Fair Hiring, Employment Transparency,
Worker Autonomy, and Algorithmic
Accountability Act
Discussion Draft Three
September 21, 2026
Discussion draft — not introduction-ready statutory text
Drafting status and conventions
Draft Three incorporates the complete operative text and analytical Parts II–IX of Draft Two. No Draft One or Draft Two policy protection has been removed except where a Draft Three change strengthens, clarifies, operationalizes, or constitutionally hardens the same policy. Draft Three specifically resolves the four issues identified in the post-Draft-Two review:
Draft Three change set G: adds an express, narrow ministerial-exception rule of construction in section 107, preserving the Act for nonministerial workers and claims that can be adjudicated without intruding on a religious organization's constitutionally protected selection, supervision, discipline, or removal of ministers. Draft Three change set H: hardens sections 1601 and 1710 against Appointments Clause challenges by placing the Director under the Secretary's direction, supervision, and review; making the Director's inferior-officer status structural rather than merely conclusory; limiting non-Senate-confirmed acting service to special and temporary conditions; and preserving a Secretary/Senate-confirmed fallback. Draft Three change set I: revises section 1711's facial-challenge filing rule so the primary 180-day window applies to challengers who can establish Article III standing during that period, while later-injured challengers receive a limited 180-day window from first concrete injury. This preserves the specialized review channel without recreating the accrual problem identified in Corner Post. Draft Three change set J: removes the placeholder byline and restores circulation-ready document structure, heading hierarchy, and preserved tabular formatting.
Draft Three otherwise preserves Draft Two's change sets A through F, all Draft One substantive rights, all Part VI loophole fixes, the completed conforming amendments, self-executing rights, State and private enforcement, Article II resilience provisions, and the no-double-compensatory-recovery rule.
Conventions used throughout
LC NOTE marks a legislative-counsel note identifying a constitutional, federalism, administrative-law, jurisdictional, or drafting problem. Notes never replace the requested text. ALT marks an optional formulation for a later draft. An ALT is not operative unless adopted. Bracketed figures (e.g., [15] percent, [72] hours) remain placeholder values requiring empirical calibration under Part VII unless Draft Three expressly fixes the value. "Secretary" means the Secretary of Labor unless otherwise stated. "Office" means the Office of Fair Hiring and Algorithmic Accountability established in Title XVI. Cross-references to Titles II–XVII use the existing Draft One numbering except for additional sections 1710–1714.
Part I — Discussion Draft: Sections 1–3
A BILL
To establish reciprocal rights and obligations in hiring and employment; to require truthful recruitment and compensation disclosure; to protect applicants and workers from deceptive, coercive, and opaque practices, including those enabled by automated decision systems and electronic surveillance; to restore worker mobility and access to justice; and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the "Fair Hiring, Employment Transparency, Worker Autonomy, and Algorithmic Accountability Act" or the "FAIR WORK Act".
LC NOTE (title): The long working title yields no clean acronym. "FAIR WORK Act" is offered as a recommended short citation; an alternative is the "Reciprocal Employment Rights Act". Naming does not affect any operative provision.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Title Subject Sections
— Short title; findings; purposes 1–3
I Definitions, Coverage, Rules of Construction 101–110
II Truth in Job Advertising and Recruitment 201–
III Applicant Procedural Rights (status notice, offers, 301–
rescission, exploding offers, employment-status
discrimination, background checks, backchannel
references, applicant accounts)
IV Compensation and Employment-Term 401–
Transparency (pay ranges, salary history, bait-and-
switch, algorithmic wage setting, unlimited PTO)
V Applicant and Employee Data and Privacy 501–
Title Subject Sections
VI Automated Employment Decision Systems; 601–
Emotion, Biometric, and Psychometric Inference
VII Interviewing, Assessments, Applicant Work, Pre- 701–
Employment Training, Expenses
VIII Employment Surveillance and Algorithmic 801–
Management
IX Scheduling, Right to Disconnect, and Off-Duty 901–
Conduct
X Discipline, Personnel Records, Rehire Designations, 1001–
Just Cause, Termination
XI Worker Mobility, Restrictive Agreements, Silencing 1101–
Agreements
XII Arbitration, Waivers, and Access to Justice 1201–
XIII Worker Debt and Training Repayment 1301–
XIV Staffing Agencies, Recruiters, Vendors, and Labor 1401–
Intermediaries
XV AI Displacement, Digital Replicas, and Worker 1501–
Replacement
XVI Enforcement, Remedies, Recordkeeping, Anti- 1601–
Retaliation, Whistleblowers
XVII Federal-State Relationship, Federal Contracting, 1701–
Severability, Effective Dates, Studies, Rulemaking
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
1. Hiring and employment are economic transactions between parties who owe each
other reciprocal obligations, yet current law imposes extensive disclosure, time, and
data obligations on applicants and workers while imposing comparatively few
procedural obligations on employers.
2. Applicants are routinely required to disclose detailed personal, financial, educational,
and employment histories, to submit to background investigation and automated
evaluation, and to expend substantial uncompensated time, while employers may
withhold whether a vacancy exists, what it pays, how applicants are evaluated, and
why they are rejected.
3. Job advertisements for positions that do not exist, that have already been filled, that
are reserved for an identified internal candidate, or that are maintained to collect
applicant data impose measurable costs on workers, distort labor-market information
relied upon by workers, employers, and Federal and State agencies, and constitute
unfair and deceptive practices in or affecting commerce.
4. The absence or distortion of compensation information prevents workers from
allocating job-search effort efficiently, perpetuates pay disparities, including
disparities on the basis of sex and race, and advantages employers with superior
market information.
5. Employers increasingly require multi-round interviews, extended take-home
assignments, repeated presentations, and pre-employment training without
compensation, and in some cases obtain commercially usable work product from
applicants without payment.
6. Workers who resign existing employment, relocate, or forgo competing offers in
reliance on accepted written offers suffer substantial and foreseeable harm when
those offers are rescinded, and existing contract and promissory-estoppel doctrines
provide inconsistent and frequently inadequate relief.
7. Automated employment decision systems, including systems that screen, rank, score,
schedule, monitor, compensate, discipline, and terminate workers, are now used at
national scale, are frequently supplied by third-party vendors operating across State
lines, and can replicate or amplify unlawful discrimination, rely on inaccurate data, and
render decisions that affected individuals cannot understand, correct, or contest.
8. Technologies purporting to infer honesty, personality, emotional state, or employability
from facial expression, gaze, voice, or other biometric signals lack adequate scientific
validation for employment use and create substantial risk of discrimination, including
discrimination on the basis of disability, race, national origin, and sex.
9. Electronic workplace monitoring has expanded to include keystroke logging, screen
capture, webcam and microphone access, location tracking, biometric collection, and
behavioral inference, frequently without adequate disclosure, purpose limitation, or
limitation to working time.
10. Unpredictable scheduling, excessive on-call requirements, and expectations of
continuous availability impose uncompensated costs on workers and their families and
impair their ability to hold second jobs, obtain education, and provide care.
11. Noncompete agreements, no-poach and no-hire agreements, training repayment
agreements, and similar restraints suppress wages, reduce labor mobility, deter
entrepreneurship, and diminish competition in interstate labor and product markets.
12. Mandatory predispute arbitration agreements, class and collective action waivers, and
silencing agreements imposed as conditions of work prevent workers from enforcing
statutory rights and conceal unlawful conduct from regulators and the public.
13. Employers increasingly structure work through staffing agencies, labor contractors,
franchises, subsidiaries, and single-client contracting entities in ways that obscure
responsibility for compliance, and workers are sometimes required to form limited
liability companies or similar entities as a condition of obtaining work.
14. The use of workers' voices, likenesses, work product, and behavioral data to build
systems that substitute for those workers raises distinct questions of consent,
compensation, and fairness not adequately addressed by existing law.
15. The practices described in this section occur in, substantially affect, and burden
interstate commerce, including through interstate job-advertising platforms, national
applicant-tracking and assessment vendors, interstate data transfers, and national
labor markets, and Congress has authority to regulate them under section 8 of article I
of the Constitution, including the commerce clause, and, where applicable, under
section 5 of the 14th Amendment and the spending power.
