IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 702 

Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to protect the rights of 

restaurant workers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023 

Ms. TLAIB (for herself, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. 

BOWMAN, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. BUSH, Ms. 

OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. CASAR, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, Ms. OMAR, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 

DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Ms. JACKSON LEE) submitted 

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways 

and Means, the Judiciary, Financial Services, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Oversight and Accountability, Armed Services, Veterans’ Affairs, Natural Resources, Foreign Affairs, and House Administration, 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 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to protect 

the rights of restaurant workers. 

Whereas, as of 2022— 

(1) there are over 12.5 million restaurant workers in 

the United States, comprising over 10 percent of the 

overall workforce; and 

(2) over 60 percent of American adults report working in the restaurant industry at some point during their 


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lives and 48 percent report having held their first regular 

job in a restaurant; 

Whereas the restaurant industry workforce is extremely diverse, in which— 

(1) 54 percent are women and nearly 1⁄2 are workers 

of color; 

(2) Latino and Latina workers are the most represented racial or ethnic group in the restaurant industry; and 

(3) over 1⁄5 of restaurant workers are immigrants, 

who are denied access to public programs simply because 

of their immigration status; 

Whereas more than 1⁄3 of all women working in the restaurant industry are mothers, and well over 1⁄2 of those 

are single moms; 

Whereas restaurant workers live in poverty at nearly 3 times 

the rate of the general workforce, and access food stamps 

and Medicaid at nearly twice the rate of the overall workforce; 

Whereas employers in 16 States are permitted to pay restaurant workers just $2.13 an hour before tips, a tipped 

minimum cash wage that Congress has not raised since 

1991 and that exacerbates the economic impacts of 

sexism and racism, as demonstrated by the fact that in 

those 16 States— 

(1) the racial divide in poverty levels is exacerbated, 

with restaurant workers of color living in poverty at levels 

4.9 percentage points higher than White restaurant workers; and 

(2) sexual harassment is higher than in the States 

where employers are required to pay the full minimum 

wage with tips on top; 


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Whereas 23.5 percent of workers in the restaurant industry 

lived without health coverage in 2017, which is nearly triple the national rate, and only 31 percent of restaurants 

offer health insurance coverage for their staff according 

to a survey of restaurant owners; 

Whereas low wages, unjust working conditions, and bans on 

abortion coverage like the Hyde Amendment, all interfere 

with someone’s ability to make their own decisions about 

pregnancy and whether to become a parent, and disproportionately affect women and people of color; 

Whereas wage theft, discrimination, and other violations of 

wage and hour law are extremely common in the restaurant industry, and restaurant workers are more likely 

to experience discrimination in restaurants, including sex 

discrimination, discrimination against parents, racism 

and racist hiring practices; 

Whereas the rate of sexual harassment among female restaurant workers is the highest of any industry, with female workers filing sexual harassment charges at twice 

the rate of the general workforce, with one survey of restaurant industry workers finding that more than 70 percent of women reported having experienced some form of 

sexual harassment in the workplace; 

Whereas, since the United States is currently the only OECD 

country with no national paid family leave and one of the 

few high-income countries without a national family 

caregiving or medical leave policy, the majority of restaurant workers have no guaranteed paid or unpaid 

leave; 

Whereas in a survey of COVID impacts on the restaurant industry, 42 percent of respondents said that someone at 


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their workplace tested positive for COVID–19 and 68 

percent said that the virus impacted their workplaces 

with them or their coworkers testing positive, and one in 

ten restaurant workers went to work with COVID–19 

symptoms because of economic pressures; 

Whereas nearly 6 million restaurant workers lost their jobs 

in 2020, disproportionately impacting women and workers of color; and 

Whereas unemployment in the restaurant industry in the 

United States was 41.8 percent in April 2020, at the 

height of the pandemic, which was more than twice the 

rate of unemployment in the private sector overall: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) it is the duty of the Federal Government to 

4 develop a restaurant workers’ bill of rights through 

5 transparent inclusive consultation, collaboration, and 

6 partnership with restaurant workers, including mem7 bers of frontline and vulnerable communities, labor 

