Three New Bills Introduced Aimed at Changing Labor and Employment Law

Volume 4, Issue 2 - 5/18/2009

Fair Pay Act of 2009

On April 28, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (DE-DC) reintroduced the Fair Pay Act of 2009 (S. 904, H.R. 2151), which aims to eliminate any form of wage discrimination by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Equal Pay Act to require that employers provide equal pay for jobs that are equivalent in skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions.

Highlights of the Fair Pay Act include:

Employers will be required to pay the same wage for “equivalent jobs”;
Prohibition of any wage differentials not tied to an individual employee’s job-related performance; therefore, any sort of merit-based, location-based or performance-based pay would be outlawed; and
Employers will be required to keep records to account for the “method, system, and calculations” used to develop employee pay and report those records to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for a time to be determined by the EEOC.

The Fair Pay Act was introduced in previous sessions of Congress, but RILA continues to monitor the legislation as it is often mentioned in context with other pay parity bills such as the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182, H.R. 12), which, among other things, also amends the Equal Pay Act to allow for larger class action suits and damages claims by plaintiffs.

Family and Medical Leave Restoration Act

On April 29, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter introduced the Family and Medical Leave Restoration Act (H.R. 2161) aimed at repealing many of the clarifying regulations finalized by the Bush Administration that went into effect on January 16, 2009. In addition, the bill would also reinstate nullified regulations and instruct the Labor Department to undergo a rulemaking process to draft new regulations.

The following provisions are contained in the bill:

Restore the prohibition on denying attendance bonuses as a consequence for taking FMLA leave;
Restore the provision forcing employers and employees to channel disputes through the U.S. Department of Labor;
Prohibit an employer from approving or denying FMLA leave based on non-compliance with employer leave request policies;
Prevent employers from contacting an employee’s medical provider to clarify ambiguous statements on a medical certification form; and
Direct the Secretary of Labor to revise the Bush regulations to revisit the treatment and recertification timelines.

RILA was firmly behind the Bush Labor Department’s three-year initiative to provide much needed clarity to the FMLA regulations so that employees and employers alike could better adhere to and administer this complicated law. RILA will stand with the National Coalition to Protect Family Leave in opposition to any effort to undermine the important step taken to update this law for the first time since its enactment in 1994.

Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act

The Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act (H.R. 2132) was reintroduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) to amend the FMLA to permit eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a same-sex spouse, domestic partner, parent-in-law, adult child, sibling or grandparent who has a serious health condition.

The bill was not considered by Congress when it was introduced two years ago, but RILA will monitor its progress again this year.

For more information, please contact Sarah Arbes, vice president of government affairs, at sarah.arbes@rila.org.