Sponsors (56)
Official title: To prohibit an employer from terminating the coverage of an employee under a group health plan while the employer is engaged in a lock-out or while the employee is engaged in a lawful strike, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 21, 2025 by Chris Deluzio · Last progress May 21, 2025
The bill secures employer-sponsored health coverage and stronger enforcement for striking or locked-out workers—reducing medical and retaliation risks for labor—but raises costs, penalty exposure, and legal uncertainty for employers that may lead to higher prices, reduced benefits, or changes in hiring and contracting.
Union members and workers on lawful strike or locked out keep their employer-provided group health coverage, preventing gaps in care and unexpected medical bills.
Stronger enforcement (civil penalties and potential accountability for corporate leaders) makes employers more likely to comply with NLRA protections, reducing unlawful retaliation and protecting collective-action rights.
The bill clarifies what counts as a 'group health plan' by adopting ERISA's definition, reducing legal uncertainty about coverage scope for employers, employees, and labor boards.
Employers may incur higher costs for maintaining coverage during strikes or lockouts, which could be passed to consumers, reduce employer resources for other compensation, or lead to cuts in future benefits.
The bill exposes employers and corporate officers to substantial civil fines (up to $150,000 per violation) and potential personal liability, increasing financial risk for businesses and executive decision-makers.
Faced with greater cost and liability risk, employers may change practices—shifting work to contractors, trimming future benefits, altering hiring, or making preemptive concessions—weakening union bargaining power and expanding precarious work.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits employers from ending or altering ERISA-defined group health coverage during lawful strikes or employer lockouts and creates civil fines for violations.
Prohibits employers from ending or changing group health plan coverage for workers who are on strike or locked out during collective bargaining, and adopts ERISA’s definition of "group health plan." It adds civil money penalties (up to six figures in aggravated cases) against employers — and potentially responsible officers or directors — who cut or alter health coverage in these circumstances and directs the NLRB to consider factors like gravity and prior history when assessing fines. The bill expands the National Labor Relations Act's list of unfair labor practices to protect healthcare coverage during labor disputes and creates a statutory penalty framework (including higher penalties for repeat or especially harmful violations) that supplements existing National Labor Relations Board remedies.