[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 702 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 702

Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to protect the rights of 
                          restaurant workers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 19, 2023

Ms. Tlaib (for herself, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Ms. Lee of California, 
   Mr. Bowman, Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Clarke of New York, Ms. Bush, Ms. 
Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Casar, Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. McGovern, Ms. 
Omar, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Ms. 
 Schakowsky, and Ms. Jackson Lee) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and 
    in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judiciary, 
  Financial Services, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Oversight and 
 Accountability, Armed Services, Veterans' Affairs, Natural Resources, 
     Foreign Affairs, and House Administration, 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

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to protect the rights of 
                          restaurant workers.

Whereas, as of 2022--

    (1) there are over 12.5 million restaurant workers in the United 
States, comprising over 10 percent of the overall workforce; and

    (2) over 60 percent of American adults report working in the restaurant 
industry at some point during their lives and 48 percent report having held 
their first regular job in a restaurant;

Whereas the restaurant industry workforce is extremely diverse, in which--

    (1) 54 percent are women and nearly \1/2\ are workers of color;

    (2) Latino and Latina workers are the most represented racial or ethnic 
group in the restaurant industry; and

    (3) over \1/5\ of restaurant workers are immigrants, who are denied 
access to public programs simply because of their immigration status;

Whereas more than \1/3\ of all women working in the restaurant industry are 
        mothers, and well over \1/2\ of those are single moms;
Whereas restaurant workers live in poverty at nearly 3 times the rate of the 
        general workforce, and access food stamps and Medicaid at nearly twice 
        the rate of the overall workforce;
Whereas employers in 16 States are permitted to pay restaurant workers just 
        $2.13 an hour before tips, a tipped minimum cash wage that Congress has 
        not raised since 1991 and that exacerbates the economic impacts of 
        sexism and racism, as demonstrated by the fact that in those 16 States--

    (1) the racial divide in poverty levels is exacerbated, with restaurant 
workers of color living in poverty at levels 4.9 percentage points higher 
than White restaurant workers; and

    (2) sexual harassment is higher than in the States where employers are 
required to pay the full minimum wage with tips on top;