16. Many States and localities have enacted protections addressing portions of these
practices; a Federal floor is necessary to ensure that workers in every State receive
baseline protection, while stronger State and local protections should be preserved.
17. The employment practices regulated by Titles II through XV form part of a national
labor market. Employers recruit across State lines; workers search and accept work across
State lines; job advertisements, applicant-tracking systems, payroll systems, automated
employment decision systems, surveillance products, staffing arrangements, background
screening, and employment data routinely use interstate communications, vendors, and
data processing.
18. Even where an individual employment transaction occurs within one State, deceptive
recruitment, restraints on worker mobility, forced arbitration, worker debt, algorithmic
management, and technological displacement, considered in the aggregate, materially
affect interstate labor supply, wages, competition, investment, and the national market
for employment services and employment technology.
19. Congress regulates existing commercial conduct and economic relationships under this
Act. Nothing in this Act compels an individual to enter commerce merely because the
individual is inactive; the Act regulates persons and transactions already engaged in or
affecting commerce.
20. Predispute arbitration requirements and joint-action waivers in employment and
economically dependent vendor relationships affect interstate commerce by altering the
forum, cost, publicity, aggregation, and enforcement of Federal and State employment
rights. Congress intends Title XII and section 1207 to supersede contrary rules of
enforceability under title 9, United States Code, to the extent expressly provided.
21. The disclosures required by this Act concern factual information about commercial
employment transactions, including whether a vacancy exists, compensation, material
terms, data practices, surveillance, and automated decision systems. Congress requires
those disclosures to prevent deception, correct information asymmetry, and permit
informed economic choice.
22. Noncompete agreements, no-poach agreements, predispute arbitration agreements,
training repayment agreements, and similar restraints are contract mechanisms operating
in heavily regulated economic relationships. Congress finds that regulating their
enforceability, including the prospective enforceability of agreements made before the
effective date, is necessary to protect interstate labor mobility and statutory rights.
23. Effective protection requires redundant enforcement. Rights under this Act therefore
do not depend on Federal executive enforcement alone and may be enforced, as provided
in this Act, by aggrieved individuals, States, the Secretary, and other designated agencies.
24. A change in Presidential administration, vacancy in a Federal office, enforcement
priority, executive order, regulatory-review policy, failure to issue a regulation, or
decision not to bring a Federal enforcement action must not suspend a self-executing
statutory right or extinguish a private or State cause of action created by Congress.
25. Congress expressly delegates only the technical and implementation questions
identified in this Act and supplies standards for those delegations. Congress intends
reviewing courts to enforce the limits of each delegation while respecting reasonable
technical specifications made within those statutory bounds.
26. In light of the Seventh Amendment, civil penalties resembling traditional common-law
remedies shall be adjudicated in an Article III court with a jury where required, while
administrative investigation, compliance orders, record correction, restitution, and other
relief remain available to the extent constitutionally permitted.
27. Congress has a strong interest in prompt, uniform resolution of facial challenges to
this Act. A specialized judicial-review procedure with a defined filing period, a three-judge
court, and direct Supreme Court review reduces forum shopping and nationwide uncertainty
while preserving as-applied constitutional claims.
28. Technological displacement can occur through an employer's direct deployment of
automation or through outsourcing work to a service whose performance is substantially
automated. Equivalent displacement shall receive equivalent treatment.
29. The injuries regulated by this Act include lost applicant time, uncompensated work,
reliance expenditures, deprivation of material transactional information, invasion of
privacy, collection or disclosure of biometric or personal data, exposure to unlawful
evaluation or surveillance, loss of compensation or work opportunities, unlawful restraints
on mobility, and retaliation. Congress creates remedies for those injuries and public
enforcement for violations for which a particular plaintiff cannot establish Article III
standing.
LC NOTE (findings): Findings 15 and 17–29 make explicit the national-market and
transaction-specific bases for the Act without attempting by statute to alter the
constitutional holdings of NFIB v. Sebelius or other Article I cases. The section 5
reference supports abrogation of State sovereign immunity only for provisions tied
to documented patterns of discrimination; it is not sufficient for the Act as a whole
(see Part III). Congressional hearing records documenting each title's economic
effects should be assembled before markup.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are—
1. to establish that hiring and employment impose reciprocal procedural obligations on
employers and workers;
2. to require truthful, specific, and timely disclosure of vacancies, compensation, and
material employment terms;
3. to protect applicants from uncompensated extraction of labor, time, expense, and
work product;
4. to protect applicants who rely on accepted offers of employment;
5. to ensure that automated employment decision systems are transparent, accurate,
validated, subject to meaningful human review, and contestable;
6. to prohibit scientifically unsupported biometric and emotional inference in
employment;
7. to limit electronic surveillance of workers to disclosed, necessary, and proportionate
purposes;
8. to establish minimum protections for scheduling predictability, rest, and
disconnection;
9. to guarantee access to personnel records and fair procedures in discipline and
termination;
10. to restore worker mobility by restricting noncompete agreements, no-poach
agreements, and employer-driven debt;
11. to guarantee access to courts and agencies by prohibiting mandatory predispute
arbitration of employment disputes and disputes with economically dependent
contractors;
12. to assign responsibility to staffing agencies, labor intermediaries, and employment-
technology vendors;
13. to provide notice, transition rights, and consent protections for workers affected by
automation and digital replication;
14. to prevent evasion through misclassification, corporate structuring, contractual labels,
and choice-of-law manipulation;
15. to provide effective public and private enforcement with remedies sufficient to deter
violations; and
16. to establish a Federal floor that preserves stronger State and local protections;
17. to ensure that substantive rights remain enforceable notwithstanding Federal executive
non-enforcement, vacancy, delayed rulemaking, or administrative reorganization;
18. to provide prompt and uniform judicial review of facial challenges without eliminating
later as-applied review;
19. to supersede conflicting Federal statutory rules expressly identified by this Act,
including rules enforcing predispute arbitration of covered disputes; and
20. to treat automation-driven displacement consistently whether automation is deployed
directly or through outsourcing.
Title I — Definitions, Coverage, and Rules of Construction
SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) ACTUAL VACANCY.—The term "actual vacancy" means a position for which, at the time a job advertisement is published or maintained—
(A) the employer has an existing, present intention to hire one or more individuals within [120] days;
(B) any internal approval, requisition, headcount authorization, or funding required under the employer's ordinary practices has been obtained, or the advertisement discloses under section 202 that it has not; and
(C) the employer has not selected an individual for the position, including an internal candidate, whose selection the employer reasonably expects to finalize regardless of the qualifications of other applicants.
(2) ALGORITHMIC MANAGEMENT.—The term "algorithmic management" means the use of an automated employment decision system, or of data derived from employment surveillance, to assign, direct, schedule, pace, evaluate, rank, compensate, discipline, or otherwise supervise workers, in whole or in part.
(3) APPLICANT.—The term "applicant" means an individual who—
(A) submits, or attempts to submit, an application, résumé, profile, or expression of interest to an employer, employment agency, or staffing agency, directly or through any platform or intermediary, in connection with a position or with work as an independent contractor or economically dependent vendor;
(B) is solicited, sourced, or recruited by or on behalf of such a person for such a position or work, including through a talent community, applicant pool, or pipeline; or
(C) is a current employee seeking transfer or promotion.
(4) APPLICANT DATA.—The term "applicant data" means any information, including inferences, that identifies, relates to, describes, or is reasonably capable of being associated with an applicant, that is collected, generated, inferred, purchased, or received by or on behalf of an employer or any covered intermediary in connection with recruitment, application, assessment, or selection.
(5) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.—The term "artificial intelligence" has the meaning given in section 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401), and includes any machine-learning, statistical, generative, or rules-based computational system that produces predictions, classifications, scores, rankings, recommendations, content, or decisions.
LC NOTE: Cross-referencing 15 U.S.C. 9401 anchors the term to existing law; the inclusion of "rules-based" systems deliberately broadens it so that simple scoring rules cannot evade Title VI. The operative coverage trigger is "automated employment decision system" in paragraph (6), not this term.
