II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3585 

To enable an employer or employees to establish an employee involvement 

organization to represent the interests of employees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 3, 2022 

Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To enable an employer or employees to establish an employee 

involvement organization to represent the interests of 

employees, 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 ‘‘Teamwork for Employ5 ees and Managers Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EMPLOYER EXCEPTION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8 of the National Labor 

8 Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at 

9 the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(h) It shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair 

2 labor practice under subsection (a) for an employer to es3 tablish, assist, maintain, or participate in an employee in4 volvement organization, as defined in section 3 of the 

5 Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act of 2022: Pro6 vided, That this subsection shall not apply in a case in 

7 which a labor organization is the representative of the em8 ployees of the employer in accordance with section 9(a).’’. 

9 (b) EXCEPTION FROM LABOR ORGANIZATION DEFI10 NITION.—Section 2(5) of the National Labor Relations 

11 Act (29 U.S.C. 152(5)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, except 

12 that the term shall not include an employee involvement 

13 organization as defined in section 3 of the Teamwork for 

14 Employees and Managers Act of 2022’’ before the period 

15 at the end. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ has the 

19 meaning given such term in section 2 of the Na20 tional Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152). 

21 (2) EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT ORGANIZA22 TION.—The term ‘‘employee involvement organiza23 tion’’ means an organization or entity established by 

24 the mutual consent of an employer and any number 

25 of employees of the employer— 


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1 (A) which may be initiated by the em2 ployer, the employees, or both; 

3 (B) which may be dissolved— 

4 (i) except as described in clause (ii), 

5 at any time, and without regard to cause, 

6 by the employer, the employees, or both; or 

7 (ii) in the case of an employee involve8 ment organization for a large employer and 

9 employees of the large employer, only in 

10 accordance with section 4(b)(2); 

11 (C) in which employees and supervisors 

12 participate to address matters of mutual inter13 est, including issues of quality of work, produc14 tivity, efficiency, compensation, benefits (includ15 ing related to education and training), recruit16 ment and retention, grievances, child care, safe17 ty and health, and accommodation of the reli18 gious beliefs and practices of employees; and 

19 (D) that does not have, claim, or seek au20 thority to— 

21 (i) be the exclusive collective bar22 gaining representative of the employees 

23 participating in such organization or enti24 ty; 


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1 (ii) negotiate or enter into a collective 

2 bargaining agreement with the employer on 

3 behalf of such employees; 

4 (iii) amend any collective bargaining 

5 agreement between the employer and any 

6 labor organization; or 

7 (iv) preclude such employees from 

8 designating or selecting a labor organiza9 tion as the representative of such employ10 ees, as provided in section 9(a) of the Na11 tional Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 

12 159(a)). 

13 (3) EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘employer’’ has the 

14 meaning given such term in section 2 of the Na15 tional Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152). 

16 (4) LARGE EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘large em17 ployer’’ means an employer that— 

18 (A) had more than $1,000,000,000 in an19 nual gross revenues for the most recently com20 pleted fiscal year prior to the date of certifi21 cation under section 4(b)(1); and 

22 (B) employs more than 3,000 employees on 

23 such date. 


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1 (5) WORKFORCE COMMITTEE.—The term 

2 ‘‘workforce committee’’ means a committee of the 

3 board of directors of an employer that— 

4 (A) oversees the policies of the employer on 

5 quality of work, productivity, efficiency, com6 pensation, benefits (including related to edu7 cation and training), recruitment and retention, 

8 grievances, child care, safety and health, and 

9 accommodation of the religious beliefs and prac10 tices of employees; 

11 (B) has a substantially equivalent source 

12 of authority with respect to authorizing provi13 sions in the article of incorporation or bylaws of 

14 the employer as the compensation committee of 

15 the board of directors or an equivalent com16 mittee of the board of directors; and 

17 (C) may be the compensation committee of 

18 the board of directors or an equivalent com19 mittee of the board of directors, if such com20 mittee meets the requirements of this para21 graph. 


