"Change" Employers Can Expect

The Employee Free Choice Act - pro-union legislation that gets the most media coverage - is only one of the workplace changes that can potentially come to pass in the coming year with Barack Obama in the White House and a Democratically controlled Congress.

The 2008 presidential and congressional election campaigns were fueled by promises of "change" in Washington and those promises will certainly have an impact on the nation's labor and employment laws. This article highlights several significant changes to labor and employment laws that may occur as a result of this shift in political power.

Pending Legislation:

• Employee Free Choice Act of 2007
• Patriot Employers Act of 2007
• Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007
• Working Families Flexibility Act
• Paycheck Fairness Act of 2008
• Equal Remedies Act of 2007
• Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007
• FMLA Expansion Act
• Healthy Families Act of 2007
• Civil Rights Act of 2008

Additional Anticipated Changes:

• NLRB Decisions
• Minority Unions

Clearly, dramatic change is on the horizon with the Democrats' success on election day. As a result, employers must begin to prepare for significant changes in workplace laws - and their effect on the employer/employee relationship.

This article appeared in the December 29, 2008 issue of Human Resource Executive Online.