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[House Report 112-291]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

112th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    112-291

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   PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE BILL (H.R. 3094) TO AMEND THE 
 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT WITH RESPECT TO REPRESENTATION HEARINGS 
   AND THE TIMING OF ELECTIONS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS UNDER THAT ACT

                                _______
                                

 November 17, 2011.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be 
                                printed

                                _______
                                

                Ms. Foxx, from the Committee on Rules, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                       [To accompany H. Res. 470]

    The Committee on Rules, having had under consideration 
House Resolution 470, by a nonrecord vote, report the same to 
the House with the recommendation that the resolution be 
adopted.

                SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS OF THE RESOLUTION

    The resolution provides for consideration of H.R. 3094, the 
Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act, under a structured rule. 
The resolution provides one hour of general debate equally 
divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member 
of the Committee on Education and the Workforce. The resolution 
waives all points of order against consideration of the bill. 
The resolution provides that the amendment in the nature of a 
substitute recommended by the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce now printed in the bill shall be considered as 
original text for the purpose of amendment and shall be 
considered as read. The resolution waives all points of order 
against the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute. 
The resolution makes in order only those amendments printed in 
this report. Each such amendment may be offered only in the 
order printed in this report, may be offered only by a Member 
designated in this report, shall be considered as read, shall 
be debatable for the time specified in this report equally 
divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall 
not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a 
demand for division of the question in the House or in the 
Committee of the Whole. The resolution waives all points of 
order against the amendments printed in this report. Finally, 
the resolution provides one motion to recommit with or without 
instructions.

                         EXPLANATION OF WAIVERS

    Although the resolution waives all points of order against 
consideration of the bill, the Committee is not aware of any 
points of order. The waiver of all points of order is 
prophylactic in nature.
    Although the resolution waives all points of order against 
the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute, the 
Committee is not aware of any points of order. The waiver of 
all points of order is prophylactic in nature.
    Although the resolution waives all points of order against 
the amendments printed in this report, the Committee is not 
aware of any points of order. The waiver of all points of order 
is prophylactic in nature.

                            COMMITTEE VOTES

    The results of each record vote on an amendment or motion 
to report, together with the names of those voting for and 
against, are printed below:

Rules Committee record vote No. 159

    Motion by Ms. Slaughter to report an open rule. Defeated: 
4-7

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Majority Members                      Vote               Minority Members               Vote
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Sessions....................................          Nay   Ms. Slaughter.....................          Yea
Ms. Foxx........................................          Nay   Mr. McGovern......................          Yea
Mr. Bishop of Utah..............................          Nay   Mr. Hastings of Florida...........          Yea
Mr. Woodall.....................................          Nay   Mr. Polis.........................          Yea
Mr. Scott of South Carolina.....................          Nay
Mr. Webster.....................................          Nay
Mr. Dreier, Chairman............................          Nay
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                  SUMMARY OF AMENDMENTS MADE IN ORDER

    1. Bishop, Tim (NY): Would give the Board authority to 
impose sanctions on a party for presenting a frivolous or 
vexatious filing during pre-election proceedings. (10 minutes)
    2. Boswell (IA): Would prevent employers that have paid any 
executive compensation bonuses in excess of 10,000 percent of 
the annual compensation of the average employee from engaging 
in open-ended litigation. Such parties are required to state 
their issues or positions at the outset of pre-election 
hearings, and prohibited from raising new, frivolous issues as 
a dilatory tactic. (10 minutes)
    3. Walz (MN): Would prevent this Act from applying to 
businesses that have been cited for violating labor laws in the 
past year against employees who are veterans of the Armed 
Forces. (10 minutes)
    4. Jackson Lee (TX): Would strike a section of the bill to 
ensure that employers would not be able to unnecessarily delay 
an election. (10 minutes)

                    TEXT OF AMENDMENTS MADE IN ORDER

 1. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Bishop of New York or 
                 His Designee, Debatable for 10 Minutes