Whereas 23.5 percent of workers in the restaurant industry lived without health 
        coverage in 2017, which is nearly triple the national rate, and only 31 
        percent of restaurants offer health insurance coverage for their staff 
        according to a survey of restaurant owners;
Whereas low wages, unjust working conditions, and bans on abortion coverage like 
        the Hyde Amendment, all interfere with someone's ability to make their 
        own decisions about pregnancy and whether to become a parent, and 
        disproportionately affect women and people of color;
Whereas wage theft, discrimination, and other violations of wage and hour law 
        are extremely common in the restaurant industry, and restaurant workers 
        are more likely to experience discrimination in restaurants, including 
        sex discrimination, discrimination against parents, racism and racist 
        hiring practices;
Whereas the rate of sexual harassment among female restaurant workers is the 
        highest of any industry, with female workers filing sexual harassment 
        charges at twice the rate of the general workforce, with one survey of 
        restaurant industry workers finding that more than 70 percent of women 
        reported having experienced some form of sexual harassment in the 
        workplace;
Whereas, since the United States is currently the only OECD country with no 
        national paid family leave and one of the few high-income countries 
        without a national family caregiving or medical leave policy, the 
        majority of restaurant workers have no guaranteed paid or unpaid leave;
Whereas in a survey of COVID impacts on the restaurant industry, 42 percent of 
        respondents said that someone at their workplace tested positive for 
        COVID-19 and 68 percent said that the virus impacted their workplaces 
        with them or their coworkers testing positive, and one in ten restaurant 
        workers went to work with COVID-19 symptoms because of economic 
        pressures;
Whereas nearly 6 million restaurant workers lost their jobs in 2020, 
        disproportionately impacting women and workers of color; and
Whereas unemployment in the restaurant industry in the United States was 41.8 
        percent in April 2020, at the height of the pandemic, which was more 
        than twice the rate of unemployment in the private sector overall: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop a 
        restaurant workers' bill of rights through transparent 
        inclusive consultation, collaboration, and partnership with 
        restaurant workers, including members of frontline and 
        vulnerable communities, labor unions, civil society groups, 
        academia, and businesses to ensure that restaurant workers 
        have--
                    (A) the right to a thriving life by being paid a 
                thriving wage, having access to safe, stable and 
                sufficient housing and affordable childcare, and being 
                economically secure in retirement;
                    (B) the right to healing and rest by having paid 
                time to recover from illness, care for family members, 
                and engage in life outside of work as well as 
                consistent schedules that allow their families to 
                thrive;
                    (C) the right to a safe and dignified work 
                environment by ensuring restaurant workers are safe 
                from discrimination and harassment in the workplace;
                    (D) the right to healthcare and bodily autonomy by 
                making certain that all restaurant workers have 
                comprehensive, affordable and accessible health and 
                reproductive care, protection against discrimination on 
                the basis of gender identity, and protection against 
                discrimination regarding hair texture or hairstyles 
                associated with a particular race or national origin; 
                and
                    (E) the right to participation in governance by 
                exercising their rights as citizens, voters, activists, 
                and organizers at all levels of government and at our 
                workplaces, free from pressure and coercion from 
                employers;
            (2) the right to a thriving life will be implemented by--
                    (A) enacting a Federal law requiring all tipped and 
                non-tipped restaurant workers to be paid a full 
                thriving wage, which would eliminate the tip credit and 
                prohibit employers from paying workers anything less 
                than the full minimum wage, with tips on top;
                    (B) exploring options to provide retirement 
                benefits to all workers regardless of the type of 
                employment or level of compensation the worker received 
                through the course of their work history, including by 
                expanding Social Security or establishing funded 
                portable retirement accounts;
                    (C) exploring the viability of a Federal guaranteed 
                basic income program;
                    (D) ensuring enforcement of wage and hour 
                regulations by--
                            (i) providing a private right of action for 
                        affected workers in the restaurant industry;
                            (ii) increasing Federal resources for 
                        investigation and enforcement of wage 
                        violations in the restaurant industry;
                            (iii) engaging in strategic enforcement of 
                        the restaurant industry, which includes 
                        conducting proactive, rather than reactive, 
                        investigations;
                            (iv) developing sustained partnerships with 
                        worker centers, unions, legal advocacy 
                        organizations, and other community-based 
                        organizations that are embedded in restaurant 
                        worker communities to conduct investigations;
                            (v) investing resources into informational 
                        campaigns to businesses and know your rights 
                        campaigns for workers;
                            (vi) strengthening penalties and remedies 
                        for wage violations in the restaurant industry 
                        and engaging in robust compliance agreements 
                        with violators; and
                            (vii) ensuring that employers are subject 
                        to penalties if they retaliate against 
