The Protecting the Right to Organize Act (“PRO Act”) would be the first amendment to the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) since 1974. The PRO Act is big labor’s top legislative priority, has the support of the Biden administration, was passed by the House of Representatives in March, and is now pending in the Senate. If enacted, the PRO Act contains numerous provisions that would be “game changers” for employers, including those with and without unionized employees today. For example, provisions of the PRO Act would:

  • Significantly boost union organizing efforts, including by expanding who is a covered “employee” with protected rights under the NLRA, easing the standard for establishing joint employment, granting employees’ the right to use employers’ communication systems for organizing, and prohibiting employers from holding “captive audience” meetings pre-election; 
  • Shift the balance of power at the bargaining table by imposing time limits on negotiating first contracts before the mandatory submission of open issues to binding interest arbitration, and expanding employees’ protected right to strike to include engaging in intermittent strikes; 
  • Greatly expand penalties and recoverable economic damages under the NLRA, including by subjecting employers to fines of up to $50,000 and $100,000 per violation, making executives and directors potentially personally liable for the same, and expanding where the NLRB is required to seek mandatory injunctive relief; and 
  • Significantly increase employers’ litigation exposure outside of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) proceedings by prohibiting enforcement of employee class and collective action waivers, and granting employees a private right of action where the NLRB does not issue a complaint, including the ability to recover private attorneys’ fees.

Join Epstein Becker Green attorneys Michael Ferrell and Steven Swirsky, plus Ed Richards of Tenet Healthcare and David McNitt from National Health Advisors, for a webinar that discusses the ramifications of the PRO Act’s various provisions, as well as the prospects for the legislation in the Senate and the possibility of partial implementation through administrative agency action.

Click here to access the complimentary recording of this webinar.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Julie Choudhury.

Speakers

Michael S. Ferrell
Member of the Firm
mferrell@ebglaw.com

Steven M. Swirsky
Member of the Firm
sswirsky@ebglaw.com

Edward Richards
Vice President, Labor Relations
Tenet Healthcare
edward.richards@tenethealth.com

David McNitt
Senior Legislative Advisor
National Health Advisors
dmcnitt@oldakergroup.com

Event Detail

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm ET
Webinar
Jump to Page

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.