Workers Deserve Better.
America’s labor and employment laws defend workers from harm and exploitation. They protect our children by keeping them away from sawblades and slaughterhouses where they can be maimed or killed. Our country’s laws grant workers the freedom to organize and collectively bargain without the fear of retaliation. They also safeguard the wages and benefits that workers have rightfully earned through their labor.
Unfortunately, unscrupulous employers are emboldened to violate these foundational worker rights and protections because of the weak civil monetary penalties assessed in response.
Under Current U.S. Law:
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It costs more for a business to become an annual member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($300-$2,500) than to union bust and fire a worker for organizing a union ($0).
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The median penalty for a workplace where a worker is killed on the job is roughly $14,000. In comparison, in 2023, certain CEOs received a median car allowance of $15,000.
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The maximum penalty for defective kids’ toys is up to $120,000 per violation. Yet the penalty for illegally hiring kids to work an overnight shift or in a slaughterhouse is approximately $15,000, and only $71,000 if a child is killed.
A SLAP ON THE WRIST:
How It Pays for Unscrupulous Employers to Take Advantage of Workers
Our nation’s labor and employment laws are a covenant with workers. They secure the most basic promises of work for over 167 million people in the United States labor force—the rights to earned wages, a safe workplace, and to organize and collectively bargain, among others.
But what happens when these laws are broken?
LETS Protect Workers Act (H.R. 9137):
Without appropriate penalties, unscrupulous employers are emboldened to violate our foundational worker rights and protections. To ensure workers and children are protected from harm and exploitation, the cost of violating the law cannot amount to a slap on the wrist.
Passing the Labor Enforcement to Securely (LETS) Protect Workers Act will:
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Increase civil monetary penalties for violations of child labor, minimum wage and overtime, worker health and safety, and farmworker protection standards.
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Set new penalties for violations of mental health parity in employer-sponsored health plans, wage-and-hour retaliation and recordkeeping violations, and certain violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act.
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Close a loophole that allows employers to escape penalties for failing to keep records of workplace injuries if OSHA does not detect the violation within six months.
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Authorize, for the first time, civil monetary penalties for employers who violate the National Labor Relations Act, consistent with the bipartisan PRO Act (H.R. 20).
Let's Take Action.
Let’s take responsible action that will protect workers and children and help law-abiding businesses.
This bill will level the playing field for workers, but it also will benefit those employers who play by the rules. Unscrupulous employers are brazenly violating workers’ rights every day because they know that the lack of serious penalties can be factored in as just a cost of doing business.
When low-road employers feel there’s little reason to abide by labor and employment statutes because the financial disincentives are so minimal, then workers and high-road businesses lose. We need to fix that.
Let's protect workers & children.
Let's help law-abiding businesses.
Building Jobs and Opportunity is a not-for-profit organization which promotes social welfare, economic growth and development, fosters job creation, enhances working conditions, and educates the public regarding labor and employment policy.