(6) AUTOMATED EMPLOYMENT DECISION SYSTEM.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term "automated employment decision system" means any computational process, including one derived from artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistical modeling, or data analytics, and including a rules-based system, that issues a score, classification, ranking, recommendation, filter, flag, prediction, or decision that is used to make, or to materially assist or replace human discretion in making, an employment decision.
(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term includes systems used for résumé or application screening; keyword, semantic, or model-based applicant filtering; applicant ranking or sourcing; automated rejection; personality, cognitive, integrity, or aptitude scoring; video, voice, facial, or biometric analysis; behavioral or productivity scoring; prediction of attrition, reliability, attendance, or performance; scheduling, shift, task, route, or workload allocation; compensation, bonus, commission, raise, or incentive determination; promotion or assignment; performance-improvement-plan generation; discipline; deactivation; and termination. Coverage depends on function, not product name, marketing label, model type, or whether the system is described as artificial intelligence.
(C) MATERIALLY ASSIST.—A system materially assists human discretion if its output is presented to a decisionmaker in connection with an employment decision, determines which individuals or information a decisionmaker considers, or is weighted more heavily than any other single factor. A system does not cease to be covered because its output is labeled advisory or because a natural person formally approves the decision.
(D) EXCLUSIONS.—The term does not include a tool that performs only a ministerial function and does not evaluate individuals, such as word processing, calendaring, spell-checking, communications transport, data storage, or the sorting of records solely by a neutral objective field the applicant supplied (such as date of submission or alphabetical order), unless the tool is configured to infer, score, recommend, exclude, rank, prioritize, flag, or filter individuals. A general-purpose system becomes covered when configured or used to perform a covered evaluative function.
(7) BIOMETRIC DATA.—The term "biometric data" means information generated from the measurement or technical processing of an individual's physical, physiological, neural, or behavioral characteristics, including fingerprints, voiceprints, iris or retina scans, facial geometry, gait, keystroke dynamics, heart rate, skin conductance, eye movement, and vocal characteristics, and any template or inference derived therefrom, whether or not used to identify the individual.
(8) COMPENSATION.—The term "compensation" means all remuneration, including wages, salary, overtime, piece rates, commissions, bonuses, tips and gratuities, equity or equity-linked instruments, profit-sharing, stipends, allowances, and benefits.
(A) BASE COMPENSATION.—The term "base compensation" means the fixed hourly rate, salary, or piece rate that is not contingent on discretionary award, individual or firm performance, customer behavior, or future events.
(B) VARIABLE COMPENSATION.—The term "variable compensation" means compensation other than base compensation and benefits.
(9) CONSEQUENTIAL EMPLOYMENT DECISION.—The term "consequential employment decision" means an employment decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect on an individual's access to, terms of, or conditions of employment or work, including any decision concerning—
(A) hiring, rejection, advancement to or exclusion from a stage of selection, or the rescission of an offer;
(B) compensation, bonus, benefits, or hours;
(C) promotion, demotion, transfer, or assignment;
(D) scheduling, where the decision materially affects the individual's hours or income;
(E) discipline, performance improvement plans, or written warnings;
(F) termination, layoff, non-renewal, or deactivation; or
(G) rehire eligibility or any designation described in section [1003].
(10) DIGITAL REPLICA.—The term "digital replica" means a computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation, or an automated system trained or configured specifically to reproduce, that is readily identifiable as, or is intended to substitute for, the voice, image, likeness, writing style, creative expression, decisionmaking patterns, or individually distinctive expertise of an identifiable worker, whether or not the representation is publicly identified with that worker.
(11) ECONOMICALLY DEPENDENT VENDOR.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term "economically dependent vendor" means an individual, sole proprietor, or entity with not more than [5] owners and not more than [5] workers (excluding owners) that provides services, directly or through its owners, to a business (in this paragraph referred to as the "principal"), if—
(i) during any period of [12] consecutive months, or during the relationship if shorter than [12] months and reasonably expected to continue, not less than [60] percent of the gross revenue of the individual or entity from services is attributable to the principal; or (ii) the principal is the only client from which the individual or entity derives material revenue.
(B) CONCLUSIVE DEPENDENCE.—An individual or entity described in subparagraph
(A) that derives not less than [80] percent of such gross revenue from the principal for [6] or more months, or whose formation as an entity was required, requested, or suggested by the principal as a condition of obtaining or continuing work, is conclusively an economically dependent vendor.
(C) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.—In any other case satisfying subparagraph (A)(i), the individual or entity is presumed to be an economically dependent vendor, which presumption the principal may rebut only by clear and convincing evidence that the individual or entity negotiates its terms at arm's length, sets its own prices, bears genuine entrepreneurial risk, markets its services to the public, and is not subject to the principal's control over the manner and means of the work.
(D) AGGREGATION.—For purposes of this paragraph—
(i) revenue from the principal includes revenue from any related entity of the principal, any customer or end user to whom the principal assigns, refers, or directs the vendor, and any intermediary through which the principal procures the vendor's services; (ii) revenue from any client that is itself related to the principal, or that the principal arranged, is attributed to the principal; and (iii) revenue from any client that is a related party of the vendor, that is not bona fide arm's-length revenue, or whose total revenue contribution is less than the greater of [5] percent of the vendor's gross revenue or $[2,500] in the relevant period, is disregarded automatically in computing the denominator. No showing of avoidance purpose is required for this de minimis rule.
(E) EXCLUSION.—The term does not include an entity that is a business with more than [5] workers, publicly traded, or that has more than $[1,000,000] in annual gross revenue from bona fide unrelated clients.
LC NOTE: The brief asks for both percentage-of-revenue and duration tests and warns against sweeping in genuinely independent businesses. Subparagraph (E) protects arm's-length business-to-business arbitration. The dollar and percentage thresholds are placeholders for empirical calibration (Part VII). Subparagraph (D)(iii) addresses the known evasion of maintaining trivial secondary clients.
(12) EMPLOYEE.—The term "employee" means any individual employed by an employer, and includes—
(A) any individual who performs services for remuneration unless the person for whom services are performed demonstrates that the individual is free from control and direction in performing the work, the work is outside the usual course of that person's business, and the individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature;
(B) a staffed worker, with respect to both the staffing agency and the client employer;
(C) a former employee, for purposes of rights arising from or relating to the prior employment; and
(D) an individual in a probationary, trial, or temporary period.
LC NOTE: Subparagraph (A) adopts an "ABC" test modeled on State law (e.g., California Labor Code § 2775 and Massachusetts G.L. c. 149 § 148B) for purposes of this Act only. It departs from the FLSA economic-reality test and the common-law control test used under Title VII, ERISA, and the NLRA; conflicting definitions across statutes will create compliance complexity (Part IV). ALT: define "employee" by reference to the FLSA (29 U.S.C. 203(e)) and rely on the separate "economically dependent vendor" category plus section 104 to address sham contracting.
(13) EMPLOYEE DATA.—The term "employee data" means any information, including inferences and surveillance data, that identifies, relates to, describes, or is reasonably capable of being associated with a worker other than an applicant, collected, generated, inferred, purchased, or received by or on behalf of an employer or any covered intermediary in connection with the work relationship.
(14) EMPLOYER.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term "employer" means any person engaged in commerce or in any industry or activity affecting commerce that employs, or seeks to employ, one or more employees, and includes—
(i) any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of such an employer in relation to a worker; (ii) any successor in interest; (iii) any joint employer and any related entity described in section 103; (iv) a client employer that obtains the services of staffed workers or workers supplied by a labor contractor; and
(v) with respect to an economically dependent vendor, the principal, for purposes of the provisions of this Act that expressly apply to economically dependent vendors.
(B) PUBLIC EMPLOYERS.—The term includes the United States, any executive agency (as defined in section 105 of title 5, United States Code), the legislative and judicial branches to the extent provided in section 110, any State or political subdivision of a State, and any agency or instrumentality thereof.
(C) SIZE THRESHOLDS.—Coverage and graduated obligations based on employer size are set forth in section 102.
