I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2810 
To provide protections for workers with respect to their right to select or 
refrain from selecting representation by a labor organizations. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 5, 2011 
Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To provide protections for workers with respect to their 
right to select or refrain from selecting representation 
by a labor organizations. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Employee Rights Act’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL LABOR RELA-
TIONS ACT. 
(a) UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES.—Section 8(b)(1) of 
the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(b)(1)) 
is amended by inserting ‘‘interfere with’’ before ‘‘re-
strain’’. 
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(b) REPRESENTATIVES AND ELECTIONS.—Section 9 
of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159) is 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘designated or selected for 
the purposes of collective bargaining’’ and in-
serting ‘‘for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining selected by secret ballot in an election 
conducted by the Board,’’; and 
(B) by inserting before the period the fol-
lowing: ‘‘: Provided further, That, for purposes 
of determining the majority of the employees in 
a secret ballot election in a unit, the term ‘ma-
jority’ shall mean the majority of all the em-
ployees in the unit, and not the majority of em-
ployees voting in the election’’; and 
(2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(3) Not later than 36 months after the initial certifi-
cation of a labor organization as the exclusive representa-
tive of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit, and 
each 3-year period thereafter, a neutral, private organiza-
tion chosen by agreement between the employer and the 
labor organization involved, after a notice period of not 
less than 35 days, shall conduct a secret ballot election 
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among such employees to determine whether a majority 
desire to continue to be represented by such labor organi-
zation. The cost to the third party that is conducting the 
election shall be shared equally by the labor organization 
and the employer involved. The election shall be conducted 
without regard to the pendency of any unfair labor prac-
tice charge against the employer or the labor organization 
representative and the Board shall rule on any objections 
to the election pursuant to its established timeframes for 
resolving such matters. If a majority of the votes cast re-
ject the continuing representation by the labor organiza-
tion, the Board shall withdraw the labor organization’s 
certification.’’. 
(c) FAIR REPRESENTATION IN ELECTIONS.—Section 
9 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159) 
is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘prior to an 
election’’ after ‘‘in each case’’; and 
(2) in subsection (c)— 
(A) in the flush matter following para-
graph (1)(B)— 
(i) by inserting ‘‘of 14 days in ad-
vance’’ after ‘‘appropriate hearing upon 
due notice’’; 
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(ii) by inserting ‘‘, and a review of 
post-hearing appeals,’’ after ‘‘the record of 
such hearing’’; and 
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: ‘‘No election shall be conducted 
less than 40 calendar days following the 
filing of an election petition. The employer 
shall provide the Board a list of employee 
names and home addresses of all eligible 
voters within 7 days following the Board’s 
determination of the appropriate unit or 
following any agreement between the em-
ployer and the labor organization regard-
ing the eligible voters.’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(6)(A) No election shall take place after the filing 
of any petition unless and until— 
‘‘(i) a hearing is conducted before a qualified 
hearing officer in accordance with due process on 
any and all material, factual issues regarding juris-
diction, statutory coverage, appropriate unit, unit in-
clusion or exclusion, or eligibility of individuals; and 
‘‘(ii) the issues are resolved by a Regional Di-
rector, subject to appeal and review, or by the 
Board. 
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‘‘(B) No election results shall be final and no labor 
organization shall be certified as the bargaining represent-
ative of the employees in an appropriate unit unless and 
until the Board has ruled on— 
‘‘(i) each pre-election issue not resolved before 
the election; and 
‘‘(ii) the Board conducts a hearing in accord-
ance with due process and resolves each issue per-
taining to the conduct or results of the election.’’. 
(d) PENALTIES.—Section 10 of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160) is amended by inserting 
after the second sentence following the second proviso, the 
following: ‘‘Any labor organization found to have inter-
fered with, restrained, or coerced employees in the exercise 
of their rights under section 7 to form or join a labor orga-
nization or to refrain therefrom, including the filing of a 
decertification petition, shall be liable for wages lost and 
union dues or fees collected unlawfully, if any, and an ad-
ditional amount as liquidated damages. Any labor organi-
zation found to have interfered with, restrained, or coerced 
an employee in connection with the filing of a decertifica-
tion petition shall be prohibited from filing objections to 
an election held pursuant to such petition.’’. 
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SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE LABOR-MANAGEMENT RE-
PORTING AND DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1959. 
(a) DEFINITION.—Section 3(k) of the Labor-Man-
agement Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 
402(k)) is amended by striking ‘‘ballot, voting machine, 
or otherwise, but’’ and inserting ‘‘paper ballot, voting ma-
chine, or electronic ballot cast in the privacy of a voting 
booth and’’. 
(b) RIGHTS OF MEMBERS.—Section 101(a)(1) of the 
Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 
(29 U.S.C. 411(a)(1)) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: ‘‘Every employee in a bargaining unit rep-
resented by a labor organization, regardless of member-
ship status in the labor organization, shall have the same 
right as members to vote by secret ballot regarding wheth-
er to ratify a collective bargaining agreement with, or to 
engage in, a strike or refusal to work of any kind against 
their employer.’’. 
(c) RIGHT
NOT
TO
SUBSIDIZE
UNION
NON-
REPRESENTATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—Title I of the Labor- 
Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 
U.S.C. 411 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
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‘‘SEC. 
106. 
RIGHT 
NOT 
TO 
SUBSIDIZE 
UNION 
NON-
REPRESENTATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 
‘‘No employee’s union dues, fees, or assessments or 
other contributions shall be used or contributed to any 
person, organization, or entity for any purpose not directly 
germane to the labor organization’s collective bargaining 
or contract administration functions unless the member, 
or nonmember required to make such payments as a con-
dition of employment, authorizes such expenditure in writ-
ing, after a notice period of not less than 35 days. An 
initial authorization provided by an employee under the 
preceding sentence shall expire not later than 1 year after 
the date on which such authorization is signed by the em-
ployee. There shall be no automatic renewal of an author-
ization under this section.’’. 
(d) LIMITATIONS.—Section 101(a) of the Labor- 
Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 
U.S.C. 411(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(6) LIMITATION.—No strike shall commence with-
out the consent of a majority of all employees affected, 
determined by a secret ballot vote conducted by a neutral, 
private organization chosen by agreement between the em-
ployer and the labor organization involved. In any case 
in which the employer involved has made an offer for a 
collective bargaining agreement, the employees involved 
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shall be provided with an opportunity for a secret ballot 
vote on such offer prior to any vote relating to the com-
mencement of a strike. The cost of any such election shall 
be borne by the labor organization.’’. 
(e) ACTS OF VIOLENCE.—Section 610 of the Labor- 
Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 
U.S.C. 530) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘It shall’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) It 
shall’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) It shall be unlawful for any person, through the 
use of force or violence, or threat of the use of force or 
violence, to restrain, coerce, or intimidate, or attempt to 
restrain, coerce, or intimidate any person for the purpose 
of obtaining from any person any right to represent em-
ployees or any compensation or other term or condition 
of employment. Any person who willfully violates this sub-
section shall be fined not more than $100,000 or impris-
oned for not more than 10 years, or both. 
‘‘(c) The lawfulness of a labor organization’s objec-
tives shall not remove or exempt from the definition of 
extortion conduct by the labor organization or its agents 
that otherwise constitutes extortion as defined by section 
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1951(b)(2) of title 18, United States Code, from the defi-
nition of extortion.’’. 
Æ 
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