I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5073 

To require a score of worker-friendliness of each employer before entering 

into a Federal contract, to establish a contracting preference for such 

score, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 13, 2019 

Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ (for herself, Ms. MENG, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. 

TLAIB, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, and Ms. LEE of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Education 

and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require a score of worker-friendliness of each employer 

before entering into a Federal contract, to establish a 

contracting preference for such score, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘A Just Society: The 

5 Uplift Our Workers Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. WORKER-FRIENDLINESS SCORES FOR FEDERAL 

2 CONTRACTS. 

3 (a) SCORES REQUIRED.—With respect to any con4 tract or subcontract (at any tier) entered into on or after 

5 the date on which the method for a score is developed pur6 suant to subsection (b), the head of the executive agency 

7 shall— 

8 (1) ensure that contracting officers consider the 

9 score approximately equal in importance or signifi10 cantly more important than cost or price (as de11 scribed in section 3306 of title 41, United States 

12 Code); and 

13 (2) ensure that an offeror for a prime contract 

14 does not subcontract with any entity that violates 

15 the labor laws and executive orders listed in sub16 section (b). 

17 (b) COMPONENTS OF SCORE.—Not later than 18 

18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec19 retary of Labor, in coordination with the Director of the 

20 Office of Management and Budget, shall— 

21 (1) develop a method to assess and provide a 

22 score with respect to the worker-friendliness of each 

23 prospective contractor or subcontractor (at any tier) 

24 that is an employer that submits a bid for a Federal 

25 contract before entering into the contract which 

26 takes into account— 


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1 (A) whether the employer is in compliance 

2 with the applicable labor laws and executive or3 ders listed in subsection (c), including whether 

4 the employer has been subject to any adminis5 trative or civil judgments or arbitral decisions 

6 for any violations of such laws or orders; 

7 (B) whether the employer guarantees that 

8 the maximum amount of work that may be per9 formed under the contract by full-time workers 

10 will be performed by such workers by working 

11 40 hours per work week; 

12 (C) whether the employer provides paid 

13 overtime for any work that exceeds 40 hours 

14 per work week; 

15 (D) whether employers are paid at least 

16 $15 an hour, and wages are otherwise reflective 

17 of the prevailing wage; 

18 (E) whether the employer has a policy of 

19 providing employees with guaranteed predictive 

20 scheduling, the quality of which shall be as21 sessed by determining— 

22 (i) whether the policy is crafted for 

23 the purpose of ending unstable scheduling 

24 and allows workers to effectively provide 


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1 for their families financially and emotion2 ally; 

3 (ii) whether an employer has clear 

4 consistent processes in place to provide all 

5 employees with a good faith written esti6 mate of (1) how many shifts an employee 

7 is scheduled to work per month, (2) the 

8 days and hours these shifts will occur, and 

9 (3) whether the employee will be expected 

10 to work on-call shifts; 

11 (iii) whether an employer provides em12 ployees with their final schedules not less 

13 than two weeks in advance, including 

14 whether such final schedules are written 

15 and posted in the workplace, or posted on 

16 an electronic portal easily accessed by all 

17 employees; 

18 (iv) whether an employer reports 

19 changes to an employee’s schedule within a 

20 reasonable amount of time and com21 pensates employees when the employer 

22 cancels or alters shifts; 

23 (v) whether an employer limits ‘‘on 

24 call’’ scheduling practices and provides rea25 sonable compensation, in addition to regVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073

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1 ular pay, to employees that are given less 

2 than 24 hours notice before the start of a 

3 scheduled work shift; 

4 (vi) whether an employer reasonably 

5 compensates each employee who reports to 

6 work anticipating that the employee will 

7 work a certain number of hours (deter8 mined by the employer) but is sent home 

9 by the employer before such hours are 

10 complete; 

11 (vii) whether an employer guarantees 

12 a reasonable rest period when employees 

13 work consecutive shifts; 

14 (viii) whether an employer consistently 

15 offers any ‘‘extra’’ hours or shifts to exist16 ing employees before hiring new employees, 

17 using a temp agency, or using contractors 

18 or subcontractors; 

19 (ix) whether an employer maintains 

20 and utilizes an easily accessible and univer21 sally available voluntary standby list of 

22 current employees willing to work addi23 tional hours due to unanticipated need or 

24 unexpected absence; 