8 unions, civil society groups, academia, and busi9 nesses to ensure that restaurant workers have— 

10 (A) the right to a thriving life by being 

11 paid a thriving wage, having access to safe, sta12 ble and sufficient housing and affordable 

13 childcare, and being economically secure in re14 tirement; 


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1 (B) the right to healing and rest by having 

2 paid time to recover from illness, care for fam3 ily members, and engage in life outside of work 

4 as well as consistent schedules that allow their 

5 families to thrive; 

6 (C) the right to a safe and dignified work 

7 environment by ensuring restaurant workers are 

8 safe from discrimination and harassment in the 

9 workplace; 

10 (D) the right to healthcare and bodily au11 tonomy by making certain that all restaurant 

12 workers have comprehensive, affordable and ac13 cessible health and reproductive care, protection 

14 against discrimination on the basis of gender 

15 identity, and protection against discrimination 

16 regarding hair texture or hairstyles associated 

17 with a particular race or national origin; and 

18 (E) the right to participation in govern19 ance by exercising their rights as citizens, vot20 ers, activists, and organizers at all levels of gov21 ernment and at our workplaces, free from pres22 sure and coercion from employers; 

23 (2) the right to a thriving life will be imple24 mented by— 


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1 (A) enacting a Federal law requiring all 

2 tipped and non-tipped restaurant workers to be 

3 paid a full thriving wage, which would eliminate 

4 the tip credit and prohibit employers from pay5 ing workers anything less than the full min6 imum wage, with tips on top; 

7 (B) exploring options to provide retirement 

8 benefits to all workers regardless of the type of 

9 employment or level of compensation the worker 

10 received through the course of their work his11 tory, including by expanding Social Security or 

12 establishing funded portable retirement ac13 counts; 

14 (C) exploring the viability of a Federal 

15 guaranteed basic income program; 

16 (D) ensuring enforcement of wage and 

17 hour regulations by— 

18 (i) providing a private right of action 

19 for affected workers in the restaurant in20 dustry; 

21 (ii) increasing Federal resources for 

22 investigation and enforcement of wage vio23 lations in the restaurant industry; 

24 (iii) engaging in strategic enforcement 

25 of the restaurant industry, which includes 


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1 conducting proactive, rather than reactive, 

2 investigations; 

3 (iv) developing sustained partnerships 

4 with worker centers, unions, legal advocacy 

5 organizations, and other community-based 

6 organizations that are embedded in res7 taurant worker communities to conduct in8 vestigations; 

9 (v) investing resources into informa10 tional campaigns to businesses and know 

11 your rights campaigns for workers; 

12 (vi) strengthening penalties and rem13 edies for wage violations in the restaurant 

14 industry and engaging in robust compli15 ance agreements with violators; and 

16 (vii) ensuring that employers are sub17 ject to penalties if they retaliate against 

18 restaurant workers who report wage viola19 tions; 

20 (E) modernizing and reforming Federal 

21 unemployment insurance laws to— 

22 (i) guarantee universal minimum 

23 standards for benefits eligibility, duration, 

24 and adequacy, with States free to enact 

25 more expansive benefits; 


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1 (ii) reform financing of Federal unem2 ployment insurance to eliminate incentives 

3 for States and employers to exclude work4 ers, reduce benefits, and contest valid 

5 claims; 

6 (iii) update eligibility standards to 

7 match the modern workforce, and guar8 antee benefits to underemployed and part 

9 time workers, and everyone looking for 

10 work but still jobless through no fault of 

11 their own, including workers engaged in 

12 caregiving; and 

13 (iv) enact a Federal requirement that 

14 all States provide at least 26 weeks of UI 

15 benefits, and use better measures of labor 

16 market distress to automatically extend 

17 and sustain benefits during downturns; 

18 (F) requiring that large companies and 

19 franchisors first offer rehiring opportunities to 

20 former employees, before hiring new employees, 

21 to stop employers from cutting costs by letting 

22 go of their experienced, higher-paid workers in 

23 favor of new, lower-paid workers; 