(15) EMPLOYMENT AGENCY.—The term "employment agency" means any person that, with or without compensation, regularly undertakes to procure workers for an employer or to procure for workers opportunities to work, including executive search firms, recruiters, recruitment process outsourcing providers, job boards and platforms that screen, rank, or match applicants, and any person that sources, screens, or refers applicants on behalf of an employer.
(16) EMPLOYMENT DECISION.—The term "employment decision" means any decision by or on behalf of an employer or covered intermediary that affects an applicant or worker's recruitment, selection, terms, conditions, privileges, compensation, schedule, evaluation, discipline, retention, or separation.
(17) EMPLOYMENT SURVEILLANCE.—The term "employment surveillance" means the collection, recording, capture, monitoring, inference, or analysis, by or on behalf of an employer, by electronic or technological means, of a worker's activities, communications, location, movements, physical or physiological state, biometric data, behavior, productivity, or use of devices, networks, or accounts, whether in the workplace or elsewhere. The term includes keystroke logging, screen capture, webcam and microphone
access, geolocation tracking, application and activity monitoring, message and content analysis, wearable devices, biometric collection, productivity scoring, and behavioral inference.
(18) EMPLOYMENT-TECHNOLOGY VENDOR; VENDOR.—
(A) The term "employment-technology vendor" means any person that develops, sells, licenses, provides, operates, or substantially modifies, for use by or on behalf of an employer, an automated employment decision system, an employment surveillance tool, a background-screening or social-media screening product, or a psychometric, personality, integrity, or biometric assessment.
(B) The term "vendor", when used without qualification, means an employment- technology vendor, an employment agency, a staffing agency, or a labor contractor, as the context requires. Where the term refers to an individual or small entity providing services to a principal, this Act uses "economically dependent vendor" or "independent contractor".
LC NOTE: The brief uses "vendor" in two senses (HR-technology suppliers and individual contractors). Using a single undefined term would create ambiguity in Titles VI, XII, and XIV. The split in paragraphs (11) and (18) resolves it.
(19) FINAL INTERVIEW.—The term "final interview" means the last substantive interview, assessment, or evaluative meeting that the employer requires or schedules before making a hiring decision with respect to an applicant. An interview is presumed to be a final interview if—
(A) the employer does not, within [10] business days after it, schedule a further substantive interview or inform the applicant in writing that a further substantive interview will be required;
(B) the applicant has completed [3] or more substantive interviews for the same position; or
(C) the applicant has been asked to provide references, consent to a background check, or discuss start dates or compensation terms.
(20) GHOST JOB.—The term "ghost job" means a job advertisement published or maintained—
(A) for a position that is not an actual vacancy, unless the advertisement conspicuously discloses the facts required by section 202(b);
(B) after the employer knows or reasonably should know that the position has been filled, canceled, frozen, or eliminated, beyond the correction period in section 203; or
(C) primarily to collect applicant data, create the appearance of growth or hiring activity, satisfy a procedural or legal requirement without intent to hire an external applicant, or build an applicant pool, unless so disclosed.
(21) GOOD-FAITH COMPENSATION RANGE.—The term "good-faith compensation range" means a range of base compensation, stated as a minimum and maximum, that satisfies each of the following:
(A) HONEST EXPECTATION.—At the time of publication or disclosure, the employer honestly and reasonably expects to pay a successful applicant an amount within the range, based on the employer's budget for the position and its pay practices for comparable positions.
(B) GENUINE ENDPOINTS.—Each endpoint is an amount the employer is actually prepared to pay a qualified applicant. The maximum may not exceed the amount authorized for the position, and the minimum may not be set below the lowest amount the employer is actually prepared to offer.
(C) WIDTH LIMITATION.—The maximum does not exceed the minimum by more than—
(i) [25] percent, for a position with a minimum annualized base compensation below $[100,000]; or (ii) [40] percent, for any other position; unless the employer documents, in records retained under section [1603], a specific bona fide reason for a wider range (such as a single advertisement covering materially different levels or geographic pay zones), and the advertisement discloses the range applicable to each level or zone. A single advertisement may not rely on this exception to cover more than [2] materially distinct job levels unless the Secretary, by regulation, authorizes a greater number for a defined occupational structure and the advertisement states a separate range for each level.
(D) HISTORICAL CONSISTENCY.—A range is presumed not to be in good faith if, of individuals hired into the same or a substantially similar position during the preceding [24] months, fewer than [10] percent were hired at or above the midpoint, or more than [20] percent were hired outside the range.
(E) SEPARATE STATEMENT.—Variable compensation and benefits are stated separately and are not included in the range.
(22) HUMAN REVIEW; MEANINGFUL HUMAN REVIEW.—
(A) HUMAN REVIEW.—The term "human review" means any review of an automated system's output by a natural person.
(B) MEANINGFUL HUMAN REVIEW.—The term "meaningful human review" means review of an employment decision, or of an automated employment decision system's output, by a natural person who—
(i) has the authority, discretion, and practical ability to decline, modify, or reverse the decision or output; (ii) has training and competence appropriate to evaluate the decision, including knowledge of the system's known limitations, error rates, and risks of bias; (iii) has access to, and actually considers, the relevant underlying data, the factors the system weighted, any information submitted by the affected individual, and information not derived from the system; (iv) devotes time to the review that is reasonably sufficient in light of the complexity and consequence of the decision;
(v) is not subject to quotas, performance metrics, incentives, or penalties that discourage departing from the system's output; and (vi) documents the basis of the decision in the reviewer's own words.
(C) PRESUMPTION OF RUBBER-STAMPING.—Review is presumed not to be meaningful if, over any [12]-month period, reviewers depart from the system's output in fewer than [2] percent of reviewed decisions, or if the average time spent per review is less than a threshold the Secretary establishes by regulation for the category of decision, unless the employer demonstrates that the low departure rate reflects the system's validated accuracy.
(23) HYBRID WORK.—The term "hybrid work" means an arrangement under which a worker is expected to perform work at a location designated by the employer on some, but not all, working days in a typical period, and at a location of the worker's choosing on the remaining working days.
(24) INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR.—The term "independent contractor" means an individual or entity that performs services for a person and is not an employee under paragraph (12). An independent contractor may also be an economically dependent vendor.
(25) JOB ADVERTISEMENT.—The term "job advertisement" means any written, electronic, audio, or visual communication, including a posting, listing, solicitation, recruiter message, talent-community or pipeline invitation, social-media post, or internal posting, that is made by or on behalf of an employer or covered intermediary and that describes, solicits applicants for, or invites expressions of interest in, a position or
category of positions, whether or not a specific vacancy exists. The term does not include a general statement of an employer's interest in hiring that does not describe any position or invite any application.
(26) LABOR CONTRACTOR.—The term "labor contractor" means any person that, for compensation, supplies workers to perform labor within the usual course of business of a client employer, or recruits, solicits, hires, employs, furnishes, or transports workers for such purpose, including subcontractors at any tier.
(27) MATERIAL CHANGE IN EMPLOYMENT TERMS.—The term "material change in employment terms" means any change in, or deviation from what was represented concerning—
(A) base compensation, by more than [5] percent, or the structure or expected value of variable compensation, by more than [10] percent;
(B) job title, core duties, level, or reporting relationship, where the change would affect a reasonable individual's decision to accept or remain in the position;
(C) work location, including a change in designation as remote, hybrid, or onsite work, or a change in required in-office days;
(D) schedule, shift, required hours, weekend or overnight work, on-call obligations, or travel exceeding [10] percent of working time;
(E) classification as employee or independent contractor, exempt or nonexempt status, or full-time, part-time, temporary, seasonal, or contingent status;
(F) benefits eligibility; or
(G) any other term the Secretary identifies by regulation as material to a reasonable individual.
(28) PERSONNEL RECORD.—The term "personnel record" means any record, in any form, maintained by or on behalf of an employer that is used or has been used, or is reasonably likely to be used, in connection with a consequential employment decision concerning the individual, including the records enumerated in section [1002].
