Monday morning musings for workplace watchers.
Policy Priorities|Worker Misclassification
Paige Smith: Democrats applauded the Inflation Reduction Act’s passage Friday, pointing to their wins in tax and clean energy policy, as well as some labor-friendly provisions.
But they’re already looking wistfully back to provisions from the wide-ranging reconciliation bill formerly known as Build Back Better, which called for hefty workplace civil rights enforcement money, paid family and medical leave, and civil monetary penalties for labor law violators. Some Democrats still want to see action on those policies.
Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.), a former union organizer, particularly regretted the removal of additional funding for the National Labor Relations Board and civil monetary penalties for unfair labor practices.
“Civil penalties would add real teeth to enforce the National Labor Relations Act, protecting workers and addressing wrongdoing by unscrupulous employers,” he said in an email. “If we truly want workers to have the fundamental human right to form unions and bargain collectively, we need tools to hold employers accountable who violate that right.”
The staff union for the NLRB also lamented the removed funds and proposed penalties for the labor agency, saying they were again “snubbed.”
Some lawmakers, however, are applauding it, slashes and all. House Democrat Donald Norcross (N.J.), a frequent critic of Amazon.com Inc.'s warehouses, called the bill a “plain and simple”...
CYBERJAYA, April 15 — The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is investigating an individual suspected of spreading false news that Malaysia supplied 329,000 barrels of diese...