YOUR ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED!

The House of Representatives is poised to consider H.R. 1644, the Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradesworkers Act. This legislation, nicknamed the "RESPECT Act," would significantly affect the ability of HR professionals to manage their respective workforces.

The RESPECT Act would redefine "supervisor" under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which is important because any employee deemed a supervisor is not covered under the NLRA and, accordingly, is not allowed to join a union. In fact, the NLRA permits an employer to intentionally exclude these employees from joining a union to ensure members of management do not become embroiled in strikes, contract disputes or other conflicts interest with their employer.

Under the bill, an employer could not classify an employee as a "supervisor" unless the employee engages in managerial duties "for a majority of theindividual's worktime." HR professionals know that many positions with management-level duties may entail many other responsibilities, and thus, such employees may not be supervising staff for more than half of their workday. The legislation would also revise the NLRA definition of supervisor by erasing the phrases "assign" and "responsibility to direct" from the law's list of accepted supervisory duties.

All in all, by narrowing the definition of supervisor, the RESPECT Act will reduce the number of employees who qualify to be classified as supervisors under the NLRA.

The House Committee on Education and Labor narrowly voted to pass the RESPECT Act out of committee on September 19. Please write your Member of Congress and urge them to VOTE NO on the RESPECT Act when the bill is considered by the full House of Representatives in the coming days.

Background

The National Labor Relations Act, as amended, dictates how employers and labor organizations can deal with employees. Section 2(11) of the NLRA defines "supervisor" as follows:

(11) The term "supervisor" means any individual having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.

This definition of supervisor is relevant because supervisors are not covered under the NLRA. Some have alleged that the definition was narrowed by a trio of 2006 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions in Oakwood Healthcare, Inc., Golden Crest Healthcare Center, and Croft Metals, Inc.

These three cases became known as the "Kentucky River trilogy," because they were offshoots of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2001 decision in NLRB v.Kentucky River Community Care, Inc. In Kentucky River, the Court held that NLRB determinations for how employees were classified as supervisors had been "inconsistent" with the NLRA.

In the lead case of the three decisions, the NLRB ruled in Oakwood Healthcare, Inc. that 12 charge nurses at Oakwood Heritage Hospital in Taylor, Michigan, should be exempt from the NLRA because they performed at least one of the Act's listed supervisory functions and were, therefore, statutory supervisors. Consequently, they could not become members of a labor organization.

Legislation

H.R. 1644, the Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradesworkers (RESPECT) Act, sponsored by Representative Robert Andrews (D-NJ) would amend the NLRA to change the definition of "supervisor."

The bill would take out the terms "assign" and "responsibility to direct" from the NLRA's duties associated with a supervisor. The legislation would also dictate that an employee cannot be classified as a "supervisor" unless the employee engages in managerial duties "for a majority of the individual's worktime."

SHRM's Position

SHRM opposes the RESPECT Act because it would drastically change the statutory definition of supervisor and hinder organizations' efforts to manage their critical human capital resources.

SHRM believes the RESPECT Act's removal of "assign" and "responsibility to direct" from the statutory list of duties carried out by a supervisor would be detrimental because few duties are more inherent among supervisory responsibilities than directing staff and assigning tasks.

Furthermore, SHRM opposes the legislation's addition of "majority of the individual's worktime" because the requirement that employees engage in management duties for more than 50% of their worktime is arbitrary and not reflective of many professions. Supervisors in many occupations perform numerous tasks in addition to their management responsibilities.

Action Needed

Write or call your elected officials in Washington today! Your U.S. Representative needs to know your views and the perspective of the HR community on this important workplace issue.

For SHRM Members:

To write your elected official using HRVoice, follow these steps:

1. Click here to "Write Your Elected Officials!!"
2. Click on "Defeat the RESPECT Act" under the heading "Take Immediate Action on these Hot Issues."

**If you are unable to access the letter using the above instructions, please see the steps below.

1. Log onto SHRM Online by clicking here.
2. Sign in using your member number and last name.
3. Click on "Governmental Affairs," then go to "HRVoice" on the left side of your screen.
4. Select "Write Your Elected Officials!!"
5. Click on "Defeat the RESPECT Act" under the heading "Take Immediate Action on these Hot Issues."

Creates Paid Sick Day Act

Allows employees working in this state to receive paid sick days. Paid sick days provided for under this section shall accrue as determined appropriate by the employer, but not less than on a quarterly basis. Leave may be used as accrued or be loaned by the employer to the employee in advance of accrual by such employee. If the schedule of an employee varies from week to week, a weekly average of the hours worked over the twelve-week period prior to the beginning of a sick day payout shall be used to calculate the employee's normal work week for the purposes of determining the amount of paid sick days to which the employee is entitled.
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