(29) PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT.—The term "predispute arbitration agreement" means any agreement, clause, policy, plan term, handbook provision, electronic acknowledgment, or condition, whether in a contract, benefit plan, equity grant, severance agreement, vendor or platform terms, or other instrument, that requires or purports to require arbitration of a dispute that had not yet arisen at the time the agreement was made. A dispute has not arisen until the individual knows or reasonably should know of the facts giving rise to the specific claim.
LC NOTE: Aligns with the definition in the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (9 U.S.C. 401) and extends it expressly to plans, equity grants, and vendor terms to close known routing evasions.
(30) PRODUCTIVE APPLICANT WORK.—The term "productive applicant work" means any task, assignment, exercise, or activity that an employer requires or requests an applicant to perform, or accepts from an applicant, in connection with application or selection, that —
(A) addresses a real, current, or planned problem, project, customer, or operation of the employer or its clients;
(B) produces code, designs, content, research, analysis, data, strategy, plans, or other output that has, or that the employer could reasonably use for, commercial or operational value independent of evaluating the applicant; or
(C) involves performing work that the employer's employees or contractors perform, or would otherwise be paid to perform, for the employer's benefit.
The term does not include a bona fide skills assessment that uses hypothetical, historical, synthetic, or publicly available problems whose output the employer does not use and has no reasonable use for other than evaluation.
(31) REMOTE WORK.—The term "remote work" means an arrangement under which a worker is not required to perform work at a location designated by the employer, other than infrequent attendance (not exceeding [the number of days per quarter established by the Secretary, not fewer than 4]) for meetings, training, or events disclosed in advance. A position may be described as remote only if any geographic, time-zone, or residency limitation is disclosed.
(32) RETALIATION.—The term "retaliation" means any adverse action, or threat of adverse action, against an individual, or against a person closely associated with the individual, because the individual engaged in, was about to engage in, or was perceived as engaging in, protected activity described in section [1610]. Adverse action includes any action that would dissuade a reasonable individual from engaging in protected activity, including refusal to hire, rescission of an offer, removal from an applicant pool, adverse rehire designation, reduction in hours or scheduling quality, increased surveillance, reassignment, negative reference, threatened immigration-related action, blacklisting, deactivation, reduction of work to an economically dependent vendor, and initiation of litigation or arbitration without a reasonable basis.
(33) STAFFING AGENCY.—The term "staffing agency" means any person that employs individuals, or engages economically dependent vendors, for the purpose of assigning them to perform work for, or under the direction of, a client employer, including temporary help services, professional employer organizations to the extent they assign workers, and platform-based staffing services.
(34) STAFFED WORKER.—The term "staffed worker" means an individual assigned by a staffing agency or labor contractor to perform work for a client employer.
(35) SUBSTANTIVE INTERVIEW.—The term "substantive interview" means any live or recorded interview, assessment, presentation, work sample, panel, or evaluative conversation, however labeled, that is conducted by or on behalf of an employer to evaluate an applicant's qualifications and that lasts, individually or together with any associated assignment, at least [30] minutes. The term excludes an initial scheduling call and a screening conversation of less than [30] minutes limited to basic eligibility, availability, and compensation expectations. An informal meeting, coffee, or "conversation" is a substantive interview if its content is evaluative.
(36) TRAINING REPAYMENT AGREEMENT.—The term "training repayment agreement" means any agreement, policy, loan, promissory note, deferred-compensation arrangement, clawback, bond, or similar instrument, however labeled, under which a worker is required to pay, repay, forfeit, or reimburse any amount to an employer, a related entity, a training provider, a lender, or a debt purchaser upon separation from employment, or upon failure to remain employed for a specified period, including amounts characterized as training costs, education costs, equipment, licensing, relocation, sign-on bonus repayment, or liquidated damages.
(37) WORKER.—The term "worker" means an employee, an applicant, a former employee, a staffed worker, an independent contractor who is a natural person, and an economically dependent vendor, including the owners of an economically dependent vendor that is an entity.
(38) ADDITIONAL TERMS.—
(A) COVERED INTERMEDIARY.—The term "covered intermediary" means an employment agency, staffing agency, labor contractor, or employment-technology vendor.
(B) RELATED ENTITY.—The term "related entity" has the meaning given in section 103(b).
(C) SENSITIVE LOCATION.—The term "sensitive location" means a restroom, locker room, changing area, lactation room, break room, medical or counseling area, place of worship, or worker's private residence (other than a designated workspace during working time for remote work), and any area designated as sensitive by the Secretary.
(D) WORKING TIME.—The term "working time" means time during which a worker is required or permitted to work, including compensable on-call time.
(E) COMMERCE; PERSON; STATE.—The terms "commerce", "industry affecting commerce", and "person" have the meanings given in section 701 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e), and "State" includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and each territory and possession of the United States.
(F) SECRETARY; OFFICE.—The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Labor. The term "Office" means the Office of Fair Hiring and Algorithmic Accountability established under section [1601].
SEC. 102. COVERAGE; GRADUATED OBLIGATIONS.
(a) UNIVERSAL COVERAGE OF CORE PROHIBITIONS.—The following provisions apply to every employer, regardless of size, and to every covered intermediary:
1. The prohibitions on materially false or misleading recruitment representations and ghost jobs (Title II).
2. The prohibitions on salary-history inquiries and on retaliation for compensation inquiries (Title IV).
3. The prohibitions on demanding passwords or access to private accounts, on the sale of applicant and employee data, and on unauthorized training of artificial intelligence on such data (Titles III and V).
4. The prohibitions on emotion recognition and biometric inference (Title VI).
5. The prohibitions on commercial use of uncompensated productive applicant work (Title VII).
6. The prohibitions on surveillance in sensitive locations, covert surveillance, and surveillance outside working time (Title VIII).
7. The restrictions on noncompete, no-poach, and silencing agreements (Title XI).
8. The prohibitions on predispute arbitration agreements (Title XII).
9. The restrictions on training repayment agreements (Title XIII).
10. The prohibitions on worker-paid placement fees and false assignments (Title XIV).
11. The anti-retaliation, anti-waiver, anti-evasion, and recordkeeping provisions (this title and Title XVI).
(b) TIER 1: EMPLOYERS WITH 15 OR MORE WORKERS.—In addition to the provisions described in subsection (a), an employer that has [15] or more workers for each working day in each of [20] or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year is subject to—
1. job-advertisement disclosure requirements (Title II);
2. applicant status-notice, offer, and rescission requirements (Title III);
3. compensation-range disclosure (Title IV);
4. data access, correction, deletion, and retention requirements (Title V);
5. automated employment decision system notice, explanation, meaningful human review, and appeal requirements (Title VI);
6. applicant time-compensation and expense-reimbursement requirements (Title VII);
7. surveillance disclosure, purpose-limitation, and human-corroboration requirements (Title VIII);
8. right-to-disconnect requirements (Title IX); and
9. personnel-record access, rehire-designation, and termination-reason requirements (Title X).
(c) TIER 2: EMPLOYERS WITH 100 OR MORE WORKERS.—In addition to the provisions described in subsections (a) and (b), an employer that has [100] or more workers is subject to—
1. impact assessment, independent audit, and public summary requirements (Title VI);
2. scheduling predictability, predictability pay, and rest-period requirements (Title IX), except that the Secretary may by regulation extend such requirements to employers of any size in industries in which unpredictable scheduling is prevalent;
3. just-cause and termination-procedure requirements (Title X);
4. technological displacement notice, assessment, and transition requirements (Title XV); and
5. aggregate reporting requirements under Title XVII.
(d) COUNTING WORKERS.—For purposes of this section—
1. workers of all related entities under section 103 are aggregated;
2. staffed workers are counted by both the staffing agency and the client employer;
3. economically dependent vendors and individual independent contractors providing services to the employer for more than [520] hours in the preceding 12 months are counted; and
4. workers located outside the United States are not counted, except that an employer with fewer than [15] United States workers that is a related entity of an employer with [500] or more workers worldwide is subject to Tier 1. (d-1) FRANCHISE-SYSTEM AGGREGATION FOR SCHEDULING.—For purposes of Title IX, workers employed within a franchise system that employs or regularly obtains the labor of [500] or more workers in the United States shall be aggregated where the franchisor prescribes or materially controls scheduling software, staffing standards, labor budgets, operating hours, or other practices that materially determine scheduling. This subsection does not create liability for a franchisor that exercises no such control.