24 (G) eliminating at-will employment and en25 acting just cause termination policies that— 


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1 (i) require that employers have just 

2 cause for termination of employment; 

3 (ii) ensure that employers’ rules and 

4 regulations (those which if broken could 

5 cause termination) are standardized, just, 

6 reasonable, and are in place to make the 

7 workplace safe and legal; 

8 (iii) place the burden of proof that an 

9 employee is in violation of any such rule of 

10 regulation on the employer; 

11 (iv) ensure that employers thoroughly 

12 inform employees regarding fireable of13 fenses; 

14 (v) require that employers provide em15 ployees with ample notice regarding viola16 tions; 

17 (vi) ensure that employers carry out a 

18 thorough and just investigation when a 

19 worker is accused of a fireable offense; 

20 (vii) ensure that employees are not re21 taliated against by employers for exercising 

22 their right to contest termination in a judi23 cial or internal process; and 

24 (viii) ensure that traditionally ex25 cluded workers like domestic, agriculture, 


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1 and undocumented workers are included in 

2 any such policies; 

3 (H) enacting Federal policies to reduce the 

4 high rate of gender, race or national origin, sex5 ual orientation, and other forms of employment 

6 discrimination in the restaurant industry by, 

7 among other things— 

8 (i) improving enforcement of existing 

9 laws on employment discrimination and 

10 better funding the Federal agencies tasked 

11 with enforcing those laws; 

12 (ii) implementing and enforcing legis13 lation prohibiting discrimination based on 

14 a person’s hair texture or hairstyle if that 

15 style or texture is commonly associated 

16 with a particular race or national origin; 

17 (iii) mandating employers to train 

18 their employees so long as they employ 5 

19 or more employees anywhere, even if they 

20 do not work at the same location and even 

21 if not all of them work or reside in the 

22 same State; 

23 (iv) clarifying and enforcing Federal 

24 laws regarding independent contractors to 


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1 fight misclassification of employees in in2 dustries such as the on-demand economy; 

3 (v) eliminating the use of the ‘‘felony 

4 box’’ in job applications; 

5 (vi) enacting policies to eliminate cur6 rently existing gender and racial pay gaps 

7 and adding significant penalties for em8 ployers who refuse to comply; and 

9 (vii) establishing better mechanisms 

10 for workers to report discrimination with11 out fear of retaliation; and 

12 (I) investing in a robust, qualified 

13 childcare system that is accessible to all work14 ers, regardless of their ability to pay or their 

15 immigration status, by— 

16 (i) establishing free, quality federally 

17 funded training programs and advance18 ment opportunities for early educators; 

19 (ii) ensuring child care providers 

20 make a thriving wage to support them21 selves and their families and thrive; 

22 (iii) ensuring equal access to childcare 

23 for all parents and caretakers, not just 

24 birthing mothers; 


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1 (iv) ensuring a wide variety of funded 

2 options that meet caretakers’ diverse and 

3 unique needs; 

4 (v) expanding the funding and scope 

5 of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Child6 hood Home Visiting Program; and 

7 (vi) ensuring access to free, quality, 

8 nontraditional hour care, including night 

9 care; 

10 (3) the right to healing and rest will be imple11 mented by— 

12 (A) a Federal requirement that employers 

13 provide paid sick, family, medical and vacation 

14 leave to all restaurant workers regardless of 

15 their immigration status, implemented through 

16 the enactment of— 

17 (i) Federal legislation that guarantees 

18 all employees a minimum amount of paid 

19 family and medical leave, with continued 

20 health insurance coverage and meaningful 

21 wage replacement during leave, and with 

22 guaranteed job security and protection 

23 from retaliation upon the employee’s re24 turn from leave; 


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1 (ii) Federal legislation that entitles all 

2 workers to a minimum number of paid 

3 days of vacation; and 

4 (iii) Federal legislation that mandates 

5 a minimum number of hours of paid sick 

6 and safe leave per calendar year for per7 sonal and family care regardless of posi8 tion, tenure, and hours worked per week; 

