To establish protections for warehouse workers, and for other purposes.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes a Fairness and Transparency Office within the Department of Labor to oversee warehouse worker protections, with presidential appointment of a Director who can hire staff and establish advisory boards, establishes the Fairness and Transparency Office within the Wage and Hour Division, grants the Director hiring authority and creates an advisory board composed of employers, employees, worker protection experts, and establishes comprehensive warehouse worker protections including: requiring employers to disclose quotas in writing, prohibiting quotas that prevent bathroom breaks or violate safety laws, mandating 15-minute paid rest. It relies on compliance mandates, definition changes, reporting requirements, and exemptions. The main policy areas are Transportation, Labor, General, and Healthcare.
Who Benefits and How
Warehouse workers could face reduced risk, Warehouse workers subject to quotas could face lower compliance burdens, and Warehouse workers at risk of musculoskeletal injuries could face reduced risk.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Warehouse employers would take on compliance duties, Large warehouse operators with high injury rates could face increased risk, and Large warehouse and distribution center operators with 200+ employees would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Establishes a Fairness and Transparency Office within the Department of Labor to oversee warehouse worker protections, with presidential appointment of a Director who can hire staff and establish advisory boards...
- Establishes the Fairness and Transparency Office within the Wage and Hour Division, grants the Director hiring authority and creates an advisory board composed of employers, employees, worker protection experts...
- Establishes comprehensive warehouse worker protections including: requiring employers to disclose quotas in writing, prohibiting quotas that prevent bathroom breaks or violate safety laws, mandating 15-minute paid rest...
- Requires grants the Secretary of Labor authority to investigate violations of warehouse worker protections, including power to enter and inspect covered facilities, question employees privately, and conduct mandatory...
- Requires the Fairness and Transparency Office to coordinate with OSHA, EEOC, NLRB, and other agencies through memoranda of understanding for complaint referrals and cross-training of inspectors.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes a Fairness and Transparency Office within the Department of Labor to oversee warehouse worker protections, with presidential appointment of a Director who can hire staff and establish advisory boards, establishes the Fairness and Transparency Office within the Wage and Hour Division, grants the Director hiring authority and creates an advisory board composed of employers, employees, worker protection experts, and establishes comprehensive warehouse worker protections including: requiring employers to disclose quotas in writing, prohibiting quotas that prevent bathroom breaks or violate safety laws, mandating 15-minute paid rest.
Key Policy Areas
Transportation, Labor, General, Healthcare
Primary Purpose
The bill establishes a Fairness and Transparency Office within the Department of Labor to oversee warehouse worker protections, with presidential appointment of a Director who can hire staff and establish advisory boards, establishes the Fairness and Transparency Office within the Wage and Hour Division, grants the Director hiring authority and creates an advisory board composed of employers, employees, worker protection experts, and establishes comprehensive warehouse worker protections including: requiring employers to disclose quotas in writing, prohibiting quotas that prevent bathroom breaks or violate safety laws, mandating 15-minute paid rest.
Policy Domains
Title I - Warehouse Worker Protections
Identified Gains
- Warehouse workers
- Warehouse workers subject to quotas
- Warehouse workers at risk of musculoskeletal injuries
- Workers seeking to organize unions
- Workers at facilities with serious safety violations
Identified Costs
- Warehouse employers
- Large warehouse operators with high injury rates
- Large warehouse and distribution center operators with 200+ employees
- E-commerce fulfillment center operators
- Large warehouse and distribution center operators
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Hawley, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Sanders, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Employers contesting serious OSHA violations, Employers using quotas in unionizing workplaces, Large warehouse and distribution center operators
Positive-direction: Warehouse workers, Warehouse workers at risk of musculoskeletal injuries, Warehouse workers subject to quotas, Workers affected by quota-based retaliation, Workers at facilities with serious safety violations
Negative-direction: Employers contesting serious OSHA violations, Employers using quotas in unionizing workplaces, Large warehouse and distribution center operators, Large warehouse and distribution center operators with 200+ employees, Large warehouse operators with high injury rates, Warehouse employers
Department of Labor, Department of Labor enforcement agencies, Federal Trade Commission
Department of Labor faces effects in multiple directions
Labor organizations, Labor organizations and worker advocacy groups, Labor unions
Ergonomics consultants and equipment manufacturers, Worker protection experts and civil rights experts
Occupational health providers, Occupational medicine physicians
Courier and express delivery services
Temporary staffing agencies serving warehouses
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_director"
- → Director of the Fairness and Transparency Office
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_commission"
- → Federal Trade Commission
- "the_board"
- → National Labor Relations Board
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
Note: 'The Secretary' refers to Secretary of Labor throughout Titles I and III, but enforcement in Section 105 is handled by the Federal Trade Commission
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
An express or implied performance standard requiring employees to perform a quantified number of tasks, achieve a specified productivity speed, or handle/produce a quantified amount within a defined time period (one day or less)
An employee who works at a covered facility and is subject to a quota while performing work
An employer engaged in commerce that employs workers at covered facilities and has more than 200 total employees across all covered facilities
Any warehouse distribution center under NAICS codes 493 (warehousing/storage), 423/424 (merchant wholesalers), 454110 (electronic shopping/mail-order), or 492110 (couriers/express delivery)
Information collected relating to employee performance on quotas, including task quantities, rates/speeds, performance metrics, and time categorization
Any employer surveillance (on- or off-duty) including monitoring, interception, collection of data concerning employee activities through devices like computers, phones, cameras, sensors, or wearable devices
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