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1 (x) whether an employee avoids con2 sistent or systematic under-scheduling 

3 which would result in employees consist4 ently working significantly more hours 

5 than written in work schedule; 

6 (xi) whether an employer allows em7 ployees to request not to be scheduled for 

8 work shifts during certain times or at cer9 tain locations, and to identify preferences 

10 for the hours or locations of work; and 

11 (xii) whether an employer guarantees 

12 its employees will not be subject to infor13 mal or formal retaliation (such a demotion, 

14 reduction in hours, harassment, or termi15 nation) for requesting predictable sched16 ules; 

17 (F) whether the employer has a policy of 

18 guaranteeing access to paid sick leave, the qual19 ity of which shall be assessed by determining— 

20 (i) whether an employer guarantees a 

21 minimum of 56 hours paid sick leave annu22 ally for all employees; 

23 (ii) in the case of an employer with 10 

24 or more employees, whether the employer 


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1 guarantees more than 56 hours of paid 

2 sick leave annually for all employees; 

3 (iii) whether this paid sick leave is 

4 distinct from time accrued as part of a 

5 paid time off policy; 

6 (iv) whether an employer provides 

7 leave as an upfront allocation at the start 

8 of employment and the start of subsequent 

9 year of employment as opposed to requir10 ing that employees accrue paid sick leave; 

11 (v) whether an employer allows paid 

12 sick leave to be used by its employees to 

13 recover from illness, injury, medical condi14 tion as well as to seek medical diagnosis, 

15 preventive care, and other medical reasons; 

16 (vi) whether an employer allows this 

17 paid sick leave to also be used to aid, care 

18 for, or attend medical appointments with 

19 an employee’s family (including the em20 ployee’s child, parent, legal guardian or 

21 ward, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, 

22 spouse, registered domestic partner under 

23 any State or local law, or other person rea24 sonably designated as family); 


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1 (vii) whether an employer ensures 

2 that any verification requirements or policy 

3 around use of paid sick leave is reasonable 

4 and in no way onerous; and 

5 (viii) whether an employer allows em6 ployees to use paid sick leave to recover 

7 from or seek assistance in the aftermath of 

8 domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual vi9 olence, or stalking; 

10 (G) whether the employer has a policy of 

11 providing employees access with paid parental 

12 and family leave, the quality of which shall be 

13 assessed by determining— 

14 (i) whether an employer guarantees 

15 12 weeks or more paid family or parental 

16 leave annually after birth of a child, adop17 tion of a child, foster placement, or serious 

18 illness of the employee or the employee’s 

19 family member serious illness (as defined 

20 in section 101 of the Family and Medical 

21 Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611)); 

22 (ii) whether an employer provides 

23 leave as an upfront allocation at the start 

24 of employment as opposed to requiring 


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1 that employees accrue or earn paid family 

2 leave; 

3 (iii) whether an employer guarantees 

4 such leave for both full-time and part-time 

5 employees; 

6 (iv) whether an employer guarantees 

7 full or significant wage replacement during 

8 the course of this leave; 

9 (v) whether an employer guarantees a 

10 high weekly benefit cap or no such cap; 

11 (vi) whether the employer’s paid fam12 ily leave policy include job protection for 

13 all employees; 

14 (vii) whether such leave may be used 

15 when an employee’s child, parent, legal 

16 guardian or ward, sibling, grandparent, 

17 grandchild, spouse, registered domestic 

18 partner under any State or local law, or 

19 other person reasonably designated as fam20 ily is deployed abroad on active military 

21 service; and 

22 (viii) whether such policy allows for 

23 flexible hours once an employee returns to 

24 work following paid family and medical 

25 leave; 


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1 (H) whether the employer has a policy to 

2 employ individuals who are represented by a 

3 labor organization that has entered into a col4 lective bargaining agreement on the behalf of 

5 such individuals, the quality of which shall be 

6 assessed by determining— 

7 (i) whether an employer has policies 

8 guaranteeing the employees’ right to be 

9 represented by a labor organization and 

10 has committed to engage in timely good 

11 faith negotiations with the such labor orga12 nization; 

13 (ii) whether an employer has policies 

14 that recognize labor organizations formed 

15 as a result of an election or use of author16 ization cards; 

17 (iii) whether an employer has policies 

18 guaranteeing its employees right to strike; 

