Employee Empowerment Act

Bill: 115-hr-933
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Ellison, Keith [D-MN-5]
Introduced: 2017-02-07
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Civil actions and liability

Labor standards

Labor-management relations

Legal fees and court costs
Latest action: action_date: 2017-03-09
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.

Summaries:
action_date: 2017-02-07
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Employee Empowerment Act </b></p> <p>This bill amends the National Labor Relations Act to authorize a person alleging an unfair labor practice by an employer by discrimination regarding hiring or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization, in addition to filing a charge alleging an unfair labor practice with the National Labor Relations Board, to bring a civil action against such employer in U.S. district court.</p> <p>The court may grant relief (including injunctive and equitable relief, back pay, and compensatory and punitive damages) and allow the prevailing party a reasonable attorney's fee (including expert witness fees) as part of the costs.</p>

tv_txt: I 115th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 933 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 7, 2017 Mr. Ellison (for himself and Mr. Lewis of Georgia ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce , and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary , 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 strengthen the current protections available under the National Labor Relations Act by providing a private right of action for certain violations of such Act, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Employee Empowerment Act . 2. Private right of action under the National Labor Relations Act Section 10 of the National Labor Relations Act ( 29 U.S.C. 160 ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (n) In addition to filing a charge alleging an unfair labor practice with the Board in accordance with this Act, a person alleging an unfair labor practice by an employer in violation of section 8(a)(3) may, not later than 180 days after the date of such violation, bring a civil action in the appropriate district court of the United States against the employer for such violation. The court may grant any relief described in section 706(g) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ( 42 U.S.C. 2000e–5 ) or section 1977A(b) of the Revised Statutes of the United States ( 42 U.S.C. 1981a(b) ), and may allow the prevailing party a reasonable attorney’s fee (including expert witness fees) as part of the costs. .