Title: A Just Society: The Uplift Our Workers Act
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
A Just Society: The Uplift Our Workers Act
This bill requires an employer to be scored on worker-friendliness before entering into a federal contract and establishes a contracting preference for such score.
Specifically, each executive agency shall ensure that (1) contracting officers consider the score at least approximately equal in importance to cost or price, and (2) an offeror for a prime contract does not subcontract with any entity that violates specified labor laws and executive orders.
The Department of Labor, in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget, shall, among other things

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5073 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5073

   To require a score of worker-friendliness of each employer before 
entering into a Federal contract, to establish a contracting preference 
                for such score, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 13, 2019

  Ms. Ocasio-Cortez (for herself, Ms. Meng, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Ms. 
    Tlaib, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, and Ms. Lee of 
 California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on 
Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require a score of worker-friendliness of each employer before 
entering into a Federal contract, to establish a contracting preference 
                for such score, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``A Just Society: The Uplift Our 
Workers Act''.

SEC. 2. WORKER-FRIENDLINESS SCORES FOR FEDERAL CONTRACTS.

    (a) Scores Required.--With respect to any contract or subcontract 
(at any tier) entered into on or after the date on which the method for 
a score is developed pursuant to subsection (b), the head of the 
executive agency shall--
            (1) ensure that contracting officers consider the score 
        approximately equal in importance or significantly more 
        important than cost or price (as described in section 3306 of 
        title 41, United States Code); and
            (2) ensure that an offeror for a prime contract does not 
        subcontract with any entity that violates the labor laws and 
        executive orders listed in subsection (b).
    (b) Components of Score.--Not later than 18 months after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor, in coordination with 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall--
            (1) develop a method to assess and provide a score with 
        respect to the worker-friendliness of each prospective 
        contractor or subcontractor (at any tier) that is an employer 
        that submits a bid for a Federal contract before entering into 
        the contract which takes into account--
                    (A) whether the employer is in compliance with the 
                applicable labor laws and executive orders listed in 
                subsection (c), including whether the employer has been 
                subject to any administrative or civil judgments or 
                arbitral decisions for any violations of such laws or 
                orders;
                    (B) whether the employer guarantees that the 
                maximum amount of work that may be performed under the 
                contract by full-time workers will be performed by such 
                workers by working 40 hours per work week;
                    (C) whether the employer provides paid overtime for 
                any work that exceeds 40 hours per work week;
                    (D) whether employers are paid at least $15 an 
                hour, and wages are otherwise reflective of the 
                prevailing wage;
                    (E) whether the employer has a policy of providing 
                employees with guaranteed predictive scheduling, the 
                quality of which shall be assessed by determining--
                            (i) whether the policy is crafted for the 
                        purpose of ending unstable scheduling and 
                        allows workers to effectively provide for their 
                        families financially and emotionally;
                            (ii) whether an employer has clear 
                        consistent processes in place to provide all 
                        employees with a good faith written estimate of 
                        (1) how many shifts an employee is scheduled to 
                        work per month, (2) the days and hours these 
                        shifts will occur, and (3) whether the employee 
                        will be expected to work on-call shifts;
                            (iii) whether an employer provides 
                        employees with their final schedules not less 
                        than two weeks in advance, including whether 
                        such final schedules are written and posted in 
                        the workplace, or posted on an electronic 
                        portal easily accessed by all employees;
                            (iv) whether an employer reports changes to 
                        an employee's schedule within a reasonable 
                        amount of time and compensates employees when 
                        the employer cancels or alters shifts;
                            (v) whether an employer limits ``on call'' 
                        scheduling practices and provides reasonable 
                        compensation, in addition to regular pay, to 
                        employees that are given less than 24 hours 
                        notice before the start of a scheduled work 
                        shift;
                            (vi) whether an employer reasonably 
                        compensates each employee who reports to work 
                        anticipating that the employee will work a 
                        certain number of hours (determined by the 
                        employer) but is sent home by the employer 
                        before such hours are complete;
                            (vii) whether an employer guarantees a 
                        reasonable rest period when employees work 
                        consecutive shifts;
                            (viii) whether an employer consistently 
                        offers any ``extra'' hours or shifts to 
                        existing employees before hiring new employees, 
