The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR) Board of Directors submits this report to Congress pursuant to section 102(b) of the Congressional Accountability Act (CAA). In accordance with the CAA, the Board is to provide each Congress with recommendations regarding the applicability to the legislative branch of federal workplace rights, safety and health, and public access laws and regulations. The Board’s fulfillment of this requirement provides Congress with information and recommendations necessary to ensure parity between the rights and protections applied to the legislative branch and those applied to the executive branch and the private sector.
Currently executive branch and private employees have protections and rights that legislative branch employees do not have. In this report, the Board addresses and recommends changes to the CAA’s substantive protections and obligations and to the necessary implementing procedures and regulations. Adoption of these recommendations would ensure that Congress meets the goal that it set for itself: to apply to the legislative branch those workplace rights and obligations that it has applied to the executive branch and the private sector. The following is a summary of the Board’s recommendations:
Create Parity with the Executive Branch and the Private Sector
- Require legislative branch offices to maintain records of workplace injuries and illnesses.
- Provide comparable parental bereavement leave for legislative branch employees.
- Provide comparable nursing protections for legislative branch employees.
- Provide comparable religious compensatory time for all legislative branch employees.
- Provide comparable whistleblower protections to legislative branch employees.
- Provide comparable protections from retaliation for non-employees under the CAA’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) public access provisions.
- Provide comparable protections for legislative branch employees who serve on jury duty, declare bankruptcy, or have their wages garnished.
- Require legislative branch offices to maintain records required under other federal workplace rights laws.
Improve Implementation of Existing Rights to Ensure Parity
- Empower the OCWR General Counsel to seek a court order to temporarily enjoin unfair labor practices.
- Allow disclosure of proceedings involving disability-related public access and labor-management issues.
- Approve pending OCWR regulations in the legislative branch, including:
- Fair Labor Standards Act regulations related to overtime pay.
- Family and Medical Leave Act regulations related to paid parental leave and leave benefits for servicemembers and their families.
- Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute regulations related to collective bargaining in the legislative branch.
- Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act regulations related to workplace protections for servicemembers.
- Americans with Disabilities Act regulations related to public access to facilities.
- Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act regulations related to protections for job applicants in the legislative branch.