                        restaurant workers who report wage violations;
                    (E) modernizing and reforming Federal unemployment 
                insurance laws to--
                            (i) guarantee universal minimum standards 
                        for benefits eligibility, duration, and 
                        adequacy, with States free to enact more 
                        expansive benefits;
                            (ii) reform financing of Federal 
                        unemployment insurance to eliminate incentives 
                        for States and employers to exclude workers, 
                        reduce benefits, and contest valid claims;
                            (iii) update eligibility standards to match 
                        the modern workforce, and guarantee benefits to 
                        underemployed and part time workers, and 
                        everyone looking for work but still jobless 
                        through no fault of their own, including 
                        workers engaged in caregiving; and
                            (iv) enact a Federal requirement that all 
                        States provide at least 26 weeks of UI 
                        benefits, and use better measures of labor 
                        market distress to automatically extend and 
                        sustain benefits during downturns;
                    (F) requiring that large companies and franchisors 
                first offer rehiring opportunities to former employees, 
                before hiring new employees, to stop employers from 
                cutting costs by letting go of their experienced, 
                higher-paid workers in favor of new, lower-paid 
                workers;
                    (G) eliminating at-will employment and enacting 
                just cause termination policies that--
                            (i) require that employers have just cause 
                        for termination of employment;
                            (ii) ensure that employers' rules and 
                        regulations (those which if broken could cause 
                        termination) are standardized, just, 
                        reasonable, and are in place to make the 
                        workplace safe and legal;
                            (iii) place the burden of proof that an 
                        employee is in violation of any such rule of 
                        regulation on the employer;
                            (iv) ensure that employers thoroughly 
                        inform employees regarding fireable offenses;
                            (v) require that employers provide 
                        employees with ample notice regarding 
                        violations;
                            (vi) ensure that employers carry out a 
                        thorough and just investigation when a worker 
                        is accused of a fireable offense;
                            (vii) ensure that employees are not 
                        retaliated against by employers for exercising 
                        their right to contest termination in a 
                        judicial or internal process; and
                            (viii) ensure that traditionally excluded 
                        workers like domestic, agriculture, and 
                        undocumented workers are included in any such 
                        policies;
                    (H) enacting Federal policies to reduce the high 
                rate of gender, race or national origin, sexual 
                orientation, and other forms of employment 
                discrimination in the restaurant industry by, among 
                other things--
                            (i) improving enforcement of existing laws 
                        on employment discrimination and better funding 
                        the Federal agencies tasked with enforcing 
                        those laws;
                            (ii) implementing and enforcing legislation 
                        prohibiting discrimination based on a person's 
                        hair texture or hairstyle if that style or 
                        texture is commonly associated with a 
                        particular race or national origin;
                            (iii) mandating employers to train their 
                        employees so long as they employ 5 or more 
                        employees anywhere, even if they do not work at 
                        the same location and even if not all of them 
                        work or reside in the same State;
                            (iv) clarifying and enforcing Federal laws 
                        regarding independent contractors to fight 
                        misclassification of employees in industries 
                        such as the on-demand economy;
                            (v) eliminating the use of the ``felony 
                        box'' in job applications;
                            (vi) enacting policies to eliminate 
                        currently existing gender and racial pay gaps 
                        and adding significant penalties for employers 
                        who refuse to comply; and
                            (vii) establishing better mechanisms for 
                        workers to report discrimination without fear 
                        of retaliation; and
                    (I) investing in a robust, qualified childcare 
                system that is accessible to all workers, regardless of 
                their ability to pay or their immigration status, by--
                            (i) establishing free, quality federally 
                        funded training programs and advancement 
                        opportunities for early educators;
                            (ii) ensuring child care providers make a 
                        thriving wage to support themselves and their 
                        families and thrive;
                            (iii) ensuring equal access to childcare 
                        for all parents and caretakers, not just 
                        birthing mothers;
                            (iv) ensuring a wide variety of funded 
                        options that meet caretakers' diverse and 
                        unique needs;
                            (v) expanding the funding and scope of the 
                        Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home 
                        Visiting Program; and
                            (vi) ensuring access to free, quality, 
                        nontraditional hour care, including night care;
            (3) the right to healing and rest will be implemented by--