                        using a temp agency, or using contractors or 
                        subcontractors;
                            (ix) whether an employer maintains and 
                        utilizes an easily accessible and universally 
                        available voluntary standby list of current 
                        employees willing to work additional hours due 
                        to unanticipated need or unexpected absence;
                            (x) whether an employee avoids consistent 
                        or systematic under-scheduling which would 
                        result in employees consistently working 
                        significantly more hours than written in work 
                        schedule;
                            (xi) whether an employer allows employees 
                        to request not to be scheduled for work shifts 
                        during certain times or at certain locations, 
                        and to identify preferences for the hours or 
                        locations of work; and
                            (xii) whether an employer guarantees its 
                        employees will not be subject to informal or 
                        formal retaliation (such a demotion, reduction 
                        in hours, harassment, or termination) for 
                        requesting predictable schedules;
                    (F) whether the employer has a policy of 
                guaranteeing access to paid sick leave, the quality of 
                which shall be assessed by determining--
                            (i) whether an employer guarantees a 
                        minimum of 56 hours paid sick leave annually 
                        for all employees;
                            (ii) in the case of an employer with 10 or 
                        more employees, whether the employer guarantees 
                        more than 56 hours of paid sick leave annually 
                        for all employees;
                            (iii) whether this paid sick leave is 
                        distinct from time accrued as part of a paid 
                        time off policy;
                            (iv) whether an employer provides leave as 
                        an upfront allocation at the start of 
                        employment and the start of subsequent year of 
                        employment as opposed to requiring that 
                        employees accrue paid sick leave;
                            (v) whether an employer allows paid sick 
                        leave to be used by its employees to recover 
                        from illness, injury, medical condition as well 
                        as to seek medical diagnosis, preventive care, 
                        and other medical reasons;
                            (vi) whether an employer allows this paid 
                        sick leave to also be used to aid, care for, or 
                        attend medical appointments with an employee's 
                        family (including the employee's child, parent, 
                        legal guardian or ward, sibling, grandparent, 
                        grandchild, spouse, registered domestic partner 
                        under any State or local law, or other person 
                        reasonably designated as family);
                            (vii) whether an employer ensures that any 
                        verification requirements or policy around use 
                        of paid sick leave is reasonable and in no way 
                        onerous; and
                            (viii) whether an employer allows employees 
                        to use paid sick leave to recover from or seek 
                        assistance in the aftermath of domestic 
                        violence, sexual assault, sexual violence, or 
                        stalking;
                    (G) whether the employer has a policy of providing 
                employees access with paid parental and family leave, 
                the quality of which shall be assessed by determining--
                            (i) whether an employer guarantees 12 weeks 
                        or more paid family or parental leave annually 
                        after birth of a child, adoption of a child, 
                        foster placement, or serious illness of the 
                        employee or the employee's family member 
                        serious illness (as defined in section 101 of 
                        the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 
                        U.S.C. 2611));
                            (ii) whether an employer provides leave as 
                        an upfront allocation at the start of 
                        employment as opposed to requiring that 
                        employees accrue or earn paid family leave;
                            (iii) whether an employer guarantees such 
                        leave for both full-time and part-time 
                        employees;
                            (iv) whether an employer guarantees full or 
                        significant wage replacement during the course 
                        of this leave;
                            (v) whether an employer guarantees a high 
                        weekly benefit cap or no such cap;
                            (vi) whether the employer's paid family 
                        leave policy include job protection for all 
                        employees;
                            (vii) whether such leave may be used when 
                        an employee's child, parent, legal guardian or 
                        ward, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, spouse, 
                        registered domestic partner under any State or 
                        local law, or other person reasonably 
                        designated as family is deployed abroad on 
                        active military service; and
                            (viii) whether such policy allows for 
                        flexible hours once an employee returns to work 
                        following paid family and medical leave;
                    (H) whether the employer has a policy to employ 
                individuals who are represented by a labor organization 
                that has entered into a collective bargaining agreement 
                on the behalf of such individuals, the quality of which 
                shall be assessed by determining--
                            (i) whether an employer has policies 
                        guaranteeing the employees' right to be 
                        represented by a labor organization and has 
                        committed to engage in timely good faith 
                        negotiations with the such labor organization;
                            (ii) whether an employer has policies that 
                        recognize labor organizations formed as a 
                        result of an election or use of authorization 
                        cards;
                            (iii) whether an employer has policies 
                        guaranteeing its employees right to strike; and
                            (iv) whether an employer has policies 
                        guaranteeing that an employee will not be 
                        subject to informal or formal retaliation (such 
                        a demotion, reduction in hour, harassment, or 
                        termination) for joining or attempting to be 
                        represented by a labor organization;
                    (I) whether the employer provides high-quality 
                healthcare that is subsidized by the employer;
                    (J) whether the employees have an opportunity to 
                form a worker or employment cooperative;
                    (K) whether the employer has policies in places to 
                proactively manage the ethical, social, and 
                environmental risks in the supply chain; and
                    (L) any other relevant requirements as determined 
                by the Secretary and the Director;
            (2) provide the head of each executive agency with 
        recommendations on how to evaluate such a score in making 
        contracting decisions, and ensure that such recommendations 
        will result in a preference for an employer that has higher 
        scores with respect to worker-friendliness;
            (3) identify best practices for the implementation of the 
        scoring process described in paragraph (1), including best 
        practices to--
                    (A) ensure that contracting officers consider this 
                score approximately equal in importance or 
                significantly more important than cost or price (as 
                described in section 3306 of title 41, United States 
                Code); and
                    (B) ensure that an offeror for a prime contract 
                does not subcontract with any entity that violates the 
                labor laws and executive orders listed in subsection 
                (c);
            (4) maintain such scores in a database that is publicly 
        accessible, which may be an existing database or a new database 
        developed and maintained by the Secretary of Labor;
            (5) create a process for an employer to appeal a score, 
        including by submitting additional data or requesting a new 
        score due to changes to employee policy;
            (6) review each score every 5 years to ensure that such 
        score is up-to-date; and
            (7) enable employers that are not Federal contractors to 
        request such a score for purposes of promoting worker-friendly 
        policies.
    (c) Labor Laws and Executive Orders.--The laws and executive orders 
listed in this subsection are as follows:
            (1) The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et 
        seq.).
            (2) The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 
        U.S.C. 652 et seq.).
            (3) The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection 
        Act (29 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.).
            (4) The National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et 
        seq.).
            (5) Subchapter IV of chapter 31, of title 40, United States 
        Code (commonly referred to as the ``Davis-Bacon Act'').
            (6) Chapter 67 of title 41, United States Code (commonly 
        referred to as the ``Service Contract Act'').
            (7) Executive Order 11246 of September 24, 1965 (Equal 
        Employment Opportunity).
            (8) Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 
        U.S.C. 793).
            (9) The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 
        2601 et seq.).
            (10) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 
        2000e et seq.).
            (11) The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 
        12101 et seq.).
            (12) The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (29 
        U.S.C. 621 et seq.).
            (13) Chapter 43 of title 38, United States Code (commonly 
        known as the ``Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment 
        Rights Act of 1994'').
            (14) Executive Order 13658 dated February 12, 2014.
            (15) State laws comparable to the laws and executive orders 
        listed in paragraphs (1) through (14).
    (d) Bi-Yearly Report.--Not later than 12 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act and every 6 months thereafter until the method 
described in section 2(b)(1) is developed, the Secretary shall submit 
to Congress a report that includes--
            (1) the status of developing the method described in 
        section 2(b)(1);
            (2) the factors described in section 2(b)(1) being taken 
        into account in providing a score and how each such factor is 
        being weighted;
            (3) the stakeholders consulted in developing the method 
        described in section 2(b)(1); and
            (4) how the Secretary is meeting the requirements of the 
        Secretary under this section.
    (e) Update of FAR.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be 
amended to carry out this Act.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Contract.--The term ``contract'' does not include a 
        contract with the Federal Prison Industries.
            (2) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the Office of Management and Budget.
            (3) Executive agency.--The term ``executive agency'' has 
        the meaning given that term in section 133 of title 41, United 
        States Code.
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Labor.
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