Warehouse Worker Protection Act Proposed in the Senate

The Warehouse Worker Protection Act recently was proposed in the Senate. The bill would provide notice requirements and disciplinary limits on companies that use quotas to evaluate employee performance of certain workers. In addition to the warehouse and storage industries, the bill would cover merchant wholesalers, electronic shopping and mail-order houses, and couriers and express delivery services. We’ve gathered articles on the news from SHRM Online and other outlets.

Four Senators Propose Measure

Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Bob Casey, D-Pa.; Ed Markey, D-Mass.; and Tina Smith, D-Minn., introduced the legislation on May 2. It would limit production requirements for warehouse workers and the disciplinary measures that employers may impose for failures to meet those limits.

In addition to notice requirements about production expectations, the legislation would institute requirements around disciplining employees. In order to take disciplinary action against an employee for failing to meet productivity requirements, an employer would have to provide the employee with “a written explanation … regarding the manner in which the covered employee failed to perform.” The explanation would include a description of the productivity level and how the employee failed to meet that level in comparison to the productivity requirements.

The bill also directs the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to publish a proposed ergonomic program management standard not later than three years after the enactment of the legislation.

The bill would ban quotas that the bill’s authors say require workers to move at an unsafe pace or cut corners in their work in order to keep up with expectations.

(Ogletree Deakins and Los Angeles Daily News)

‘Fairness and Transparency Office’

The bill would create a new subagency within the U.S. Department of Labor called the “Fairness and Transparency Office.” The office would monitor covered workplaces that measure employee metrics, and the subagency would be able to inspect workplaces and privately question employees. The bill would mandate that employers let union organizers accompany inspectors, allowing the subagency to select union representatives to conduct outreach to workers about the investigation.

(The Hill)

Walkaround Rule

In a final rule issued March 29, OSHA clarified that workers may similarly authorize another employee or nonemployee—such as a union representative—to serve as their representative to accompany an OSHA compliance officer during a workplace safety inspection.

“Worker involvement in the inspection process is essential for thorough and effective inspections and making workplaces safer,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. “The Occupational Safety and Health Act gives employers and employees equal opportunity for choosing representation during the OSHA inspection process, and this rule returns us to the fair, balanced approach Congress intended.”

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., criticized the final rule, saying, “Under this rule, unionizing efforts and other activist campaigns are put ahead of safety efforts.”

(SHRM Online)

New York Law

New York’s Warehouse Worker Protection Act took effect last year. The law requires warehouse distribution centers to disclose any quota systems used to track, monitor, and discipline warehouse workers. The law is aimed at ensuring warehouse workers are aware of the standards used to evaluate their performance.

The law applies to any large warehouse in the state, but one target is Amazon. The company is the largest employer of warehouse employees in the country, and Amazon workers have complained about the pressure to keep up with work rates and avoid being disciplined.

Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, said the bill was “based on a misunderstanding of our performance metrics. Amazon does not have fixed quotas at our facilities. Instead, we assess performance based on safe and achievable expectations and take into account time and tenure, peer performance, and adherence to safe work practices.”

(Fisher Phillips, HuffPost via Yahoo!News and SHRM Online)

California Law

​In 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill, AB 701, regulating production quotas for warehouse distribution center employees, such as the quotas used by Amazon to speed employees’ work. The law was the first to make companies disclose the productivity requirements and work-speed metrics they set for employees.

(SHRM Online)