(e) COVERED INTERMEDIARIES.—Each obligation imposed by this Act on a covered intermediary applies without regard to the intermediary's size.
LC NOTE: The brief directs that small employers not be reflexively exempted from core prohibitions against fraud, retaliation, coercion, data misuse, and deception. Subsection (a) implements this: size thresholds apply only to procedural and compliance-cost obligations. Thresholds of 15 and 100 track Title VII and the WARN Act respectively; they are placeholders for Part VII calibration.
(a) JOINT RESPONSIBILITY.—Each of the following is jointly and severally liable with an employer for a violation of this Act:
1. A client employer, with respect to violations affecting staffed workers or workers supplied by a labor contractor, whether committed by the client employer, the staffing agency, or the labor contractor.
2. A related entity that directed, controlled, participated in, or knowingly benefited from the violation, or that reserved or exercised control over the policy, practice, or system that caused it.
3. A covered intermediary that committed, caused, or materially contributed to the violation, subject to the apportionment rules in section [1407].
4. Any person that aids, abets, incites, compels, or coerces a violation.
(b) RELATED ENTITY.—A person is a related entity of an employer if the person—
1. directly or indirectly owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with the employer, where ownership means [25] percent or more of equity or voting interests;
2. shares with the employer common management, officers, directors, human resources functions, payroll, or employment policies;
3. is a franchisor that exercises or reserves the right to exercise control, directly or through required systems, software, or standards, over any term or condition of employment, hiring, scheduling, compensation, surveillance, or discipline of the franchisee's workers;
4. is a private equity fund, sponsor, or management company that exercises operational control over employment policies or practices of the employer, including through board control, management agreements, or mandated vendor selection; or
5. is otherwise determined by the Secretary, by regulation, to be sufficiently integrated with the employer that treating the entities separately would defeat the purposes of this Act.
(c) SUCCESSORS.—A successor in interest is liable for violations of its predecessor where there is substantial continuity of business operations, workforce, or management, without regard to the form of the transaction, and where the successor had notice of the violation or potential liability, or where the transaction was structured with a principal purpose of avoiding liability.
(d) NO INDEMNIFICATION OF EMPLOYER BY WORKER.—No agreement may require a worker to indemnify any person for liability under this Act. Agreements allocating liability among employers and covered intermediaries are enforceable between those parties but do not limit any worker's recovery.
LC NOTE: Paragraph (b)(3) and (b)(4) reach franchisors and private-equity owners beyond current joint-employer doctrine under the FLSA and NLRA. Expect strong opposition and interaction with the NLRB joint-employer rulemaking history. ALT: limit (b)(3)–(4) to entities that actually exercised, rather than merely reserved, control.
SEC. 104. ECONOMIC REALITY; MISCLASSIFICATION.
(a) SUBSTANCE OVER FORM.—In determining whether an individual or entity is an employee, worker, economically dependent vendor, applicant, staffed worker, or employer under this Act, the actual relationship and economic reality control. No contractual label, entity formation, platform terms, tax treatment, or characterization by the parties is controlling.
(b) BURDEN.—A person asserting that an individual is not an employee or not an economically dependent vendor bears the burden of proof.
(c) REQUIRED ENTITY FORMATION.—It is unlawful to require, request, induce, or suggest that an individual form a corporation, limited liability company, or other entity as a condition of obtaining or continuing work, where a purpose or effect is to avoid obligations under this Act or any other employment law. The owners of an entity so formed are treated as employees of the principal for purposes of this Act.
(d) MISCLASSIFICATION AS A VIOLATION.—Willfully misclassifying a worker as an independent contractor, vendor, volunteer, trainee, intern, or applicant to avoid obligations under this Act is a separate violation for each affected worker for each pay period.
SEC. 105. NO WAIVER; ANTI-EVASION.
(a) PROSPECTIVE WAIVER VOID.—Any agreement, policy, plan term, acknowledgment, or condition that purports to waive, limit, shorten the limitations period for, or require the worker to bear the cost of asserting, any right or remedy under this Act, or any right to participate in a class, collective, representative, or agency proceeding under this Act, is void and unenforceable.
(b) RELEASE OF ACCRUED CLAIMS.—A release of an accrued claim under this Act is enforceable only if—
1. it is knowing and voluntary, written in plain language, and specifically refers to this Act;
2. it is supported by consideration in addition to anything of value to which the individual is already entitled, including earned wages, accrued benefits, or severance under a preexisting plan or policy;
3. the individual is advised in writing to consult an attorney and is given not fewer than [21] days to consider it and [7] days after signing to revoke it;
4. it does not waive rights or claims arising after the date of execution;
5. it does not contain a predispute arbitration agreement, a restrictive agreement prohibited by Title XI, or a provision prohibited by section [1106] (silencing agreements); and
6. it does not restrict the individual from filing a charge with, communicating with, or participating in an investigation by any government agency, or from receiving a government whistleblower award.
(c) CONDITIONING PROHIBITED.—An agreement is not voluntary for purposes of this Act if it is presented as a condition of application, employment, continued employment, promotion, compensation, benefits, equity, severance, access to work, or continued business with an economically dependent vendor.
(d) EVASIVE STRUCTURES DISREGARDED.—Any arrangement, transaction, corporate structure, contractual term, relabeling, outsourcing, or series of steps undertaken with a principal purpose of evading any obligation under this Act is disregarded, and the Act applies as if the arrangement had not been made. This subsection applies to
arrangements involving staffing agencies, labor contractors, franchises, subsidiaries, affiliates, vendors, platforms, and entities formed by workers at the request of the employer.
(e) FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENTS.—A provision, practice, or system that has substantially the same purpose or effect as one prohibited by this Act is prohibited to the same extent, regardless of how it is labeled.
SEC. 106. TERRITORIAL APPLICATION; CHOICE OF LAW AND FORUM.
(a) APPLICATION.—This Act applies to—
1. work performed, or to be performed, primarily in the United States, including remote work performed from a location in the United States for an employer located elsewhere;
2. applicants located in the United States at the time of application; and
3. job advertisements directed to individuals in the United States.
(b) CHOICE OF LAW.—A choice-of-law provision that would deprive a worker of any protection of this Act, or of a stronger protection of the law of the State in which the worker primarily resides or works, is void as to that protection.
(c) FORUM.—A forum-selection provision may not require a worker to adjudicate a claim under this Act outside the State, or the Federal judicial district, in which the worker primarily resides or works, except by agreement entered into after the dispute arises and with the individual represented by counsel.
SEC. 107. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
(a) REMEDIAL CONSTRUCTION.—This Act shall be construed broadly to effectuate its remedial purposes. Exceptions and exemptions shall be construed narrowly.
(b) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER FEDERAL LAW.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to invalidate, limit, or diminish any right, remedy, or procedure available under—
1. title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, section 1977 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1981), or the Equal Pay Act of 1963;
2. the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, or the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988;
3. the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which shall apply concurrently with Titles III and V;
4. the National Labor Relations Act, including rights under section 7 of that Act; or
5. any Federal whistleblower protection law.
(c) COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this Act requires an employer to take an action that is prohibited by, or prohibits an action that is required by, another Federal statute or regulation, including requirements concerning national security clearances, Department of Transportation drug and alcohol testing, Federal Aviation Administration and Nuclear Regulatory Commission fitness-for-duty requirements, and financial-industry registration. An employer relying on this subsection bears the burden of identifying the specific requirement.
(d) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.—
1. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to diminish any right under a collective bargaining agreement that provides greater protection.
2. The requirements of Title IX (scheduling) and section [1005] (just cause) are deemed satisfied with respect to workers covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement that expressly addresses the subject and provides protections the Secretary determines to be at least equivalent, including a grievance procedure ending in neutral arbitration.
