Striking and Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Deluzio (for himself and Ms. McBride) introduced the following …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill prohibits employers from terminating or reducing employee health insurance coverage during labor disputes. Specifically, it makes it illegal for employers to cut off health coverage when they lock out workers or when workers go on a lawful strike. The bill also establishes substantial civil penalties for employers who violate these protections.
Who Benefits and How
Union workers and their families are the primary beneficiaries. Workers engaged in strikes or lockouts would maintain their employer-provided health insurance coverage during labor disputes, protecting them and their dependents from losing healthcare access at a critical time. Labor unions gain stronger bargaining power since employers can no longer use the threat of healthcare termination as leverage during negotiations. This particularly helps workers in industries with high rates of labor disputes like manufacturing, transportation, and utilities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Employers subject to the National Labor Relations Act face new restrictions on their actions during labor disputes and potential financial penalties. Employers who violate the law by terminating coverage during lockouts face civil penalties up to 75,000 dollars per violation (doubled to 150,000 dollars for repeat offenders within 5 years). Employers who terminate coverage during strikes face penalties up to 50,000 dollars per violation (doubled to 100,000 dollars for repeat offenders). Corporate directors and officers can be held personally liable if they directed or failed to prevent violations. Companies in heavily unionized industries will face the highest compliance costs.
Key Provisions
- Creates two new unfair labor practices: (1) terminating health coverage during employer lockouts, and (2) terminating health coverage during lawful strikes
- Establishes civil penalties of up to 75,000 dollars for lockout-related violations and 50,000 dollars for strike-related violations
- Doubles penalties to 150,000 dollars and 100,000 dollars respectively if the violation coincides with employee discharge or causes serious economic harm and the employer has prior violations within 5 years
- Allows the National Labor Relations Board to impose personal liability on corporate directors and officers who directed violations or had the authority to prevent them but failed to do so
- Requires the NLRB to consider the gravity of violations, employer size, history of prior violations, and public interest when determining penalty amounts
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
This bill prohibits employers from terminating or altering employee group health plan coverage during lockouts or lawful strikes, and establishes civil penalties for violations
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Strengthen labor protections by preventing employers from using healthcare coverage as leverage during labor disputes, with significant civil penalties to deter violations"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Union workers engaged in strikes
- Employees subject to employer lockouts
- Labor unions negotiating collective bargaining agreements
- Families of striking or locked-out workers who depend on employer-provided health coverage
Likely Burden Bearers
- Employers engaged in labor disputes (particularly those who currently terminate coverage during strikes/lockouts)
- Corporate directors and officers (subject to personal liability)
- Industries with high rates of labor disputes (manufacturing, transportation, utilities)
- National Labor Relations Board (increased enforcement workload)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "employee"
- → Any employee covered by the National Labor Relations Act
- "employer"
- → Any employer subject to the National Labor Relations Act
- "the_board"
- → National Labor Relations Board
- "employer"
- → Any employer subject to the National Labor Relations Act
- "the_board"
- → National Labor Relations Board
- "director_or_officer"
- → Corporate directors or officers of the employer
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
To terminate or alter the coverage of an employee under a group health plan during the period that such employee is engaged in a lawful strike
Up to $50,000 per violation, doubled to $100,000 if violation coincides with discharge or serious economic harm and employer has repeat violation within 5 years
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology