The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act expands workers’ rights on the job: Examples of loopholes in current labor law and how the PRO Act closes them
| Deficiency in current labor law | Policy reform under the PRO Act |
|---|---|
| Allows employers to hold captive audience meetings. | Prohibits employers from forcing workers to attend captive audience meetings. |
| No civil penalties for employers who violate workers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). | Creates civil penalties for violations under the NLRA. |
| Allows employers to misclassify workers as independent contractors without violating the NLRA. | Institutes an “ABC” test to determine employee status and makes employee misclassification a violation under the NLRA. |
| Allows multiple employers to dictate workers’ terms of employment while also refusing to recognize the workers as their employees. | Codifies a strong joint employer standard. |
| Allows employers to permanently replace workers who go on strike. | Prohibits employers from permanently replacing striking workers. |
| Allows employers to lock out workers, prior to a strike, to influence the collective bargaining process. | Bans the use of offensive lockouts. |
| Prohibits workers from engaging in picketing or striking in solidarity with another company’s workers. | Removes prohibitions on secondary strikes. |
| Does not require employers to inform employees of their rights under the NLRA. | Requires employers to post a notice of workers’ rights under the NLRA. Failure to post notice results in a civil penalty up to $500 for each violation. |
| Allows employers to withhold or fail to provide accurate lists of eligible voters to the bargaining unit. | Requires employers to provide the bargaining unit a credible list of eligible voters in an election within two business days. Failure to provide list in a timely manner results in a civil penalty up to $500 for each violation. |
| Allows workers to vote in union elections only by certified mail, at the worksite, or off the worksite. | Allows workers to vote electronically in union elections in addition to certified mail, at the worksite, or off the worksite. |
| Allows employers to force workers to sign arbitration agreements that waive the right to collective or class action litigation. | Bans the use of collective and class action waivers. |
| Prevents workers from bringing civil lawsuits against their employer. | Provides workers a private right to civil action. |
Source: Authors’ analysis of current labor law and the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019, H.R. 2474, 116th Cong. (2019)