3. No collective bargaining agreement may waive the prohibitions in Titles VI, XII, or XIII, or the anti-retaliation provisions of this Act.
LC NOTE: Paragraph (2) is not a waiver; it recognizes that negotiated just-cause and scheduling regimes already exist and avoids NLRA section 8(d) and Garmon/Machinists preemption friction. Without it, Title X would displace existing CBA grievance procedures. The brief's no-waiver directive is preserved by paragraph (3) and the equivalence requirement.
(e) TRADE SECRETS.—Nothing in this Act requires public disclosure of a trade secret (as defined in 18 U.S.C. 1839). Where a disclosure required by this Act would reveal a trade secret, the employer or vendor shall make the disclosure to the Secretary and, subject to a protective order, to a court or affected individual's counsel, and shall provide the affected individual a disclosure sufficient to understand and contest the decision. A trade-secret claim is not a defense to any obligation to explain, correct, or provide meaningful human review.
(f) NO REQUIREMENT TO COLLECT DATA.—Nothing in this Act requires an employer to collect, retain, or infer additional information about any individual beyond what is necessary to comply with this Act.
(g) FACTUAL COMMERCIAL DISCLOSURES.—A disclosure required by this Act shall be construed as regulation of a commercial transaction and, where reasonably possible, limited to factual information material to an applicant's or worker's economic decision, the prevention of deception, or the enforcement of this Act.
(h) FAIR NOTICE AND PENALTIES.—Remedial rights under this Act shall be construed broadly. A civil or criminal penalty, however, may not be imposed on the basis of an interpretation that was not reasonably ascertainable from the statutory text, a valid regulation, or controlling precedent at the time of the conduct. This subsection does not excuse deception, retaliation, concealment, or conduct falling within an express statutory inclusion.
(i) CONSTITUTIONAL AVOIDANCE WITHOUT POLICY DILUTION.—Where two textually permissible constructions are available, a court shall prefer the construction that preserves constitutionality and the greatest remaining protection consistent with the text. Nothing in this subsection authorizes a court to rewrite a numerical threshold, create an exemption, or substitute a policy judgment not enacted by Congress.
(j) MINISTERIAL EXCEPTION; RELIGIOUS AUTONOMY.—
(1) Nothing in this Act, including Titles X and XI, shall be construed or applied to require a religious organization to hire, retain, reinstate, promote, assign, supervise, discipline, or continue the service of an individual where adjudicating the claim would intrude upon the organization's First Amendment right to select, supervise, or remove a minister.
(2) Whether an individual is a minister for purposes of this subsection shall be determined under the functional, circumstance-specific test required by controlling Supreme Court precedent, including Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, 565 U.S. 171 (2012), and Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, 591 U.S. 732 (2020). No single title, ordination status, credential, or employer label is dispositive; the individual's religious functions and all relevant circumstances shall be considered.
(3) This subsection is a rule of constitutional limitation, not a general exemption for religious employers. It does not exempt a religious organization from this Act with respect to nonministerial applicants or workers, commercial activities unrelated to ministerial selection or supervision, generally applicable recordkeeping or disclosure duties that can be performed without adjudicating ecclesiastical questions, or claims that can be resolved without determining whether the organization was entitled to select, supervise, discipline, or remove a minister.
(4) A court shall tailor dismissal or relief to the constitutional intrusion. The application of the ministerial exception to one claim or remedy does not invalidate or suspend otherwise applicable provisions of this Act.
LC NOTE: Hosanna-Tabor and Our Lady of Guadalupe make the ministerial exception constitutionally mandatory in covered employment disputes, but do not create a blanket exemption for religious employers. Subsection (j) adopts the constitutional floor and preserves the Act wherever adjudication does not interfere with protected ministerial selection or control.
SEC. 108. ACCESSIBILITY AND ACCOMMODATION.
(a) GENERAL REQUIREMENT.—Every job advertisement, application process, applicant account, assessment, interview, automated employment decision system, surveillance disclosure, notice, and procedure required or regulated by this Act shall be accessible to individuals with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
(b) ALTERNATIVE PROCESS.—Where any technology used in recruitment, assessment, or employment creates a barrier unrelated to the essential functions of the position, the employer shall provide, upon request and without penalty, an accessible alternative process, including human evaluation in place of automated evaluation, that assesses the applicant or worker on the same job-related criteria.
(c) NOTICE OF ALTERNATIVE.—Each notice required by Titles III, VI, VII, and VIII shall state how to request an accommodation or alternative process.
(d) NO ADVERSE INFERENCE.—A request for an accommodation or alternative process may not be used, directly or through any automated employment decision system, as a factor in any employment decision.
(e) LANGUAGE ACCESS.—Notices required by this Act shall be provided in the language in which the employer communicates with the individual, and in any language spoken by [5] percent or more of the employer's workforce at the relevant establishment.
SEC. 109. SMALL-BUSINESS COMPLIANCE AND LEGITIMATE-NEED
PROVISIONS. (a) NO EXEMPTION FROM CORE PROHIBITIONS.—Nothing in this section limits the application of section 102(a) to any employer.
(b) MODEL NOTICES AND SAFE HARBOR.—Not later than [270] days after enactment, the Secretary shall publish model notices, forms, and templates for each disclosure and notice required by this Act. An employer with fewer than [100] workers that uses a model notice accurately completed is deemed to comply with the form and content requirements for that notice.
(c) CURE PERIOD.—For an employer with fewer than [50] workers, a first violation of a notice, form, timing, or disclosure requirement that is not willful and does not involve deception, retaliation, coercion, or data misuse is subject only to a written notice of violation and a [30]-day opportunity to cure. This subsection does not apply to any claim for actual damages.
(d) PHASED EFFECTIVE DATES.—Effective dates for employers with fewer than [100] workers are extended as provided in section [1705].
(e) COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE.—The Office shall operate a small-business compliance assistance program, including a hotline, plain-language guides, and no-cost review of employer notices.
(f) LEGITIMATE OPERATIONAL EXCEPTIONS.—Each title of this Act specifies the operational exceptions that apply to its requirements. No exception applies unless expressly provided. An employer invoking an exception bears the burden of proving its application and shall document the basis contemporaneously.
SEC. 110. APPLICATION TO PUBLIC EMPLOYERS.
(a) FEDERAL EXECUTIVE AGENCIES.—This Act applies to executive agencies. Claims by Federal employees and applicants shall be processed in accordance with procedures the Office of Personnel Management and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission jointly prescribe, with a right to de novo review in Federal district court.
(b) LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL BRANCHES.—
1. Section 102 of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1302) is amended to add this Act to the laws made applicable to the legislative branch.
2. The Judicial Conference of the United States shall, not later than [1] year after enactment, adopt policies applying the protections of this Act to judicial branch employees and report to Congress.
(c) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—
1. This Act applies to States and political subdivisions.
2. Political subdivisions are not entitled to sovereign immunity under this Act.
3. A State's receipt of Federal financial assistance for workforce development, employment services, or unemployment insurance administration after the effective date constitutes a waiver of sovereign immunity from suit by private parties under this Act, as provided in section [1703].
4. Nothing in this subsection limits actions for prospective injunctive relief against State officials or enforcement actions by the United States.
LC NOTE: Congress cannot abrogate State sovereign immunity under its Article I commerce power (Seminole Tribe v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44 (1996); Alden v. Maine, 527 U.S. 706 (1999)). Section 5 abrogation requires congruence and proportionality to documented constitutional violations (City of Boerne; Kimel; Garrett), which is unlikely to support the Act broadly. Paragraph (3) relies on the spending power and must meet the clear-notice and non-coercion requirements of South Dakota v. Dole and NFIB v. Sebelius. Paragraph (4) preserves Ex parte Young relief and suits by the United States, which are unaffected by sovereign immunity.
