I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5000 

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system 

to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide 

for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing 

efforts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 20, 2016 

Mr. GRAYSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish 

an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, 

or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory 

injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing 

efforts, 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 ‘‘Employee Free Choice 

5 Act of 2016’’. 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 5000 IH

1 SEC. 2. STREAMLINING UNION CERTIFICATION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9(c) of the National 

3 Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(c)) is amended by 

4 adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sec6 tion, whenever a petition shall have been filed by an em7 ployee or group of employees or any individual or labor 

8 organization acting in their behalf alleging that a majority 

9 of employees in a unit appropriate for the purposes of col10 lective bargaining wish to be represented by an individual 

11 or labor organization for such purposes, the Board shall 

12 investigate the petition. If the Board finds that a majority 

13 of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has 

14 signed valid authorizations designating the individual or 

15 labor organization specified in the petition as their bar16 gaining representative and that no other individual or 

17 labor organization is currently certified or recognized as 

18 the exclusive representative of any of the employees in the 

19 unit, the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify 

20 the individual or labor organization as the representative 

21 described in subsection (a). 

22 ‘‘(7) The Board shall develop guidelines and proce23 dures for the designation by employees of a bargaining 

24 representative in the manner described in paragraph (6). 

25 Such guidelines and procedures shall include— 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 5000 IH

1 ‘‘(A) model collective bargaining authorization 

2 language that may be used for purposes of making 

3 the designations described in paragraph (6); and 

4 ‘‘(B) procedures to be used by the Board to es5 tablish the validity of signed authorizations desig6 nating bargaining representatives.’’. 

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

8 (1) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.—Sec9 tion 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

10 U.S.C. 153(b)) is amended, in the second sentence— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘and to’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘to’’; and 

13 (B) by striking ‘‘and certify the results 

14 thereof,’’ and inserting ‘‘, and to issue certifi15 cations as provided for in that section,’’. 

16 (2) UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES.—Section 8(b) 

17 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 

18 158(b)) is amended— 

19 (A) in paragraph (7)(B) by striking ‘‘, or’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘or a petition has been filed 

21 under section 9(c)(6), or’’; and 

22 (B) in paragraph (7)(C) by striking ‘‘when 

23 such a petition has been filed’’ and inserting 

24 ‘‘when such a petition other than a petition 

25 under section 9(c)(6) has been filed’’. 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 5000 IH

1 SEC. 3. FACILITATING INITIAL COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 

2 AGREEMENTS. 

3 Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

4 U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(h) Whenever collective bargaining is for the pur7 pose of establishing an initial agreement following certifi8 cation or recognition, the provisions of subsection (d) shall 

9 be modified as follows: 

10 ‘‘(1) Not later than 10 days after receiving a 

11 written request for collective bargaining from an in12 dividual or labor organization that has been newly 

13 organized or certified as a representative as defined 

14 in section 9(a), or within such further period as the 

15 parties agree upon, the parties shall meet and com16 mence to bargain collectively and shall make every 

17 reasonable effort to conclude and sign a collective 

18 bargaining agreement. 

19 ‘‘(2) If after the expiration of the 90-day period 

20 beginning on the date on which bargaining is com21 menced, or such additional period as the parties may 

22 agree upon, the parties have failed to reach an 

23 agreement, either party may notify the Federal Me24 diation and Conciliation Service of the existence of 

25 a dispute and request mediation. Whenever such a 

26 request is received, it shall be the duty of the Service 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 5000 IH

1 promptly to put itself in communication with the 

2 parties and to use its best efforts, by mediation and 

3 conciliation, to bring them to agreement. 