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1 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT OR2 GANIZATIONS AT LARGE EMPLOYERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—This section shall apply to each 

4 employee involvement organization for a large employer 

5 and employees of the large employer. 

6 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF AN EMPLOYEE INVOLVE7 MENT ORGANIZATION FOR LARGE EMPLOYERS.— 

8 (1) CERTIFICATION.—A large employer shall 

9 certify each employee involvement organization for 

10 the large employer on the date of formation of such 

11 employee involvement organization. 

12 (2) PROCEDURES.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—An employee involve14 ment organization established under paragraph 

15 (1) shall have reasonable procedures regard16 ing— 

17 (i) how an employee may join or leave 

18 such employee involvement organization; 

19 and 

20 (ii) dissolution of the employee in21 volvement organization. 

22 (B) DISSOLUTION FOR CAUSE.— 

23 (i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an 

24 employee involvement organization that 

25 has been certified under paragraph (1) for 

26 not less than 5 consecutive years, a large 


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1 employer may only dissolve such employee 

2 involvement organization with cause. 

3 (ii) CAUSE.—For purposes of clause 

4 (i), the term ‘‘cause’’ means a reasonable 

5 business purpose for dissolution, as deter6 mined by— 

7 (I) the independent business 

8 judgment of the board of directors of 

9 the business of the large employer; or 

10 (II) if the business of a large em11 ployer does not have a board of direc12 tors, the substantial equivalent of the 

13 board of directors. 

14 (3) COOLING-OFF PERIOD.—Unless otherwise 

15 specified in the certification under paragraph (1), an 

16 employee involvement organization may not be estab17 lished at a large employer prior to 2 years after— 

18 (A) in the case of a large employer for 

19 which a valid election was held under section 

20 9(c)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

21 U.S.C. 159(c)(1)) in which a majority of the 

22 employees voting in such election voted against 

23 representation, the date of such election; or 

24 (B) in the case of a large employer for 

25 which a valid election was held under section 


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1 9(e) of such Act and a majority of the employ2 ees voting in such election voted in favor of re3 scission of the authority of a labor organization 

4 to make an agreement described in section 

5 8(a)(3) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 158(a)(3)), the 

6 date of such election. 

7 (c) EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATIVE OF AN EMPLOYEE

8 INVOLVEMENT ORGANIZATION.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Employees participating in 

10 an employee involvement organization established 

11 under subsection (b)(1) may, subject to the require12 ments in paragraph (2), elect through reasonable 

13 means an employee representative of the employee 

14 involvement organization. 

15 (2) ELECTION PROCESS.— 

16 (A) REQUIREMENTS.—An election of an 

17 employee representative of an employee involve18 ment organization for the large employer— 

19 (i) shall be through a secret ballot of 

20 the employees participating in the em21 ployee involvement organization who are 

22 employed by the large employer on the 

23 date of such election and who are United 

24 States citizens or reside primarily in the 

25 United States; and 


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1 (ii) may not be funded through fund2 ing sources external to the employee in3 volvement organization, including any 

4 labor organization, nonprofit, or business 

5 other than the employer. 

6 (B) DEFAULT RULES REGARDING ELEC7 TION PROCESS.—Unless otherwise specified in 

8 the certification under subsection (b)(1) by the 

9 large employer of such employee involvement 

10 organization, an election of an employee rep11 resentative of an employee involvement organi12 zation for the large employer— 

13 (i) may be funded through employer14 provided funding; and 

15 (ii) shall occur within the same time 

16 period and with the same regularity as the 

17 election of the board of directors of the 

18 large employer. 

19 (3) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each individual elected 

21 to be a representative of an employee involve22 ment organization for a large employer shall be 

23 an employee who— 

24 (i) is eligible to vote under paragraph 

25 (2)(A)(i); and 


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1 (ii) except in a case in which the large 

2 employer has operated for less than the 5 

3 calendar years immediately preceding the 

4 date of the election, has been employed by 

5 the large employer for not less than the 5 

6 calendar years immediately preceding the 

7 date of the election. 