                    (A) a Federal requirement that employers provide 
                paid sick, family, medical and vacation leave to all 
                restaurant workers regardless of their immigration 
                status, implemented through the enactment of--
                            (i) Federal legislation that guarantees all 
                        employees a minimum amount of paid family and 
                        medical leave, with continued health insurance 
                        coverage and meaningful wage replacement during 
                        leave, and with guaranteed job security and 
                        protection from retaliation upon the employee's 
                        return from leave;
                            (ii) Federal legislation that entitles all 
                        workers to a minimum number of paid days of 
                        vacation; and
                            (iii) Federal legislation that mandates a 
                        minimum number of hours of paid sick and safe 
                        leave per calendar year for personal and family 
                        care regardless of position, tenure, and hours 
                        worked per week; and
                    (B) a Federal requirement that businesses--
                            (i) post employees' work schedules at least 
                        two weeks in advance or not later than a 
                        certain number of days before their shift 
                        begins;
                            (ii) ensure adequate rest between shifts;
                            (iii) provide employees with additional pay 
                        when employers make last-minute schedule 
                        changes and for on-call shifts;
                            (iv) allow employees to make scheduling 
                        requests or decline schedule changes without 
                        fear of retaliation;
                            (v) offer newly available hours to 
                        qualified existing staff before making new 
                        hires; and
                            (vi) ensure that employees not be penalized 
                        or retaliated against for lawful absences under 
                        no-fault attendance policies;
            (4) the right to a safe and dignified work environment will 
        be implemented by--
                    (A) taking steps to ensure workplace health and 
                safety in the restaurant industry, including by--
                            (i) requiring employers, with input from 
                        employees, to develop, adopt, and distribute 
                        plans, which must at a minimum follow 
                        guidelines from the CDC and OSHA, to protect 
                        employees' health and safety at work that must 
                        be activated when a Federal or State pandemic 
                        state of emergency is declared;
                            (ii) requiring employers to train all 
                        workers on hazards and the measures the 
                        employer has implemented in the workplace to 
                        protect workers from dangers including working 
                        with sharp knives, electrical hazards, slippery 
                        and cluttered floors, fire hazards and burns 
                        from cooking equipment and hot food, 
                        musculoskeletal disorders, dangerous cleaning 
                        and other chemicals, workplace violence, and 
                        COVID-19;
                            (iii) requiring employers to permit 
                        employees at a worksite to establish a joint 
                        labor-management workplace safety committee 
                        where employee members can raise health and 
                        safety concerns, hazards, complaints, and 
                        violations to the employer to which the 
                        employer must respond;
                            (iv) improving enforcement of existing 
                        workplace safety laws and better funding the 
                        Federal agencies tasked with enforcing those 
                        laws; and
                            (v) re-examining existing anti-retaliation 
                        protections, lack of a worker's private right 
                        of action, current standards, and penalties and 
                        sanctions for workplace safety violations and, 
                        if necessary, updating them to make sure they 
                        are effective;
                    (B) enacting Federal policies to reduce the high 
                rate of sex (including sexual orientation and gender 
                identity) discrimination, racial discrimination, and 
                other forms of employment discrimination in the 
                restaurant industry by--
                            (i) improving enforcement of existing laws 
                        on employment discrimination and better funding 
                        the Federal agencies tasked with enforcing 
                        those laws;
                            (ii) clarifying and enforcing Federal laws 
                        regarding independent contractors to fight 
                        misclassification of employees in industries 
                        such as the on-demand economy;
                            (iii) eliminating the use of the ``felony 
                        box'' in job applications by expanding the 
                        Federal ban the box law to private companies;
                            (iv) enacting equal pay policies to 
                        eliminate currently existing gender and racial 
                        pay disparities and adding significant 
                        penalties for employers who refuse to comply;
                            (v) ensuring that employers treat part-time 
                        and full-time employees equally when they hold 
                        substantially similar jobs; and
                            (vi) establishing better mechanisms for 
                        workers to report discrimination without fear 
                        of retaliation, especially for undocumented 
                        workers, and ensuring that employers are 
                        subject to penalties if they retaliate against 
                        workers who report discrimination; and
                    (C) enacting Federal policies to ensure that all 
                immigrant workers and their families currently in the 