4 ‘‘(3) If after the expiration of the 30-day period 

5 beginning on the date on which the request for me6 diation is made under paragraph (2), or such addi7 tional period as the parties may agree upon, the 

8 Service is not able to bring the parties to agreement 

9 by conciliation, the Service shall refer the dispute to 

10 an arbitration board established in accordance with 

11 such regulations as may be prescribed by the Serv12 ice. The arbitration panel shall render a decision set13 tling the dispute and such decision shall be binding 

14 upon the parties for a period of 2 years, unless 

15 amended during such period by written consent of 

16 the parties.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING ENFORCEMENT. 

18 (a) INJUNCTIONS AGAINST UNFAIR LABOR PRAC19 TICES DURING ORGANIZING DRIVES.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 10(l) of the National 

21 Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160(l)) is amend22 ed— 

23 (A) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘If, 

24 after such’’ and inserting the following: 

25 ‘‘(2) If, after such’’; and 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 5000 IH

1 (B) by striking the first sentence and in2 serting the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) Whenever it is charged— 

4 ‘‘(A) that any employer— 

5 ‘‘(i) discharged or otherwise discriminated 

6 against an employee in violation of subsection 

7 (a)(3) of section 8; 

8 ‘‘(ii) threatened to discharge or to other9 wise discriminate against an employee in viola10 tion of subsection (a)(1) of section 8; or 

11 ‘‘(iii) engaged in any other unfair labor 

12 practice within the meaning of subsection (a)(1) 

13 that significantly interferes with, restrains, or 

14 coerces employees in the exercise of the rights 

15 guaranteed in section 7; 

16 while employees of that employer were seeking rep17 resentation by a labor organization or during the pe18 riod after a labor organization was recognized as a 

19 representative defined in section 9(a) until the first 

20 collective bargaining contract is entered into between 

21 the employer and the representative; or 

22 ‘‘(B) that any person has engaged in an unfair 

23 labor practice within the meaning of subparagraph 

24 (A), (B), or (C) of section 8(b)(4), section 8(e), or 

25 section 8(b)(7); 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 5000 IH

1 the preliminary investigation of such charge shall be made 

2 forthwith and given priority over all other cases except 

3 cases of like character in the office where it is filed or 

4 to which it is referred.’’. 

5 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 10(m) 

6 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 

7 160(m)) is amended by inserting ‘‘under cir8 cumstances not subject to section 10(l)’’ after ‘‘sec9 tion 8’’. 

10 (b) REMEDIES FOR VIOLATIONS.— 

11 (1) BACKPAY.—Section 10(c) of the National 

12 Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160(c)) is amended 

13 by striking ‘‘And provided further,’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘Provided further, That if the Board finds that an 

15 employer has discriminated against an employee in 

16 violation of subsection (a)(3) of section 8 while em17 ployees of the employer were seeking representation 

18 by a labor organization, or during the period after 

19 a labor organization was recognized as a representa20 tive defined in subsection (a) of section 9 until the 

21 first collective bargaining contract was entered into 

22 between the employer and the representative, the 

23 Board in such order shall award the employee back 

24 pay and, in addition, 2 times that amount as liq25 uidated damages: Provided further,’’. 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 5000 IH

1 (2) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 12 of the Na2 tional Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 162) is 

3 amended— 

4 (A) by striking ‘‘Any’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) 

5 Any’’; and 

6 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(b) Any employer who willfully or repeatedly com8 mits any unfair labor practice within the meaning of sub9 section (a)(1) or (a)(3) of section 8 while employees of 

10 the employer are seeking representation by a labor organi11 zation or during the period after a labor organization has 

12 been recognized as a representative defined in subsection 

13 (a) of section 9 until the first collective bargaining con14 tract is entered into between the employer and the rep15 resentative shall, in addition to any make-whole remedy 

16 ordered, be subject to a civil penalty of not to exceed 

17 $20,000 for each violation. In determining the amount of 

18 any penalty under this section, the Board shall consider 

19 the gravity of the unfair labor practice and the impact 

20 of the unfair labor practice on the charging party, on other 

21 persons seeking to exercise rights guaranteed by this Act, 

22 or on the public interest.’’. 

Æ 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS