Title: Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act of 2022
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act of 2022
This bill authorizes employers and employees to establish voluntary employee involvement organizations to address matters of mutual interest within the workplace (e.g., productivity, compensation, benefits, recruitment, and retention).
Employee involvement organizations are not considered labor organizations under federal labor laws, and they do not constitute an unfair labor practice by an employer provided the employees are not already represented by a labor organization.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3585 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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.

    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 ``Teamwork for Employees and Managers 
Act of 2022''.

SEC. 2. EMPLOYER EXCEPTION.

    (a) In General.--Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h) It shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair labor 
practice under subsection (a) for an employer to establish, assist, 
maintain, or participate in an employee involvement organization, as 
defined in section 3 of the Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act of 
2022:  Provided, That this subsection shall not apply in a case in 
which a labor organization is the representative of the employees of 
the employer in accordance with section 9(a).''.
    (b) Exception From Labor Organization Definition.--Section 2(5) of 
the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152(5)) is amended by 
inserting ``, except that the term shall not include an employee 
involvement organization as defined in section 3 of the Teamwork for 
Employees and Managers Act of 2022'' before the period at the end.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Employee.--The term ``employee'' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 2 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 
        U.S.C. 152).
            (2) Employee involvement organization.--The term ``employee 
        involvement organization'' means an organization or entity 
        established by the mutual consent of an employer and any number 
        of employees of the employer--
                    (A) which may be initiated by the employer, the 
                employees, or both;
                    (B) which may be dissolved--
                            (i) except as described in clause (ii), at 
                        any time, and without regard to cause, by the 
                        employer, the employees, or both; or
                            (ii) in the case of an employee involvement 
                        organization for a large employer and employees 
                        of the large employer, only in accordance with 
                        section 4(b)(2);
                    (C) in which employees and supervisors participate 
                to address matters of mutual interest, including issues 
                of quality of work, productivity, efficiency, 
                compensation, benefits (including related to education 
                and training), recruitment and retention, grievances, 
                child care, safety and health, and accommodation of the 
                religious beliefs and practices of employees; and
                    (D) that does not have, claim, or seek authority 
                to--
                            (i) be the exclusive collective bargaining 
                        representative of the employees participating 
                        in such organization or entity;
                            (ii) negotiate or enter into a collective 
                        bargaining agreement with the employer on 
                        behalf of such employees;
                            (iii) amend any collective bargaining 
                        agreement between the employer and any labor 
                        organization; or
                            (iv) preclude such employees from 
                        designating or selecting a labor organization 
                        as the representative of such employees, as 
                        provided in section 9(a) of the National Labor 
                        Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(a)).
            (3) Employer.--The term ``employer'' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 2 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 
        U.S.C. 152).
            (4) Large employer.--The term ``large employer'' means an 
        employer that--
                    (A) had more than $1,000,000,000 in annual gross 
                revenues for the most recently completed fiscal year 
                prior to the date of certification under section 
                4(b)(1); and
                    (B) employs more than 3,000 employees on such date.
            (5) Workforce committee.--The term ``workforce committee'' 
        means a committee of the board of directors of an employer 
        that--
                    (A) oversees the policies of the employer on 
                quality of work, productivity, efficiency, 
                compensation, benefits (including related to education 
                and training), recruitment and retention, grievances, 
                child care, safety and health, and accommodation of the 
                religious beliefs and practices of employees;
                    (B) has a substantially equivalent source of 
                authority with respect to authorizing provisions in the 
                article of incorporation or bylaws of the employer as 
                the compensation committee of the board of directors or 
                an equivalent committee of the board of directors; and
                    (C) may be the compensation committee of the board 
                of directors or an equivalent committee of the board of 
                directors, if such committee meets the requirements of 
                this paragraph.

SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS AT LARGE 
              EMPLOYERS.

    (a) In General.--This section shall apply to each employee 
involvement organization for a large employer and employees of the 
large employer.
    (b) Establishment of an Employee Involvement Organization for Large 
Employers.--
            (1) Certification.--A large employer shall certify each 
        employee involvement organization for the large employer on the 
        date of formation of such employee involvement organization.
            (2) Procedures.--
                    (A) In general.--An employee involvement 
                organization established under paragraph (1) shall have 
                reasonable procedures regarding--
                            (i) how an employee may join or leave such 
                        employee involvement organization; and
                            (ii) dissolution of the employee 
                        involvement organization.
                    (B) Dissolution for cause.--
                            (i) In general.--In the case of an employee 
                        involvement organization that has been 
                        certified under paragraph (1) for not less than 
                        5 consecutive years, a large employer may only 
                        dissolve such employee involvement organization 
                        with cause.
                            (ii) Cause.--For purposes of clause (i), 
                        the term ``cause'' means a reasonable business 
                        purpose for dissolution, as determined by--
                                    (I) the independent business 
                                judgment of the board of directors of 
                                the business of the large employer; or
                                    (II) if the business of a large 
                                employer does not have a board of 
                                directors, the substantial equivalent 
                                of the board of directors.
            (3) Cooling-off period.--Unless otherwise specified in the 
        certification under paragraph (1), an employee involvement 
        organization may not be established at a large employer prior 
        to 2 years after--
                    (A) in the case of a large employer for which a 
                valid election was held under section 9(c)(1) of the 
                National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(c)(1)) in 
                which a majority of the employees voting in such 
                election voted against representation, the date of such 
                election; or
                    (B) in the case of a large employer for which a 
                valid election was held under section 9(e) of such Act 
                and a majority of the employees voting in such election 
                voted in favor of rescission of the authority of a 
                labor organization to make an agreement described in 
                section 8(a)(3) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 158(a)(3)), the 
                date of such election.
    (c) Employee Representative of an Employee Involvement 
Organization.--
            (1) In general.--Employees participating in an employee 
        involvement organization established under subsection (b)(1) 
        may, subject to the requirements in paragraph (2), elect 
        through reasonable means an employee representative of the 
        employee involvement organization.
            (2) Election process.--
                    (A) Requirements.--An election of an employee 
                representative of an employee involvement organization 
                for the large employer--
                            (i) shall be through a secret ballot of the 
                        employees participating in the employee 
                        involvement organization who are employed by 
                        the large employer on the date of such election 
                        and who are United States citizens or reside 
                        primarily in the United States; and
                            (ii) may not be funded through funding 
                        sources external to the employee involvement 
                        organization, including any labor organization, 
                        nonprofit, or business other than the employer.
                    (B) Default rules regarding election process.--
                Unless otherwise specified in the certification under 
                subsection (b)(1) by the large employer of such 
                employee involvement organization, an election of an 
                employee representative of an employee involvement 
                organization for the large employer--
                            (i) may be funded through employer-provided 
                        funding; and
                            (ii) shall occur within the same time 
                        period and with the same regularity as the 
                        election of the board of directors of the large 
                        employer.
            (3) Eligibility requirements.--
                    (A) In general.--Each individual elected to be a 
                representative of an employee involvement organization 
                for a large employer shall be an employee who--
                            (i) is eligible to vote under paragraph 
                        (2)(A)(i); and
                            (ii) except in a case in which the large 
                        employer has operated for less than the 5 
                        calendar years immediately preceding the date 
                        of the election, has been employed by the large 
                        employer for not less than the 5 calendar years 
                        immediately preceding the date of the election.
                    (B) Ineligibility; term limits.--An employee 
                representative of an employee involvement organization 
                elected under this subsection shall not--
                            (i) be employed by the employer at the time 
                        of such election as a supervisor; or
                            (ii) at any time during the 5 calendar 
                        years immediately preceding the date of such 
                        election, be employed by the employer in a 
                        position related to human resources.
            (4) Representation by employee representative on board of 
        directors of large employer.--
                    (A) Board representation.--Subject to the 
                limitation under subparagraph (B) and, as relevant, the 
                procedure under subparagraph (C), an employee 
                representative of an employee involvement organization 
                elected under this subsection shall--
                            (i) be a nonvoting member of either or both 
                        of--
                                    (I) the board of directors of the 
                                employer; or
                                    (II) a workforce committee of the 
                                board of directors of the employer;
                            (ii) be permitted to attend any regular 
                        meeting of such board or committee, as 
                        applicable; and
                            (iii) receive equal access to information 
                        relevant to the purposes of the employee 
                        involvement organization as any other member of 
                        the board or committee, as applicable.
                    (B) Limitations.--Unless otherwise specified in the 
                certification under subsection (b)(1) by the large 
                employer of such employee involvement organization, an 
                employer may exclude an employee representative from 
                attending any meeting of any committee of the board of 
                directors of the business of such employer (or the 
                substantial equivalent of any such committee) called 
                for purposes unrelated to the purposes of such employee 
                involvement organization.
                    (C) Special procedure for an employer with more 
                than 1 employee involvement organization.--In a case in 
                which 2 or more employee representatives in total are 
                elected for a large employer under paragraph (1), the 
                employer and each employee involvement organization 
                that elects such an employee representative shall, by 
                reasonable procedures which provide for the input of 
                each such employee involvement organization, ensure 
                that only 1 employee representative for the employer at 
                any time exercises the powers described in subparagraph 
                (A).

SEC. 5. SAFE HARBOR FOR VIOLATION OF RULES DUE TO THE FAULT OF AN 
              EMPLOYEE.

    Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158), as 
amended by section 2, is further amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(i) It shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair labor 
practice under subsection (a) for an employer to establish, assist, 
maintain, or participate in an organization which purports to be an 
employee involvement organization, as defined in section 3 of the 
Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act of 2022, but which fails to 
comply with the requirements of such Act due to the fault of an 
employee:  Provided, That this subsection shall not apply in a case in 
which a labor organization is the representative of the employees of 
the employer in accordance with section 9(a).''.

SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS.

    (a) Labor Organization Rights.--This Act shall not prevent or 
affect the rights provided to labor organizations under section 9 of 
the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159).
    (b) Employee Rights.--This Act shall not affect the rights and 
responsibilities of employees under the National Labor Relations Act 
(29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), except with respect to the amendments made to 
section 2(5) and section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 152(5); 29 U.S.C. 158) by sections 2 and 5 of this Act.

SEC. 7. ENFORCEMENT BY THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.

    Section 6 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 156) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``The Board'' and inserting ``(a) The 
        Board''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) The Board shall not have any authority for enforcement, or 
adjudication, under this Act or the Teamwork for Employees and Managers 
Act of 2022 with respect to an employee involvement organization, as 
defined in section 3 of such Act.''.
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