9 and 

10 (B) a Federal requirement that busi11 nesses— 

12 (i) post employees’ work schedules at 

13 least two weeks in advance or not later 

14 than a certain number of days before their 

15 shift begins; 

16 (ii) ensure adequate rest between 

17 shifts; 

18 (iii) provide employees with additional 

19 pay when employers make last-minute 

20 schedule changes and for on-call shifts; 

21 (iv) allow employees to make sched22 uling requests or decline schedule changes 

23 without fear of retaliation; 


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1 (v) offer newly available hours to 

2 qualified existing staff before making new 

3 hires; and 

4 (vi) ensure that employees not be pe5 nalized or retaliated against for lawful ab6 sences under no-fault attendance policies; 

7 (4) the right to a safe and dignified work envi8 ronment will be implemented by— 

9 (A) taking steps to ensure workplace 

10 health and safety in the restaurant industry, in11 cluding by— 

12 (i) requiring employers, with input 

13 from employees, to develop, adopt, and dis14 tribute plans, which must at a minimum 

15 follow guidelines from the CDC and 

16 OSHA, to protect employees’ health and 

17 safety at work that must be activated when 

18 a Federal or State pandemic state of emer19 gency is declared; 

20 (ii) requiring employers to train all 

21 workers on hazards and the measures the 

22 employer has implemented in the work23 place to protect workers from dangers in24 cluding working with sharp knives, elec25 trical hazards, slippery and cluttered 


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1 floors, fire hazards and burns from cooking 

2 equipment and hot food, musculoskeletal 

3 disorders, dangerous cleaning and other 

4 chemicals, workplace violence, and 

5 COVID–19; 

6 (iii) requiring employers to permit em7 ployees at a worksite to establish a joint 

8 labor-management workplace safety com9 mittee where employee members can raise 

10 health and safety concerns, hazards, com11 plaints, and violations to the employer to 

12 which the employer must respond; 

13 (iv) improving enforcement of existing 

14 workplace safety laws and better funding 

15 the Federal agencies tasked with enforcing 

16 those laws; and 

17 (v) re-examining existing anti-retalia18 tion protections, lack of a worker’s private 

19 right of action, current standards, and 

20 penalties and sanctions for workplace safe21 ty violations and, if necessary, updating 

22 them to make sure they are effective; 

23 (B) enacting Federal policies to reduce the 

24 high rate of sex (including sexual orientation 

25 and gender identity) discrimination, racial disVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:00 Sep 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR702.IH HR702

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1 crimination, and other forms of employment 

2 discrimination in the restaurant industry by— 

3 (i) improving enforcement of existing 

4 laws on employment discrimination and 

5 better funding the Federal agencies tasked 

6 with enforcing those laws; 

7 (ii) clarifying and enforcing Federal 

8 laws regarding independent contractors to 

9 fight misclassification of employees in in10 dustries such as the on-demand economy; 

11 (iii) eliminating the use of the ‘‘felony 

12 box’’ in job applications by expanding the 

13 Federal ban the box law to private compa14 nies; 

15 (iv) enacting equal pay policies to 

16 eliminate currently existing gender and ra17 cial pay disparities and adding significant 

18 penalties for employers who refuse to com19 ply; 

20 (v) ensuring that employers treat 

21 part-time and full-time employees equally 

22 when they hold substantially similar jobs; 

23 and 

24 (vi) establishing better mechanisms 

25 for workers to report discrimination withVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:00 Sep 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR702.IH HR702

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1 out fear of retaliation, especially for un2 documented workers, and ensuring that 

3 employers are subject to penalties if they 

4 retaliate against workers who report dis5 crimination; and 

6 (C) enacting Federal policies to ensure 

7 that all immigrant workers and their families 

8 currently in the United States have the oppor9 tunity to normalize their immigration status, 

10 whether by temporary authorization, lawful per11 manent status, or full citizenship, including im12 mediate eligibility to work and to access health 

