Last week was a busy one for President Biden – almost every day, the White House announced new objectives to advance labor and employment law in the United States.
Promoting Unions
President Biden and Labor Secretary Walsh have not been shy about their support for unionization. The White House released an executive order last week affirming his commitment of providing “support for workers organizing unions and bargaining collectively with their employers.”
The Executive Order:
- Establishes the Worker Organizing and Empowerment Task Force that will include officials from most cabinets and executive agencies.
- Places VP Harris as chair of the Worker Organizing and Empowerment Task Force.
The goal of the task force is to “identify executive branch policies, practices, and programs that could be used, consistent with applicable law, to promote…Administration’s policy of support for worker power, worker organizing, and collective bargaining.” This will include creating programs to promote worker power with employee-hostile labor laws and identify statutory changes to make union organizing more effective.
Federal Contractor Minimum Wage
Effective January 30, 2022, all federal contractors will be required to incorporate a $15 minimum wage for all new contract solicitations. By March 30, 2022, all federal agencies will also need to implement minimum wages into new and existing contracts. The Executive Order that implements this change also ties this new minimum wage to inflation and will be adjusted annually.
The Executive Order eliminates the tipped minimum wage for federal contractors by 2024 and extends the required $15 minimum wage to federal contract workers with disabilities.
This Executive Order may encourage other companies to consider adjusting their own wage practices to stay competitive in the market.
Paid Family Medical Leave
The final big announcement was the American Families Plan – which proposes to provide up to 12 weeks of partially paid Federal FMLA leave.
The plan is designed to:
- Provide partial wage replacement to “bond with a new child, care for a seriously ill loved one, deal with a loved one’s military deployment, find safety from sexual assault, stalking, or domestic violence, heal from their own serious illness, or take time to deal with the death of a loved one.”
- Implement paid leave in increments, and by year 10 provide 12 weeks of paid parental, family and personal illness/safe leave. These payments will provide workers up to $4,000 a month, with a minimum of 2/3 average weekly wage replaced.
- Give three days of bereavement leave per year.
You do not have to worry about this program just yet – it has not passed either the House or the Senate, and is likely to be altered in the coming months.
Questions about these announcements and how they might affect your workplace? We can help.