Representation Fairness Restoration Act

To amend the National Labor Relations Act with respect to the criteria for determining employee units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Representation Fairness Restoration Act 2. Determination of appropriate units for collective bargaining Section 9(b) of the National Labor Relations Act ( 29 U.S.C. 159(b) (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (3) as subparagraphs (A) through (C); (2) by striking The Board shall decide or subdivision thereof: (1) In each case, prior to an election, the Board shall determine, in order to assure to employees the fullest freedom in exercising the rights guaranteed by this Act, the unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. Unless otherwise stated in this Act, and excluding any bargaining unit determination promulgated through rulemaking before August 26, 2011, the unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining shall consist of employees that share a sufficient community of interest. In determining whether employees share a sufficient community of interest, the Board shall consider— (A) similarity of wages, benefits, and working conditions; (B) similarity of skills and training; (C) centrality of management and common supervision; (D) extent of interchange and frequency of contact between employees; (E) integration of the work flow and interrelationship of the production process; (F) the consistency of the unit with the employer’s organizational structure; (G) similarity of job functions and work; and (H) the bargaining history in the particular unit and the industry. To avoid the proliferation or fragmentation of bargaining units, employees shall not be excluded from the unit unless the interests of the group seeking a separate unit are sufficiently distinct from those of other employees to warrant the establishment of a separate unit. Whether additional employees should be included in a proposed unit shall be determined based on whether such additional employees and proposed unit members share a sufficient community of interest, with the sole exception of proposed accretions to an existing unit, in which the inclusion of additional employees shall be based on whether such additional employees and existing unit members share an overwhelming community of interest and the additional employees have little or no separate identity. ; and (3) by striking Provided, (2) The Board .

Summary: Representation Fairness Restoration Act - Amends the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to revise requirements for National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) determination of an appropriate bargaining unit before an election of collective bargaining representation. (In effect reverses the NLRB's August 26, 2011, decision in Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation of Mobile and its June 22, 2011, rulemaking regarding proposed changes to procedures involving the election of collective bargaining representation.) Replaces the current restriction in the meaning of collective bargaining unit to employer unit, craft unit, plant unit, or subdivision. Requires the NLRB, instead, to determine a unit as appropriate for collective bargaining if it consists of employees that share a sufficient community of interest. Specifies factors the NLRB must consider when making such determinations. Prohibits exclusion of employees from the unit unless the interests of the group seeking a separate unit are sufficiently distinct from those of other employees to warrant the establishment of a separate unit.