I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3514 
To amend the National Labor Relations Act to strengthen protections for 
employees wishing to advocate for improved wages, hours, or other terms 
or conditions of employment and to provide for stronger remedies for 
interference with these rights, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia (for himself, Mr. POLIS, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. GRIJALVA, 
Mr. SABLAN, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. ADAMS, 
Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. EDWARDS, Mr. ENGEL, 
Mr. FARR, Mr. GUTIE´RREZ, Ms. LEE, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. 
NAPOLITANO, Mr. NORCROSS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. RYAN 
of Ohio, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SERRANO, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mrs. 
DAVIS of California, Mr. POCAN, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. BLUMENAUER, 
Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, 
Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. HONDA, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. LINDA T. 
SA´NCHEZ
of California, Mr. VAN
HOLLEN, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. 
JEFFRIES, and Ms. BROWN of Florida) 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 strengthen 
protections for employees wishing to advocate for im-
proved wages, hours, or other terms or conditions of 
employment and to provide for stronger remedies for 
interference with these rights, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Workplace Action for 
a Growing Economy Act’’ or the ‘‘WAGE Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The National Labor Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 151 et seq.) was enacted to encourage the 
practice of collective bargaining and to protect the 
exercise by workers of full freedom of association in 
the workplace. Since its enactment in 1935, tens of 
millions of workers have bargained with their em-
ployers over wages, benefits, and other terms and 
conditions of employment and have raised the stand-
ard of living for all workers. 
(2) Through acting collectively and bargaining 
with their employers, workers who are unionized 
earn 21.3 percent more than workers who are not 
covered by a collective bargaining agreement. They 
are 28.4 percent more likely to be covered by em-
ployer-provided health insurance and 30.9 percent 
more likely to have employer-provided pensions. The 
wage differential is even more pronounced for 
women and people of color. Unionized African-Amer-
ican workers earn 24.6 percent more than African- 
American workers who are not unionized, and union-
ized Latino workers earn 29.3 percent more than 
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their peers who are not unionized. Unionized women 
earn 24 percent more than women who are not 
unionized, and the wage gap between men and 
women is much smaller at unionized workplaces. 
The wage gains achieved through collective bar-
gaining benefit workers and their communities. 
(3) Unions and collective bargaining ensure 
that productivity gains are shared by working peo-
ple. The decline in the percentage of workers covered 
by collective bargaining has contributed significantly 
to skyrocketing income inequality and flat wages. 
(4) As enacted in 1935, the National Labor Re-
lations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) protects the 
right of all workers to join together with their co- 
workers to advocate for improvements in their pay, 
benefits, and working conditions, regardless of 
whether they seek representation by a union. The 
law protects the right of workers to discuss issues 
like pay and benefits without retaliation or inter-
ference by employers. However, the awareness of 
workers regarding their rights under the law is lack-
ing, and many employers maintain policies that re-
strict the ability of workers to discuss workplace 
issues with each other, directly contravening these 
rights. Research shows that more than one-half of 
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workers report that their employers have policies 
that prohibit or discourage workers from discussing 
pay with their co-workers. These policies and prac-
tices impede workers from exercising their rights 
under the law and impair their freedom of associa-
tion at work. 
(5) Retaliation by employers against workers 
who exercise their rights under the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) persists at 
troubling levels. Employers routinely fire workers for 
trying to form a union at their workplace. In one out 
of 3 organizing campaigns, one or more workers are 
discharged for supporting joining a union. In fiscal 
year 2014, the National Labor Relations Board ob-
tained reinstatement orders for 3,240 workers and 
obtained backpay awards totaling $43,800,000 for 
workers who faced illegal retaliation for exercising 
their rights. Discrimination for organizing hurts all 
workers, but minorities in particular, as minorities 
are more likely than Whites to seek to organize and 
receive a larger wage premium from collective bar-
gaining. 
