Labor Issues

Policy Accomplishments for 2007

• Helped lead the employer community's successful effort to block the Employee Free Choice Act in the Senate by, among many other things, testifying before the House Education and Labor Committee in opposition to the bill.

• Testified before the House Education and Labor Committee opposing legislation to effectively eliminate the statute of limitations for many types of discrimination claims under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

• Testified before the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections opposing legislation to mandate that the Labor Department issue comparable worth guidelines, amend the Equal Pay Act to provide for unlimited punitive and compensatory damages, limit employer defenses, and permit opt-out class actions.

• Testified before the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions opposing legislation to permit unions to organize significantly more supervisors, giving unions more power to discipline and control management personnel.

• Opposed provisions in the House Labor/HHS Appropriations bill citing OSHA mandates and directives that would override the agency's ability to use its professional judgment in issuing certain regulations and standards. Also supported amendments in both the House and Senate to restore funding for Department of Labor oversight of union financial disclosure. Despite this effort, both the House and Senate declined to restore the funding.

• Convinced Congress to strip from the omnibus spending bill language blocking the implementation of the new LM-30 form that enhances requirements for union leaders to disclose financial transactions that could represent a conflict of interest. 

• Defended the National Labor Relations Board's interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act's provisions exempting supervisors.

Ongoing Activities:

• Continue to work with a coalition of businesses and associations to gather data highlighting the potentially severe impact on employers of recent revisions to the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines cover virtually all businesses offering services to the public. 
• Testified before the House Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties opposing legislation to expand the Americans with Disabilities Act. One provision would define as "disabled" anyone with an impairment, such as poor vision correctable by wearing eyeglasses. 

• Continue to educate members of Congress about the adverse consequences of passing significant expansion of civil rights laws without considering the potential for frivolous litigation and unrealistic administrative burdens.

• Submitted extensive comments to the Department of Labor detailing employer problems with the current FMLA regulations and urging the department to pursue a rulemaking to revise the regulations. These regulations create confusion, causing employers severe compliance difficulties. Critical areas include the definition of a serious health condition, the use of intermittent leave, and methods used by employers to give employees notice that FMLA leave is being used.
• Continue to lobby against expanding the FMLA and the Healthy Families Act to create a paid sick leave mandate.
• Continue to lobby for a reasonable mandate to provide families of wounded military personnel with unpaid leave to assist family member's recovery.

• Continue advocating on global labor and employment issues, including the International Labor Organization's (ILO's) approach to globalization and trade.  Advocate against mechanisms to force U.S. and multinational employers to adhere to international standards at odds with U.S. law.

• Worked behind the scenes to negotiate significant improvements in legislation to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.