

Biden said on his campaign website that he will press ahead with aggressive enforcement to reduce worker misclassification and pass laws that make it a “material violation of all federal, labor, employment and tax laws with additional penalties that beyond those imposed for other violations ”.

Union-friendly legislation

The Law to Protect the Right to Organize, which would strengthen workers’ ability to form unions and fine businesses that interfere with their organizational efforts, was passed earlier this year but died in the Senate. It will likely reappear and still face tough headwinds in a Republican-controlled Senate, but it would have Biden’s support.

The PRO Act would not only give the NLRB the power to punish breaching employers, it would also weaken the Law on the Right to Work, which allows workers to skip paying union dues and gives independent contractors the status of To organize workers for the purpose of the union.

The proposed law would be a big boost to work at a time when interest in union formation is on the rise. This trend was exacerbated by the pandemic as concerns about the safety and rights of workers came to the fore.

“During the pandemic, we saw more people advocating for workplace protection than we ever expected,” said Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. “I think the Biden coalition has a deep appreciation for this growing activism to hold employers accountable.”

Biden has announced that he would go beyond the PRO Act to impose stricter penalties on companies that block union efforts and hold executives personally liable, including criminally, if the interference is intentional.

The vast majority of unions endorsed Biden, including the 13 million-member AFL-CIO, although Trump was supported by several police unions.

Rules for federal entrepreneurs

Some of the fastest changes could be to federal corporate working conditions by order of the executive.

Biden is likely to reintroduce the Fair Pay and Safe Workplace Ordinance, signed by President Barack Obama and repealed by Trump, requiring companies filing for federal contracts to disclose labor law violations. At the time of the order, there were 24,000 federal contract companies employing 28 million people.

Biden is also expected to issue an order requiring federal entrepreneurs to pay a minimum wage of $ 15. Biden supports raising the federal minimum wage from the current $ 7.25 an hour to $ 15 for everyone, but that would have to be done through laws that are unlikely to pass a Republican-controlled Senate. (The minimum wage is set to rise to $ 15 in Chicago next year and Illinois by 2025.)

Another executive order is to consider what type of implicit bias training federal entrepreneurs and grant recipients can offer. Trump’s order, signed last month, targets the critical racial theory that institutions are inherently racist and prohibits “guilty” training, which implies that everyone is racist because of their race. Critics said Trump’s move had a terrifying effect on diversity training programs.

Biden’s campaign website says he will work with civil rights leaders to set up bias training programs and bring them to the public.