It’s Labor Day! In June 1894, Congress passed an act declaring the first Monday in September Labor Day and a legal holiday. Labor Day was created by the nation’s labor movement and dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers, according to the US Department of Labor.
This Labor Day 2013 marks the centennial of the US Department of Labor — and a new Labor Secretary Tom Perez. He linked the significance of Labor Day with Wednesday’s 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington:
“In his Wednesday speech, President Obama challenged us to address widening income inequality that is eroding the American Dream, invoking the marchers of 50 years ago who were engaged in that same struggle for economic justice. I join the president in the call for a higher minimum wage. It’s not just a moral imperative; it’s economic common sense. When we put more money in working families’ pockets, it boosts consumer demand, helping small businesses and jump-starting the entire economy.”
Here are some bills related to the minimum wage:
- HR 1010 Fair Minimum Wage Act: to provide for an increase in the Federal minimum wage.
- HR 229 Original Living American Wage (LAW) Act: to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for the calculation of the minimum wage based on the Federal poverty threshold for a family of 2, as determined by the Bureau of the Census.
- HR 650 Wages Act: amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to establish a base minimum wage for tipped employees.
- HR 831 Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act: phases out special wage certificates under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 under which individuals with disabilities may be employed at subminimum wage rates.
Labor and Employment Legislation
Job Training
- HR 3016 Jobs for Urban Sustainability and Training in America Act: To provide grants to cities with high unemployment rates to provide job training, public works, and economic development programs.
- HR 114 Online Job Training Act: To encourage online workforce training.
- HR 870 Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Employment and Training Act establishes the National Full Employment Trust Fund to create employment opportunities for the unemployed.
- HR 1617 Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act creates an emergency jobs program that will fund 2,242,000 positions during fiscal years 2014 and 2015.
- HR 2889 Local Jobs for America Act provides funds to States, units of general local government, and community-based organizations to save and create local jobs through the retention, restoration, or expansion of services needed by local communities.
Workplace Rights
- HR 675 Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act: To extend protections to part-time workers in the areas of employer-provided health insurance, family and medical leave, and pension plans.
- S 665 Protecting America’s Workers Act: to expand coverage under the Act, to increase protections for whistleblowers, to increase penalties for high gravity violations, to adjust penalties for inflation, to provide rights for victims or their family members.
- HR 645 Equal Employment for All Act amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit the use of consumer credit checks against prospective and current employees for the purposes of making adverse employment decisions.
- HR 946 National Right-to-Work Act preserves and protect the free choice of individual employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, or to refrain from such activities
- HR 1373 Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act To improve compliance with mine safety and health laws, empower miners to raise safety concerns, prevent future mine tragedies.
Work & Family
- HR 2559 Flexibility for Working Families Act To permit employees to request, and to ensure employers consider requests for, flexible work terms and conditions.
- HR 1406 Working Families Flexibility Act permits employees to request, and to ensure employers consider requests for, flexible work terms and conditions.
- S 631 Healthy Families Act allows Americans to earn paid sick time so that they can address their own health needs and the health needs of their families.
Wages
- HR 438 Fair Pay Act amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to prohibit discrimination in the payment of wages on account of sex, race, or national origin.
- HR 2013 Davis-Bacon Repeal Act To repeal the wage rate requirements commonly known as the Davis-Bacon Act.
Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply a POPVOX endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system.