(6) The current remedies are inadequate to 
deter employers from violating the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). The remedies 
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and penalties for violations of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) are far weaker 
than for other labor and employment laws, including 
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et 
seq.). Unlike other major labor and employment 
laws, there are no civil penalties for violations of the 
law. Workers cannot go to court to pursue relief on 
their own; they must rely on the National Labor Re-
lations Board to prosecute their case. 
(7) In order to make the right to collective bar-
gaining and freedom of association in the workplace 
a reality for workers, the National Labor Relations 
Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) must be strengthened. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to strengthen protections for employees en-
gaged in collective action to improve their wages, 
hours, and terms and conditions of employment; 
(2) to provide for stronger remedies for employ-
ees who face retaliation, discrimination, or other in-
terference with the legal right of the employees to 
engage in collective action; 
(3) to provide for penalties against employers 
who violate the rights of employees to engage in col-
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lective action, in order to act as a meaningful deter-
rent against violating the law; and 
(4) to streamline the enforcement procedures of 
the National Labor Relations Board to provide for 
more timely and effective enforcement of the law. 
SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING REMEDIES AND ENFORCEMENT 
FOR EMPLOYEES EXERCISING THEIR RIGHTS 
AT WORK. 
(a) BACKPAY.—Section 10(c) of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160(c)) is amended by striking 
‘‘And provided further,’’ and inserting ‘‘Provided further, 
That if the Board finds that an employer has discrimi-
nated against an employee in violation of paragraph (3) 
or (4) of section 8(a) or has committed a violation of sec-
tion 8(a) that results in the discharge of an employee or 
other serious economic loss to an employee, the Board 
shall award the employee back pay and an additional 
amount as liquidated damages equal to 2 times the 
amount of such back pay, without any reduction (includ-
ing any reduction based on the employee’s interim earn-
ings or failure to earn interim earnings): Provided fur-
ther,’’. 
(b) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 12 of the National 
Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 162) is amended— 
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(1) by striking ‘‘SEC. 12. Any person’’ and in-
serting the following: 
‘‘SEC. 12. CIVIL PENALTIES. 
‘‘(a) 
VIOLATIONS
FOR
INTERFERENCE
WITH 
BOARD.—Any person’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) VIOLATIONS OF POSTING REQUIREMENTS.—If 
the Board, or any agent or agency designated by the 
Board for such purposes, determines that an employer has 
willfully violated section 8(h), the Board shall— 
‘‘(1) state the findings of fact supporting such 
determination; 
‘‘(2) issue and cause to be served on such em-
ployer an order requiring that such employer post 
the notice described in such section and provide the 
information to new employees described in such sec-
tion; and 
‘‘(3) impose a civil penalty in an amount deter-
mined appropriate by the Board, except that in no 
case shall the amount of the fine exceed $500 for 
each such violation. 
‘‘(c) VIOLATIONS CAUSING SERIOUS ECONOMIC LOSS 
TO EMPLOYEES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any employer who commits 
an unfair labor practice within the meaning of para-
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graph (3) or (4) of section 8(a) or a violation of sec-
tion 8(a) that results in the discharge of an em-
ployee or other serious economic loss to an employee 
shall, in addition to any remedy ordered by the 
Board, be subject to a civil penalty. Such penalty 
shall be in an amount not to exceed $50,000 for 
each violation, except that the Board shall double 
the amount of such penalty, to an amount not to ex-
ceed $100,000, in any case where the employer has 
within the preceding 5 years committed another 
such violation. 
‘‘(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining the 
amount of any civil penalty under this subsection, 
the Board shall consider— 
‘‘(A) the gravity of the unfair labor prac-
tice; 
‘‘(B) the impact of the unfair labor prac-
tice on the charging party, on other persons 
seeking to exercise rights guaranteed by this 
Act, and on the public interest; and 
‘‘(C) the size of the employer. 
‘‘(3) PERSONAL LIABILITY.—If the Board de-
termines, based on the particular facts and cir-
cumstances presented, that personal liability is war-
ranted, a civil penalty for a violation described in 
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