19 and 

20 (iv) whether an employer has policies 

21 guaranteeing that an employee will not be 

22 subject to informal or formal retaliation 

23 (such a demotion, reduction in hour, har24 assment, or termination) for joining or atVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073

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1 tempting to be represented by a labor or2 ganization; 

3 (I) whether the employer provides high4 quality healthcare that is subsidized by the em5 ployer; 

6 (J) whether the employees have an oppor7 tunity to form a worker or employment coopera8 tive; 

9 (K) whether the employer has policies in 

10 places to proactively manage the ethical, social, 

11 and environmental risks in the supply chain; 

12 and 

13 (L) any other relevant requirements as de14 termined by the Secretary and the Director; 

15 (2) provide the head of each executive agency 

16 with recommendations on how to evaluate such a 

17 score in making contracting decisions, and ensure 

18 that such recommendations will result in a pref19 erence for an employer that has higher scores with 

20 respect to worker-friendliness; 

21 (3) identify best practices for the implementa22 tion of the scoring process described in paragraph 

23 (1), including best practices to— 

24 (A) ensure that contracting officers con25 sider this score approximately equal in imporVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Nov 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5073.IH H5073

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1 tance or significantly more important than cost 

2 or price (as described in section 3306 of title 

3 41, United States Code); and 

4 (B) ensure that an offeror for a prime con5 tract does not subcontract with any entity that 

6 violates the labor laws and executive orders list7 ed in subsection (c); 

8 (4) maintain such scores in a database that is 

9 publicly accessible, which may be an existing data10 base or a new database developed and maintained by 

11 the Secretary of Labor; 

12 (5) create a process for an employer to appeal 

13 a score, including by submitting additional data or 

14 requesting a new score due to changes to employee 

15 policy; 

16 (6) review each score every 5 years to ensure 

17 that such score is up-to-date; and 

18 (7) enable employers that are not Federal con19 tractors to request such a score for purposes of pro20 moting worker-friendly policies. 

21 (c) LABOR LAWS AND EXECUTIVE ORDERS.—The 

22 laws and executive orders listed in this subsection are as 

23 follows: 

24 (1) The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 

25 U.S.C. 201 et seq.). 


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1 (2) The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 

2 1970 (29 U.S.C. 652 et seq.). 

3 (3) The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural 

4 Worker Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). 

5 (4) The National Labor Relations Act (29 

6 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). 

7 (5) Subchapter IV of chapter 31, of title 40, 

8 United States Code (commonly referred to as the 

9 ‘‘Davis-Bacon Act’’). 

10 (6) Chapter 67 of title 41, United States Code 

11 (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Service Contract 

12 Act’’). 

13 (7) Executive Order 11246 of September 24, 

14 1965 (Equal Employment Opportunity). 

15 (8) Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 

16 1973 (29 U.S.C. 793). 

17 (9) The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 

18 (29 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.). 

19 (10) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 

20 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.). 

21 (11) The Americans with Disabilities Act of 

22 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 

23 (12) The Age Discrimination in Employment 

24 Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.). 


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1 (13) Chapter 43 of title 38, United States Code 

2 (commonly known as the ‘‘Uniformed Services Em3 ployment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994’’). 

4 (14) Executive Order 13658 dated February 

5 12, 2014. 

6 (15) State laws comparable to the laws and ex7 ecutive orders listed in paragraphs (1) through (14). 

8 (d) BI-YEARLY REPORT.—Not later than 12 months 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act and every 6 months 

10 thereafter until the method described in section 2(b)(1) 

11 is developed, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re12 port that includes— 

13 (1) the status of developing the method de14 scribed in section 2(b)(1); 

15 (2) the factors described in section 2(b)(1) 

16 being taken into account in providing a score and 

17 how each such factor is being weighted; 

18 (3) the stakeholders consulted in developing the 

19 method described in section 2(b)(1); and 

20 (4) how the Secretary is meeting the require21 ments of the Secretary under this section. 

22 (e) UPDATE OF FAR.—Not later than 18 months 

23 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Acqui24 sition Regulation shall be amended to carry out this Act. 

25 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) CONTRACT.—The term ‘‘contract’’ does not 

2 include a contract with the Federal Prison Indus3 tries. 

4 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

5 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg6 et. 

7 (3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

8 agency’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

9 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

10 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

11 the Secretary of Labor. 

Æ 


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