Dive Brief:
- Before the Senate adjourned for the August recess, two Democratic members tried to force the chamber to agree to bring minimum wage, paid sick leave, and flexible scheduling bills to the floor for a vote in the fall, reports Littler, the employment law firm.
- Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) asked for unanimous consent that by October 30, 2015, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) be discharged from further considering the Raise the Wage Act (S. 1150), Healthy Families Act (S. 497), and the Schedules That Work Act (S. 1772), and allow the bills to proceed to the Senate floor for a vote.
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), on behalf of HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN), objected to this move, officially thwarting the attempt.
Dive Insight:
According to Littler's Ilyse Schulman, the effort to push these employment bills through lays the groundwork for themes that will surely surface time and again before the 2016 election.
Given the makeup of Congress, none of these bills were expected to advance, Schulman said.
Schulman writes that while November 2016 seems like a long way off, politicians on both sides of the aisle are busy building their campaign platforms and working on their election narratives. Employers should expect debate in Congress and on the campaign trail over competing workplace legislation to continue in the months to come.
