Striking and Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act
This bill, the Striking and Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act, would bar employers from terminating or altering an employee’s coverage under a group health plan during a lock-out or while the employee is engaged in a lawful strike. It tightens protections around employer-sponsored health coverage during labor disputes by adding specific prohibitions to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), defining “group health plan” to align with ERISA, and creating civil penalties for violations. The measure would empower the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to impose penalties, and it could extend liability to corporate directors or officers in certain cases. In short, it seeks to ensure workers maintain health coverage when employers use lock-outs or strikes as bargaining leverage.
Key Points
- 1Prohibition on coverage terminations/alterations during lock-outs or lawful strikes. The bill adds new prohibitions to prevent an employer from ending or changing an employee’s group health plan coverage while the employer is taking action to lock out workers or while workers are on a lawful strike.
- 2Expanded definitions. “Group health plan” is defined to match the meaning in ERISA (as referenced in ERISA’s statute), ensuring broad applicability to employer-provided health benefits.
- 3Civil penalties for unfair labor practices related to health coverage. The bill creates specific penalties for unfair labor practices tied to health coverage during a lock-out (up to $75,000 per violation, or up to $150,000 in aggravating circumstances such as discharge or serious economic harm and prior related violations) and during a lawful strike (up to $50,000 per violation, or up to $100,000 in aggravating circumstances and prior violations). These penalties are in addition to other remedies the Board may order.
- 4Director/officer liability. The bill allows penalties to be directed at individual directors or officers if they directed, knew about, or failed to prevent the violation.
- 5Factors for penalty calculation. When setting penalties, the Board would consider the gravity of the actions, the employer’s size, prior violations, and the public interest.