8 (B) INELIGIBILITY; TERM LIMITS.—An 

9 employee representative of an employee involve10 ment organization elected under this subsection 

11 shall not— 

12 (i) be employed by the employer at the 

13 time of such election as a supervisor; or 

14 (ii) at any time during the 5 calendar 

15 years immediately preceding the date of 

16 such election, be employed by the employer 

17 in a position related to human resources. 

18 (4) REPRESENTATION BY EMPLOYEE REP19 RESENTATIVE ON BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF LARGE

20 EMPLOYER.— 

21 (A) BOARD REPRESENTATION.—Subject to 

22 the limitation under subparagraph (B) and, as 

23 relevant, the procedure under subparagraph 

24 (C), an employee representative of an employee 


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1 involvement organization elected under this sub2 section shall— 

3 (i) be a nonvoting member of either or 

4 both of— 

5 (I) the board of directors of the 

6 employer; or 

7 (II) a workforce committee of the 

8 board of directors of the employer; 

9 (ii) be permitted to attend any regular 

10 meeting of such board or committee, as ap11 plicable; and 

12 (iii) receive equal access to informa13 tion relevant to the purposes of the em14 ployee involvement organization as any 

15 other member of the board or committee, 

16 as applicable. 

17 (B) LIMITATIONS.—Unless otherwise spec18 ified in the certification under subsection (b)(1) 

19 by the large employer of such employee involve20 ment organization, an employer may exclude an 

21 employee representative from attending any 

22 meeting of any committee of the board of direc23 tors of the business of such employer (or the 

24 substantial equivalent of any such committee) 


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1 called for purposes unrelated to the purposes of 

2 such employee involvement organization. 

3 (C) SPECIAL PROCEDURE FOR AN EM4 PLOYER WITH MORE THAN 1 EMPLOYEE IN5 VOLVEMENT ORGANIZATION.—In a case in 

6 which 2 or more employee representatives in 

7 total are elected for a large employer under 

8 paragraph (1), the employer and each employee 

9 involvement organization that elects such an 

10 employee representative shall, by reasonable 

11 procedures which provide for the input of each 

12 such employee involvement organization, ensure 

13 that only 1 employee representative for the em14 ployer at any time exercises the powers de15 scribed in subparagraph (A). 

16 SEC. 5. SAFE HARBOR FOR VIOLATION OF RULES DUE TO 

17 THE FAULT OF AN EMPLOYEE. 

18 Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

19 U.S.C. 158), as amended by section 2, is further amended 

20 by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(i) It shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair 

22 labor practice under subsection (a) for an employer to es23 tablish, assist, maintain, or participate in an organization 

24 which purports to be an employee involvement organiza25 tion, as defined in section 3 of the Teamwork for EmployVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:39 Feb 05, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3585.IS S3585

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1 ees and Managers Act of 2022, but which fails to comply 

2 with the requirements of such Act due to the fault of an 

3 employee: Provided, That this subsection shall not apply 

4 in a case in which a labor organization is the representa5 tive of the employees of the employer in accordance with 

6 section 9(a).’’. 

7 SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS. 

8 (a) LABOR ORGANIZATION RIGHTS.—This Act shall 

9 not prevent or affect the rights provided to labor organiza10 tions under section 9 of the National Labor Relations Act 

11 (29 U.S.C. 159). 

12 (b) EMPLOYEE RIGHTS.—This Act shall not affect 

13 the rights and responsibilities of employees under the Na14 tional Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), except 

15 with respect to the amendments made to section 2(5) and 

16 section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 

17 152(5); 29 U.S.C. 158) by sections 2 and 5 of this Act. 

18 SEC. 7. ENFORCEMENT BY THE NATIONAL LABOR RELA19 TIONS BOARD. 

20 Section 6 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

21 U.S.C. 156) is amended— 

22 (1) by striking ‘‘The Board’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) 

23 The Board’’; and 

24 (2) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(b) The Board shall not have any authority for en2 forcement, or adjudication, under this Act or the Team3 work for Employees and Managers Act of 2022 with re4 spect to an employee involvement organization, as defined 

5 in section 3 of such Act.’’. 

Æ 


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