Workers deserve more rights
We live in a culture where corporations simply have too much power. Currently, they can:
- Ask us to sign away our rights
- Push us out of our jobs for any reason or no reason
- Work while grieving a loved one
- Check our credit in the hiring process
- Fail to conduct investigations for reports of sexual harassment
- Discriminate against those suffering from domestic violence
- Retaliate against injured workers
- Make it difficult for us to leave toxic workplaces when our healthcare is tied to our jobs
- Silence us when we've been abused
- Pay some workers below minimum wage
- Not grant sufficient sick leave amid COVID-19
- Conduct abusive scheduling practices
- Avoid accountability for discrimination through wages and promotions
- Steal wages
- Block public employees from striking
- Ask about our desired salary ranges, which has a discriminatory impact
- Verbally abuse and sabotage workers with zero accountability
We can change this toxic culture for workers through by passing these bills into law:
In their next job search, workers might encounter employers asking them to waive their rights to basic protections. The abusive waivers bill would void provisions in contracts waiving rights or remedies relating to claims of discrimination, nonpayment of wages or benefits, retaliation, or harassment in employment. California, Maryland, New York, Vermont, and Washington have already banned these waivers.
At-will employment, H1946 Employees are at the will of their employers aside from difficult-to-prove discrimination. Once employers push these workers out, workers have no rights. The at-will employment bill prohibiting constructive discharge and wrongful termination would address this rampant issue. Montana is the only state to ban at-will employment.
Bereavement leave, S1145 / H1879Workers deserve time off to properly grieve a loved one without worrying about losing their jobs. Bereavement leave bills would give workers time off to address the death.
Employers should not use credit reports or ask candidates to disclose their credit worthiness, standing, or capacity as criteria for employment.
Victims of domestic violence and family members of them sometimes experience discharge or others forms of discrimination at work or in the hiring process. But they deserve reasonable accommodations at work rather than forced to take leave if the accommodations won't impose undue hardships on employers.
Farm workers' fairness, S1837 / H2812
This bill will expand rights for farm workers by increasing the minimum wage, changing paid time off accrual to 55 hours per year, and providing overtime pay.
Independent investigations for sexual harassment, S2061 To expand workers' rights, we need a state legislature in which leadership celebrates diverse voices (women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community) rather than dictates and silences those harassed. The Equality and Respect in the Workplace bill would create an independent commission to investigate allegations of harassment and prohibit retaliation.
We need stronger anti-retaliation law. This bill provides for an administrative complaint and investigation mechanism for enforcement and otherwise addresses employer misconduct that prevents workers from receiving timely medical care and benefits.
Guaranteed equitable health care access for all through a single payer health care financing system will ensure healthcare without regard to financial or employment status, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, previous health problems, or geographic location. This safety net will make it easier for workers to leave toxic workplaces. The act will provide access to healthcare services that are continuous, without the current need for repeated re-enrollments or changes when employers choose new plans and residents change jobs. Coverage shall be comprehensive and affordable, with no co-insurance, co-payments, or deductibles.
One fair wage for tipped employees, S1188 Our tipped workers (restaurant workers, drivers, and grocery pickers and deliverers) don't make enough money to qualify for unemployment insurance in ways that non-tipped workers do. The One Fair Wage bill phases out the discriminatory subminimum wage for tipped workers that disproportionately affected women, making it gradually match the regular minimum wage.
Withholding labor is a fundamental human right. Strikes and the threat of them are a part of the collective bargaining process, especially for teachers, police, and firefighters. This bill calls for a repeal of a state law that bans public sector workers from going on strike.
Public reporting of the gender and racial makeup of workforces and de-identified wage and salary data available by protected category is crucial for employer accountability for bias. If the data were made public, it would allow potential plaintiffs and attorneys an opportunity to assess the likelihood that illegal discrimination plays a role in the reward structures of employers. While the data may reveal equity, in many cases it could reveal disparities that employers could voluntarily remedy or allow workers to file suit. California has already passed the Fair Pay Act that protects the rights of workers to ask about the compensation of coworkers in similar jobs.
This bill would hold lead contractors accountable for the wage theft violations of their subcontractors as long as there is a significant connection to their business activities or operations. It would also protect workers from wage theft violations such as failure to make wage payments, failure to abide by minimum wage, prevailing wage and overtime laws, and independent contractor misclassification and strengthen workers’ protection against retaliation. Ultimately, it would promote fair competition by ensuring that all businesses, including lead contractors, play by the rules and give their workers an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work.
Wage transparency, S1191 / H1849Massachusetts lawmakers made it illegal to ask about salary history, understanding the discriminatory impact of the question with accumulative differences among demographics. But employers can still ask for desired salary ranges, having the same effect. Instead, this bill calls for employers providing the pay scale for a particular employment position, which also benefits employers.
Workplace abuse, H1882, the Workplace Psychological Safety Act
Workplace bullying is a severe and pervasive phenomenon in the US involving a violation of the basic human right to dignity. Bullying tactics include false accusations, exclusion, withholding necessary resources, sabotage, verbal abuse, put-downs, and unreasonable demands — resulting in a host of stress-related symptoms including anxiety, depression, PTSD, and suicide ideation. This bill would hold employers accountable for abusive conduct.