                United States have the opportunity to normalize their 
                immigration status, whether by temporary authorization, 
                lawful permanent status, or full citizenship, including 
                immediate eligibility to work and to access health care 
                and other government programs and supports, as well 
                as--
                            (i) enacting H.R. 5227 (117th), the LIFT 
                        the BAR Act of 2021; and
                            (ii) enacting H.R. 3149 (117th), the HEAL 
                        for Immigrant Families Act of 2021;
            (5) the right to healthcare and bodily autonomy will be 
        implemented by--
                    (A) ensuring that all individuals living in the 
                United States have equal access to comprehensive, 
                quality, affordable health care, without the threat of 
                financial hardship, by--
                            (i) decoupling healthcare coverage from 
                        employment; and
                            (ii) exploring moving toward a single-
                        payer, Government-administered healthcare 
                        system which would cover all residents of the 
                        United States for all medically necessary 
                        services, including doctor, hospital, 
                        preventive, long-term care, mental health, 
                        abortion care and other reproductive health 
                        care, gender-affirming care, dental, vision, 
                        prescription drug, and medical supply costs;
                    (B) taking steps to protect access to reproductive 
                rights and health care for all workers in the United 
                States, irrespective of race, socioeconomic status, 
                employer, State of residency, immigration status, 
                gender identity, and sexual orientation; and
                    (C) enacting H.R. 2234 (117th), the EACH Act of 
                2021;
            (6) the right to participation in governance will be 
        implemented by--
                    (A) taking steps to preserve the right of workers 
                to freely organize and bargain collectively with 
                employers, including by--
                            (i) eliminating the racist exclusions and 
                        barriers within the National Labor Relations 
                        Act, providing full inclusion and the right to 
                        a union for all workers, including--
                                    (I) reestablishing voluntary 
                                recognition of unions upon majority 
                                support; and
                                    (II) not holding a secret election 
                                and guaranteeing the ability of workers 
                                to talk openly about unionization at 
                                work and union organizers to speak to 
                                workers openly;
                            (ii) expanding national labor protections 
                        related to employees' rights to organize, 
                        participate in unions, and collectively bargain 
                        in the workplace and pass the Richard L. Trumka 
                        Protecting the Right to Organize Act that--
                                    (I) would permit labor 
                                organizations to encourage 
                                participation of union members in 
                                strikes initiated by employees 
                                represented by a different labor 
                                organization; and
                                    (II) prohibits employers from 
                                bringing claims against unions that 
                                conduct such secondary strikes;
                            (iii) repealing the Labor Management 
                        Relations Act, 1947 (known as the ``Taft-
                        Hartley Act'') and the amendments made by such 
                        Act;
                            (iv) banning State and local ``right-to-
                        work'' laws;
                            (v) establishing strict and significant 
                        penalties when employers break laws in an 
                        effort to bust unions; and
                            (vi) ending ``captive audience'' meetings; 
                        and
                    (B) protecting the right of all citizens to vote, 
                and making voting as accessible as possible, especially 
                for historically excluded communities, such as Black 
                and Brown people, women, returning citizens, and those 
                in poverty, by--
                            (i) establishing universal registration and 
                        voting;
                            (ii) implementing legislation requiring 
                        each State to permit any eligible individual on 
                        the day of a Federal election and on any day 
                        when voting, including early voting, is 
                        permitted for a Federal election--
                                    (I) to register to vote in such 
                                election at the polling place using a 
                                form that meets the requirements under 
                                section 9(b) of the National Voter 
                                Registration Act of 1993 (or, if the 
                                individual is already registered to 
                                vote, to revise any of the individual's 
                                voter registration information); and
                                    (II) to cast a vote in such 
                                election;
                            (iii) opposing laws and policies which seek 
                        to erect further barriers and make ballot 
                        access more difficult; and
                            (iv) passing the Same Day Registration Act 
                        of 2023, the Freedom to Vote Act, and the John 
                        R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act; and
            (7) a Restaurant Workers' Bill of Rights must be developed 
        through transparent and inclusive consultation, collaboration, 
        and partnership with restaurant workers, including members of 
        frontline and vulnerable communities, labor unions, civil 
        society groups, academia, and businesses.
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