House OKs bill letting illegal immigrants seek damages from employers

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House lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to be eligible for damages from their employer if their labor rights are judged to have been violated — while rejecting a measure that would prevent unions from recruiting those in the country illegally.

The Democrat-sponsored “Protecting the Right to Organize” (PRO) Act seeks to expand labor protections and boost unions across the board. Like California’s controversial Assembly Bill 5, one of the PRO Act’s stated purposes is to end worker misclassification and stop employers from denying workers benefits by doing so. It passed in a 224-194 vote, mostly along party lines.

“The penalties for violating the [National Labor Relations Act] are weaker than those for violating other labor and employment laws, and workers lack a private right of action to pursue relief on their own,” a factsheet from the Committee on Education and Labor says. “Workers are frequently misclassified as independent contractors or supervisors, and thus excluded from the protections afforded to employees covered by the NLRA.”

Jarringly for Republicans, it would also abolish state right-to-work laws. It’s a bill that would be dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Senate but passed the Democratic-held House mostly along party lines.

“Where workers have previously had the freedom to choose whether or not to pay fees & join a union, they will now be forced to pay membership fees or lose their job,” Rep. Kevin Hern,  R-Okla., said, opposing the bill. “This will put immeasurable power in the hands of union bosses.” – READ MORE

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