The Employee Rights Act makes several changes to how unions organize workers and how labor laws work in the United States. Here's what it does in practical terms:

First, it changes how unions are recognized. Instead of unions being chosen through various methods, this bill requires that unions must be selected through a secret ballot election run by the National Labor Relations Board. When such an election is held, employers must give the union a list of all employees who can vote, including their names and one form of contact information (like a phone number or email address) that each employee chooses. This is meant to give unions a way to directly contact workers during organizing campaigns.

Second, the bill protects employee information. It makes it illegal for employers or unions to misuse personal information collected during union organizing efforts. Unions also face new restrictions on how they can spend member dues—they can only use dues money for collective bargaining and contract administration unless members specifically authorize other uses in writing, and those authorizations expire after one year with no automatic renewal.

Third, the bill changes how "joint employer" relationships work. Currently, companies can sometimes be held jointly responsible for workers employed by contractors or franchisees. This bill makes it much harder to establish joint employer status—both employers would need to directly and significantly control essential employment terms like hiring, pay, and scheduling. The bill also protects franchisors from being considered joint employers just because they require franchisees to have policies on harassment, discrimination, or paid leave.

Finally, the bill extends labor law protections to Indian tribes and their enterprises, and clarifies that employment classification should follow traditional common law rules.

Employee Rights Act

Allen, Rick W.

Employee Rights Act This bill generally addresses employer obligations related to unionized workplaces. This bill provides that an employer may be considered a joint employer in relation to an employee under federal labor law only if such employer directly, actually, and immediately (and not in a limited and routine manner) exercises significant control over the essential terms and conditions of employment. Such control may by demonstrated by hiring and discharging employees, determining individual employee rates of pay and benefits, day-to-day supervision of employees, assigning individual work schedules, positions, and tasks, and administering employee discipline. The bill also requires a workplace election to approve or reject a union to be conducted by secret ballot. Further, the bill requires an employer to provide limited employee information to union representatives to facilitate a workplace election. An employer that mishandles or fails to provide such information according to the bill's requirements may be liable for an unfair labor practice (i.e., labor law violation). Additionally, the bill requires an employee to authorize in writing any use of the employee's labor organization dues or other contribution for a purpose other than collective bargaining or contract administration. Such authorization must be made upon 35 days' notice and expires after one year. Finally, the bill exempts Indian Tribes, including Indian Tribe enterprises and institutions, from the collective bargaining rights and related provisions of federal labor law.