  Page 8, line 2, strike ``and''.
  Page 9, line 19, strike the second period and insert ``; 
and'' and after such line insert the following:
          (3) by adding at the end the following:
  ``(f)(1) Prior to presenting any objection, filing, pleading, 
statement of position, paper, or appeal (in this subsection 
referred to as `filing') in any proceeding prior to an election 
under this section, an attorney or other party representative 
has a duty, to the best of his or her knowledge, information, 
and belief, and formed after an inquiry reasonable under the 
circumstances, to assure that--
          ``(A) such a filing is not being presented for any 
        improper purpose, such as to harass, cause unnecessary 
        delay, or needlessly increase the cost of litigation;
          ``(B) the claims, defenses, positions, and other 
        legal contentions in the filing are warranted by 
        existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for 
        extending, modifying, or reversing existing law or for 
        establishing new law;
          ``(C) the factual contentions in the filing have 
        evidentiary support or, if specifically so identified, 
        will likely have evidentiary support after a reasonable 
        opportunity for further investigation or development of 
        the record; and
          ``(D) any denials of factual contentions in the 
        filing are warranted on the evidence or, if 
        specifically so identified, are reasonably based on 
        belief or a lack of information.
  ``(2)(A) At any stage of a representation proceeding prior to 
an election under this section, including pre-election 
hearings, requests for Board reviews, or Board reviews, the 
Board or its agents, upon their own motion or that of a party 
to the proceeding, shall have discretion to impose sanctions 
against a party for presenting a frivolous or vexatious filing 
or raising a frivolous or vexatious matter to the Board under 
this section, or upon a finding that an attorney or other party 
representative breached his or her duty under this subsection. 
Sanctions may include reasonable litigation costs, salaries, 
transcript and record costs, travel and other reasonable costs 
and expenses. If the Board determines that a party has raised a 
frivolous or vexatious matter for purposes of delaying an 
election, the Board shall immediately direct that an election 
be conducted not less than 7 days after such determination.
  ``(B) For purposes of this section, a frivolous or vexatious 
filing is one that an attorney of ordinary competence would 
recognize as so lacking in merit that there is no substantial 
possibility that the Board would accept it as valid. The Board 
shall be guided by Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil 
Procedure in determining whether an objection, filing, 
pleading, paper or appeal is frivolous.''.
                              ----------                              

2. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Boswell of Iowa or His 
                   Designee, Debatable for 10 Minutes

  Page 8, line 2, strike ``and''.
  Page 8, line 20, insert ``(except those designated parties 
described in subparagraph (C))'' after ``parties''.
  Page 9, line 19, strike the second period and insert ``; 
and'' and after such line insert the following:
          (3) by adding at the end of subsection (c)(1) the 
        following:
                  ``(C) The designated parties referred to in 
                subparagraph (B) are employers that paid any 
                executive bonus compensation in excess of 
                10,000 percent of the total annual compensation 
                of the average employee during the 1-year 
                period preceding the filing of a petition under 
                this subsection. Such parties may not engage in 
                the dilatory tactic of raising new issues or 
                positions during a pre-election hearing that 
                were not raised prior to the commencement of 
                the hearing.''.
                              ----------                              

 3. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Walz of Minnesota or 
                 His Designee, Debatable for 10 Minutes

  Page 8, line 2, strike ``and''.
  Page 8, line 20, insert ``(except those designated parties 
described in subparagraph (C))'' after ``parties''.
  Page 9, line 19, strike the second period and insert ``; 
and'' and after such line insert the following:
          (3) by adding at the end of subsection (c)(1) the 
        following:
                  ``(C) The designated parties referred to in 
                subparagraph (B) are employers that have been 
                found liable for any labor law violation 
                against a veteran of the Armed Forces during 
                the 1-year period preceding the filing of a 
                petition under this subsection. Such parties 
                may not engage in the dilatory tactic of 
                raising new issues or positions during a pre-
                election hearing that were not raised prior to 
                the commencement of the hearing.''.
                              ----------                              

4. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Jackson Lee of Texas or 
                 Her Designee, Debatable for 10 Minutes

  Page 8, beginning on line 4, strike ``subparagraph (B)--'' 
and all that follows through ``(B) by inserting'' on line 8, 
and insert ``subparagraph (B), by inserting''.
  Page 8, line 24, strike ``last sentence--'' and all that 
follows through page 9, line 9, and insert ``last sentence, by 
inserting `or consideration of a request for review of a 
regional director's decision and direction of election,' after 
`record of such hearing'; and''.

                                  
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