13 care and other government programs and sup14 ports, as well as— 

15 (i) enacting H.R. 5227 (117th), the 

16 LIFT the BAR Act of 2021; and 

17 (ii) enacting H.R. 3149 (117th), the 

18 HEAL for Immigrant Families Act of 

19 2021; 

20 (5) the right to healthcare and bodily autonomy 

21 will be implemented by— 

22 (A) ensuring that all individuals living in 

23 the United States have equal access to com24 prehensive, quality, affordable health care, with25 out the threat of financial hardship, by— 


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1 (i) decoupling healthcare coverage 

2 from employment; and 

3 (ii) exploring moving toward a single4 payer, Government-administered healthcare 

5 system which would cover all residents of 

6 the United States for all medically nec7 essary services, including doctor, hospital, 

8 preventive, long-term care, mental health, 

9 abortion care and other reproductive health 

10 care, gender-affirming care, dental, vision, 

11 prescription drug, and medical supply 

12 costs; 

13 (B) taking steps to protect access to repro14 ductive rights and health care for all workers in 

15 the United States, irrespective of race, socio16 economic status, employer, State of residency, 

17 immigration status, gender identity, and sexual 

18 orientation; and 

19 (C) enacting H.R. 2234 (117th), the 

20 EACH Act of 2021; 

21 (6) the right to participation in governance will 

22 be implemented by— 

23 (A) taking steps to preserve the right of 

24 workers to freely organize and bargain collec25 tively with employers, including by— 


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1 (i) eliminating the racist exclusions 

2 and barriers within the National Labor Re3 lations Act, providing full inclusion and the 

4 right to a union for all workers, includ5 ing— 

6 (I) reestablishing voluntary rec7 ognition of unions upon majority sup8 port; and 

9 (II) not holding a secret election 

10 and guaranteeing the ability of work11 ers to talk openly about unionization 

12 at work and union organizers to speak 

13 to workers openly; 

14 (ii) expanding national labor protec15 tions related to employees’ rights to orga16 nize, participate in unions, and collectively 

17 bargain in the workplace and pass the 

18 Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right 

19 to Organize Act that— 

20 (I) would permit labor organiza21 tions to encourage participation of 

22 union members in strikes initiated by 

23 employees represented by a different 

24 labor organization; and 


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1 (II) prohibits employers from 

2 bringing claims against unions that 

3 conduct such secondary strikes; 

4 (iii) repealing the Labor Management 

5 Relations Act, 1947 (known as the ‘‘Taft6 Hartley Act’’) and the amendments made 

7 by such Act; 

8 (iv) banning State and local ‘‘right-to9 work’’ laws; 

10 (v) establishing strict and significant 

11 penalties when employers break laws in an 

12 effort to bust unions; and 

13 (vi) ending ‘‘captive audience’’ meet14 ings; and 

15 (B) protecting the right of all citizens to 

16 vote, and making voting as accessible as pos17 sible, especially for historically excluded commu18 nities, such as Black and Brown people, women, 

19 returning citizens, and those in poverty, by— 

20 (i) establishing universal registration 

21 and voting; 

22 (ii) implementing legislation requiring 

23 each State to permit any eligible individual 

24 on the day of a Federal election and on 


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1 any day when voting, including early vot2 ing, is permitted for a Federal election— 

3 (I) to register to vote in such 

4 election at the polling place using a 

5 form that meets the requirements 

6 under section 9(b) of the National 

7 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (or, if 

8 the individual is already registered to 

9 vote, to revise any of the individual’s 

10 voter registration information); and 

11 (II) to cast a vote in such elec12 tion; 

13 (iii) opposing laws and policies which 

14 seek to erect further barriers and make 

15 ballot access more difficult; and 

16 (iv) passing the Same Day Registra17 tion Act of 2023, the Freedom to Vote 

18 Act, and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights 

19 Advancement Act; and 

20 (7) a Restaurant Workers’ Bill of Rights must 

21 be developed through transparent and inclusive con22 sultation, collaboration, and partnership with res23 taurant workers, including members of frontline and 


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1 vulnerable communities, labor unions, civil society 

2 groups, academia, and businesses. 

Æ 


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