Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

AS PASSED BY HOUSE AND SENATE                                              S.102
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                                       S.102
    An act relating to expanding employment protections and collective
    bargaining rights
 It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:
 Sec. 1. 21 V.S.A. § 495o is added to read:
 § 495o. EMPLOYER COMMUNICATIONS RELATING TO RELIGIOUS
          OR POLITICAL MATTERS; EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
    (a) An employer, or an employer’s agent, shall not discharge, discipline,
 penalize, or otherwise discriminate against, or threaten to discharge, discipline,
 penalize, or otherwise discriminate against, an employee:
       (1) because the employee declines:
          (A) to attend or participate in an employer-sponsored meeting that
 has the primary purpose of communicating the employer’s opinion about
 religious or political matters; or
          (B) to view or participate in communications with or from the
 employer or the employer’s agent that have the primary purpose of
 communicating the employer’s opinion about religious or political matters; or
       (2) as a means of requiring an employee to:
          (A) attend an employer-sponsored meeting that has the primary
 purpose of communicating the employer’s opinion about religious or political
 matters; or
          (B) view or participate in communications with or from the employer VT LEG #377321 v.1
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 or the employer’s agent that have the primary purpose of communicating the
 employer’s opinion about religious or political matters.
    (b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to:
       (1) limit an employee’s right to bring a civil action for wrongful
 termination; or
       (2) diminish or limit any rights provided to an employee pursuant to a
 collective bargaining agreement or employment contract.
    (c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit an employer that is
 a religious or denominational institution or organization, or any organization
 operated for charitable or educational purposes, that is operated, supervised, or
 controlled by or in connection with a religious organization, from:
       (1) communicating with its employees regarding the employer’s opinion
 on religious matters;
       (2) requiring its employees to attend a meeting regarding the employer’s
 opinion on religious matters; or
       (3) requiring its employees to view or participate in communications
 from the employer or the employer’s agent regarding the employer’s opinion
 on religious matters.
    (d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit an employer that is
 a political organization, a political party, or an organization that engages, in
 substantial part, in political matters from:
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     AS PASSED BY HOUSE AND SENATE                                              S.102
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       (1) communicating with its employees regarding the employer’s opinion
 on political matters;
       (2) requiring its employees to attend a meeting regarding the employer’s
 opinion on political matters; or
       (3) requiring its employees to view or participate in communications
 from the employer or the employer’s agent regarding the employer’s opinion
 on political matters.
    (e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit an employer or the
 employer’s agent from:
       (1) communicating information to an employee:
          (A) that the employer is required to communicate pursuant to State or
 federal law; or
          (B) that is necessary for the employee to perform the employee’s job
 functions or duties;
       (2) requiring an employee to attend a meeting to discuss issues related to
 the employer’s business or operation when the discussion is necessary for the
 employee to perform the employee’s job functions or duties; or
       (3) offering meetings, forums, or other communications about religious
 or political matters for which attendance or participation is entirely voluntary.
    (f)(1) The penalty and enforcement provisions of section 495b of this
 subchapter shall apply to this section.
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       (2) The provisions against retaliation in subdivision 495(a)(8) of this
 subchapter shall apply to this section.
    (g) As used in this section:
       (1) “Political matters” means matters relating to:
          (A) political affiliation;
          (B) elections for political office;
          (C) political parties;
          (D) legislative proposals;
          (E) the decision to join or support any political party or political,
 civic, community, fraternal, or labor organization; or
          (F) any combination of subdivisions (A) through (E) of this
 subdivision (g)(1).
       (2) “Religious matters” means matters relating to:
          (A) religious affiliation;
          (B) religious practice;
          (C) the decision to join or support any religious or denominational
 organization or institution; or
          (D) any combination of subdivisions (A) through (C) of this
 subdivision (g)(2).
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 Sec. 2. 21 V.S.A. § 1502 is amended to read:
 § 1502. DEFINITIONS
    As used in this chapter:
                                       ***
       (6) “Employee” includes any employee, and is not limited to the
 employees of a particular employer unless this chapter explicitly states
 otherwise, and includes any individual whose work has ceased as a
 consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of
 any unfair labor practice and who has not obtained any other regular and
 substantially equivalent employment, but does not include an individual;:
          (A) employed as an agricultural laborer;
          (B) employed by his or her the individual’s parent or spouse;
          (C) employed in the domestic service of any family or person at his
 or her home; [Repealed.]
          (D) having the status of an independent contractor;
          (E) employed as a supervisor;
          (F) employed by an employer subject to the Railway Labor Act as
 amended from time to time; or
          (G) employed by any other person who is not an employer as defined
 in subdivision (7) of this section.
                                       ***
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     AS PASSED BY HOUSE AND SENATE                                              S.102
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 Sec. 3. AGRICULTURAL WORKER LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
          LAWS; STUDY COMMITTEE; REPORT
    (a) Creation. There is created the Agricultural Worker Labor and
 Employment Laws Study Committee to examine the application of Vermont’s
 labor relations and employment laws to agricultural workers in Vermont and to
 identify potential legislative action to provide additional coverage to
 agricultural workers under those laws.
    (b) Membership. The Committee shall be composed of the following
 members:
       (1) four current members of the House, not all from the same political
 party, appointed by the Speaker of the House, of whom two shall be members
 of the Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry and two shall
 be members of the Committee on General and Housing; and
       (2) four current members of the Senate, not all from the same political
 party, appointed by the Committee on Committees, of whom two shall be
 members of the Committee on Agriculture and two shall be members of the
 Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs.
