Sponsors (48)
Introduced May 21, 2025 by Chris Deluzio · Last progress May 21, 2025
The bill protects workers’ access to employer health coverage and strengthens penalties and enforcement during strikes and lockouts, at the cost of higher employer compliance and penalty exposure that may raise business costs, prompt changes to hiring/benefits, and increase litigation risk.
Workers on strike or locked out (especially union and middle-class families) keep their employer-sponsored group health coverage during the dispute, reducing the risk of losing benefits and lowering pressure to return to work.
Struck or locked-out workers gain stronger enforcement protections because the bill creates civil penalties (and higher penalties for discharges/serious harm), making employers less likely to illegally terminate or economically coerce workers.
The bill increases employer accountability and transparency by authorizing the NLRB to consider gravity, employer size, history, public interest in penalty setting and, in some cases, hold corporate directors/officers personally liable, which may improve enforcement consistency.
Employers—particularly small businesses—face higher direct costs from maintaining coverage during strikes/lockouts and from new penalties, which could strain finances or be passed on to workers and consumers.
To limit exposure, some employers may change hiring, scheduling, or benefit designs or reduce benefits altogether, which could decrease job flexibility and long-term access to employer health coverage for workers.
The law adds regulatory complexity and increases the risk of litigation and contested NLRB proceedings (disputes over whether conduct qualifies as a violation), raising legal and compliance costs for employers and the Board.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Bars employers from cutting or changing group health coverage during lockouts or lawful strikes and creates civil penalties enforceable by the NLRB.
Prohibits employers from terminating or changing employees’ group health plan coverage when the employer locks out workers or when employees are engaged in a lawful strike, and gives the National Labor Relations Board authority to impose civil monetary penalties for violations. Penalties can reach up to $75,000 per violation for lockout-related conduct and up to $50,000 per violation for strike-related conduct, with higher doubled caps in certain repeat-or-serious-harm cases, and the NLRB may also pursue responsible officers or directors.