EEO-1 Update. The Department of Justice
filed an appeal from the District Court's decision on May
3. DOJ, however, did not file a request for stay of the order
and EEOC has made clear that the notice of appeal has no effect on
the requirement that employers submit 2017 and 2018 EEO-1 Component
2 data by September 30, 2019. Of course, the appeal itself
will not be resolved before the September 30 deadline.
Employers, therefore, need to prepare to file the appropriate data
by that date. As noted in prior newsletters, Seyfarth has
long been involved in this issue, has conducted several webinars on
compliance questions, and will continue to track
developments.
EEOC Chairman Confirmed. On May 8, Janet
Dhillon was confirmed by the Senate to the EEOC Commission
where she will become chair, thus restoring a quorum to the
Commission. Whether this means that the Commission will
revisit the new EEO-1 form under the Paperwork Reduction Act
remains to be seen, but it should be noted that the Court's
deadline of September 30 is firm. For more on Dhillon's
confirmation, see the
Workplace Class Action blog.
Hearing Held on PRO Act. Yesterday the
House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions held a
hearing on the "Protecting the Right to
Organize Act of 2019", a.k.a. the "PRO Act."
(H.R. 2474). The bill is incredibly broad
(more so even than the Employee Free Choice Act-- a.k.a. "card
check"--was in past Congresses). Among other things, the
bill would codify the expansive joint employment standard
established by the Obama NLRB in Browning-Ferris;
eliminate the ability of employers to hire replacement workers
during an economic strike (reversing the Supreme Court's
80-year-old Mackay doctrine); reverse the Supreme
Court's recent Epic decision on class action
arbitrations; create a new private cause of action allowing workers
to sue when the Board does not take up the case; permit vastly
expanded damages and civil penalties; effectively repeal state
right-to-work laws by permitting "fair share" fees;
expand the definitions of "supervisor" and
"employee"; impose first contract interest arbitration;
broadly repeal existing protections against secondary boycott
actions, and allow card check recognition where a
"violation" has occurred. This list is but the tip
of the iceberg, as Education and Labor Committee Chair Bobby
Scott's (D-VA) press release makes clear. Although the
subcommittee's Ranking Member Tim Walberg (R-MI) expressed a willingness to work on pro-worker and
pro-economy legislation, this particular bill is so extreme that
its future is non-existent.
House Appropriators Approve DOL Funding
Bill. Earlier this week, the House Appropriations
Committee approved the Labor-HHS spending bill for FY2020. The bill gives
the Labor Department a $1.2 billion increase from this year's
enacted level. During the committee's mark-up, it also approved an amendment from
Rep. Harris (R-MD) that would direct the Secretary of Homeland
Security to allocate H-2B visas quarterly (instead of twice per
year). The bill heads next to the full House.
Equality Act Expected on House Floor Soon.
The House Rules Committee announced that it was likely to meet next week
to vote on the amendment process for the Equality Act (H.R.
5). As
previously reported, the bill has passed the House Judiciary
Committee, and the Rules Committee action sets the bill up for
consideration by the full House.
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