    (c) Powers and duties. The Committee shall study how Vermont’s
 employment and labor relations laws apply to Vermont agricultural workers
 and identify potential legislative action to provide additional coverage to
 agricultural workers under those laws. In particular, the Committee shall:
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       (1) identify existing employment rights for agricultural workers under
 Vermont and federal law;
       (2) identify Vermont and federal employment and collective bargaining
 laws that do not apply to some or all Vermont agricultural workers;
       (3) identify laws in other states that provide employment or collective
 bargaining rights to agricultural workers that Vermont agricultural workers do
 not have;
       (4) paying particular attention to states with agricultural economies
 similar to Vermont’s, examine the structure of collective bargaining rights for
 agricultural workers in other states that provide such rights, including
 coverage, certification of exclusive bargaining representatives, subjects for
 bargaining, procedures for resolving bargaining impasse, unfair labor practices,
 and costs related to organizing and contract negotiation for both employers and
 labor organizations;
       (5) examine the structure of Vermont’s existing labor relations laws,
 including coverage, certification of exclusive bargaining representatives,
 subjects for bargaining, procedures for resolving bargaining impasse, unfair
 labor practices, and costs related to organizing and contract negotiation for
 both employers and labor organizations;
       (6) examine the capacity of the Vermont Labor Relations Board to
 administer collective bargaining in Vermont’s agricultural sector;
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         (7) develop a framework for agricultural collective bargaining in
 Vermont; and
         (8) identify other potential changes to Vermont’s employment laws to
 provide additional rights and protections to agricultural workers.
    (d) Assistance. The Committee shall have the administrative assistance of
 the Office of Legislative Operations, the fiscal assistance of the Joint Fiscal
 Office, and the legal assistance of the Office of Legislative Counsel.
    (e) Report.
         (1) On or before December 15, 2024, the Committee shall submit a
 written report to the General Assembly with its findings and recommendations
 for legislative action.
         (2) The report shall include a proposal for permitting agricultural
 workers to collectively bargain. The proposal shall specifically address:
            (A) whether to provide for collective bargaining by agricultural
 workers under the State Labor Relations Act or in a separate agricultural
 workers’ labor relations act;
            (B) the minimum size of agricultural employer to be covered;
            (C) whether, and if so how, to differentiate between covered
 employers based on their size;
            (D) the minimum number of employees who may form a bargaining
 unit;
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          (E) how to address seasonal, migratory, and temporary workers;
          (F) procedures for selecting and certifying an exclusive
 representative for a bargaining unit;
          (G) mandatory subjects for bargaining;
          (H) procedures for resolving bargaining impasses, including whether
 to permit strikes or contract imposition;
          (I) unfair labor practices;
          (J) the role, if any, of the Vermont Labor Relations Board in
 administering the proposed law;
          (K) whether to provide State resources to assist parties during the
 process of determining a bargaining unit, certifying an exclusive representative
 for a bargaining unit, negotiating a contract, and resolving a bargaining
 impasse; and
          (L) any other issues the Committee deems to be appropriate.
       (3) The report shall also include a recommendation for any other
 legislative action to amend Vermont’s employment laws in relation to
 agricultural workers that the Committee deems to be appropriate.
    (f) Meetings.
       (1) The Chair of the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency,
 and Forestry shall call the first meeting of the Committee to occur on or before
 September 6, 2024.
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       (2) The Committee shall select a chair from among its members at the
 first meeting.
       (3) A majority of the membership shall constitute a quorum.
       (4) The Committee shall cease to exist on December 31, 2024.
    (g) Compensation and reimbursement. For attendance at meetings during
 adjournment of the General Assembly, a legislative member of the Committee
 shall be entitled to per diem compensation and reimbursement of expenses
 pursuant to 2 V.S.A. § 23 for not more than six meetings. These payments
 shall be made from monies appropriated to the General Assembly.
 Sec. 4. 3 V.S.A. § 941 is amended to read:
 § 941. UNIT DETERMINATION, CERTIFICATION, AND
        REPRESENTATION
                                        ***
    (e)(1) Whenever, on the basis of a petition pursuant to subdivision (d)(1) of
 this section or a hearing pursuant to subdivision (d)(2) of this section, the
 Board finds substantial interest among employees in forming a bargaining unit
 or being represented for purposes of collective bargaining, a secret ballot
 election shall be conducted by the Board not more than 23 business days after
 the petition is filed with the Board except as otherwise provided pursuant to
 subdivision (4) of this subsection and subdivision (g)(4) of this section.
                                        ***
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    (g)(1) In determining the representation of State employees in a collective
 bargaining unit, the Board shall conduct a secret ballot of the employees within
 the time period set forth in subdivision (e)(1) of this section, unless the time to
 conduct the election is extended pursuant to subdivision (e)(4) of this section,
 and certify the results to the interested parties and to the State employer. The
 original ballot shall be so prepared as to permit a vote against representation by
 anyone named on the ballot. No representative will be certified with less than
 a majority of the votes cast by employees in the bargaining unit.
                                        ***
       (4)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection (g), if the
 Board determines that a petition to be represented for collective bargaining
 filed pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, which identifies a proposed
 exclusive representative of the employees in the bargaining unit, bears the
 signatures of at least 50 percent plus one of the employees in a bargaining unit
 deemed appropriate by the Board pursuant to this section, the Board shall
 certify the person or labor organization as the exclusive representative of the
 bargaining unit.
          (B) Certification of a collective bargaining representative shall only
 be available pursuant to this subdivision (g)(4) when no other person or labor
 organization is currently certified or recognized as the exclusive representative
 of the employees in the bargaining unit.
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    (h) A representative chosen by secret ballot for the purposes of collective
 bargaining by a majority of the votes cast by secret ballot or certified pursuant
 to subdivision (g)(4) of this section shall be the exclusive representative of all
 the employees in such the bargaining unit for a minimum of one