Title II — Truth in Job Advertising and Recruitment
SEC. 201. PROHIBITION ON FALSE OR MISLEADING RECRUITMENT
REPRESENTATIONS. (a) IN GENERAL.—It is unlawful for an employer or covered intermediary, in any job advertisement or recruitment communication, or at any stage of recruitment, interviewing, or offer, to make a representation that is materially false or misleading, or to omit a fact necessary to make a representation not misleading, concerning—
1. the existence, status, approval, funding, or timing of a position;
2. compensation, benefits, or any term described in section 202;
3. the employer's identity, where the advertisement is placed by an intermediary;
4. the role of automated employment decision systems in selection; or
5. any other fact that a reasonable applicant would consider important in deciding whether to apply, continue in the process, or accept an offer.
(b) MATERIALITY.—A representation is material if it concerns a matter described in section 202 or section 101(27), or would likely affect a reasonable applicant's conduct.
(c) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE PRACTICE.—A violation of this title is also an unfair or deceptive act or practice under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45).
SEC. 202. REQUIRED DISCLOSURES IN JOB ADVERTISEMENTS.
(a) CONTENTS.—Each job advertisement by a Tier 1 employer, and each job advertisement by a covered intermediary, shall clearly and conspicuously disclose—
1. the identity of the employer, or, where confidentiality is necessary, the industry and approximate size of the employer, with the identity disclosed before any substantive interview;
2. whether the position is an actual vacancy;
3. whether hiring approval and funding have been obtained;
4. whether the advertisement is primarily intended to build a future applicant pool rather than fill an immediate vacancy;
5. whether an internal candidate has been identified or is being seriously considered, as provided in subsection (c);
6. whether the position is new or a replacement, and whether it is temporary, seasonal, contingent, grant-funded, contract-dependent, or subject to a pending reorganization, acquisition, or funding decision known to the employer;
7. the classification of the position (employee or independent contractor; exempt or nonexempt; full-time, part-time, temporary, or seasonal);
8. the anticipated work location; whether the position is remote work, hybrid work (including the number of required in-office days), or onsite; and any geographic or residency restriction;
9. the expected schedule, including shift, weekend, overnight, and on-call requirements;
10. material travel requirements, stated as an approximate percentage of working time;
11. the good-faith compensation range required by section 401;
12. the existence, type, and reasonably expected value or range of significant variable compensation;
13. a general description of major benefits; and
14. whether an automated employment decision system will materially participate in screening or selection, with a link to the notice required by section 601.
(b) NON-VACANCY ADVERTISEMENTS.—An advertisement for a position that is not an actual vacancy, including a talent community, pipeline, evergreen, or pool advertisement, shall state at the top, in plain language, "This is not a current job opening," and shall state the purpose of the advertisement, the period for which applicant data will be retained, and whether the employer expects to fill any position from it within [6] months.
(c) INTERNAL CANDIDATE DISCLOSURE.—Where an internal candidate has been identified and the employer reasonably expects to select that candidate absent a materially stronger external applicant, the advertisement shall so state. Where an employer is legally required to post a position (including under a collective bargaining agreement, civil service rule, or immigration labor-certification requirement) but does not expect to select an external applicant, the advertisement shall so state.
(d) FORMAT.—Disclosures shall appear in the advertisement itself, or, for character- limited formats, through a direct link on the face of the advertisement. The Secretary shall prescribe a standardized disclosure format.
(e) UPDATING.—An employer shall correct any disclosure that becomes materially inaccurate within [5] business days after the employer learns of the change, and shall notify applicants whose applications are pending as provided in section 302.
LC NOTE (First Amendment): Required disclosures are compelled commercial speech. Purely factual, uncontroversial disclosures reasonably related to preventing deception are reviewed under Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, 471 U.S. 626 (1985). Paragraphs (2)–(13) are factual. Paragraph (5) (internal candidates) and the mandated phrasing in subsection (b) are the most exposed, because they may be characterized as compelling disclosure of internal deliberations; the "reasonable expectation" standard mitigates this. See also NIFLA v. Becerra, 585 U.S. 755 (2018).
SEC. 203. GHOST JOBS AND OBSOLETE ADVERTISEMENTS.
(a) PROHIBITION.—It is unlawful to publish, maintain, or authorize a ghost job.
(b) REMOVAL AND CORRECTION.—An employer shall remove or correct a job advertisement not later than [10] calendar days after the position is filled, canceled, frozen, eliminated, or otherwise ceases to be an actual vacancy, and shall within that period direct each covered intermediary or platform to which it provided the advertisement to do the same.
(c) RECERTIFICATION.—An advertisement for an actual vacancy that remains posted for more than [60] days shall display the date it was first posted and the date of the employer's most recent written recertification that the position remains an actual vacancy. Recertification is required every [30] days thereafter.
(d) RÉSUMÉ HARVESTING.—It is unlawful to publish a job advertisement primarily for the purpose of collecting applicant data for sale, marketing, model training, market research, or any purpose other than filling a position, or to use applicant data obtained through an
advertisement for any such purpose except as permitted by Title V.
(e) PRESUMPTION FROM REPEATED POSTING.—There is a rebuttable presumption of a ghost job where an employer—
1. has posted the same or a substantially similar advertisement for more than [120] days in any [12]-month period without hiring any individual into the position; or
2. has posted advertisements for a job category at a rate exceeding [3] times its hires into that category over [12] months.
(f) PLATFORMS AND AGGREGATORS.—A person operating a job-advertising platform or aggregator that publishes or republishes advertisements shall—
1. display the original posting date and source;
2. provide employers and the public a mechanism to report obsolete or false advertisements; and
3. remove an advertisement within [5] business days after receiving notice from the employer that it is obsolete, or within [10] business days after receiving a credible public report that the employer does not refute.
LC NOTE: Subsection (f) may implicate section 230 of the Communications Act (47 U.S.C. 230). As drafted it imposes display and notice-and-takedown duties rather than publisher liability for third-party content, which is more defensible. An express statement that section 230 does not preempt subsection (f) may be added in Draft Two.
(a) An employment agency or staffing agency may not solicit applicants for a position unless it has a current written engagement for, or a reasonable basis to believe the position is, an actual vacancy, and shall disclose to the applicant whether it is recruiting for a specific identified position or building a candidate pool.
(b) An employment agency may not submit an applicant's information to any employer without the applicant's specific consent to submission to that employer.
SEC. 205. RECORDS.
Employers and covered intermediaries shall retain each job advertisement, its disclosures, all revisions and recertifications, and the disposition of the position, for the period required by section [1603].
Title III — Applicant Procedural Rights
SEC. 301. APPLICANT STATUS NOTICES.
(a) ESCALATING OBLIGATIONS.—An employer shall provide written status notice to an applicant as follows:
1. APPLICATION ONLY.—For an applicant who has not had a substantive interview, notice of rejection or closure of the position within [30] days after the disposition, which may be provided by automated message.
2. AFTER A SUBSTANTIVE INTERVIEW.—For an applicant who has completed one or more substantive interviews, notice of the applicant's status within [15] business days after each substantive interview, and every [21] days thereafter until final disposition.
3. AFTER A FINAL INTERVIEW.—For an applicant who has completed a final interview, notice within [10] business days stating which of the following applies:
(A) the applicant was rejected;
(B) another applicant was selected;
(C) the vacancy was canceled;
(D) hiring was paused, with the expected duration if known; or
(E) no decision has been made, with the expected decision date.
4. SUBSTANTIAL TIME INVESTED.—For an applicant who has spent, or been required to spend, [6] or more cumulative hours in substantive interviews, assessments, and assignments, the notice under paragraph (3) shall be provided by a natural person, and upon the applicant's written request within [30] days the employer shall provide, within [15] business days, the principal job-related reason or reasons for a rejection, which may be stated by reference to categories prescribed by the Secretary.
(b) PROHIBITION ON INDEFINITE NON-RESPONSE.—Failure to provide a notice required by subsection (a)(3) or (a)(4) within [30] days after it is due is a separate violation.
(c) FINAL DISPOSITION.—An employer that has provided notice under subsection (a)(3)
(D) or (E) shall provide notice of final disposition not later than [10] business days after the disposition.
(d) SAFE HARBOR.—A notice reasonably complying with a model notice issued by the Secretary satisfies this section. The reason statement under subsection (a)(4) is not an admission and is not admissible to prove that the stated reason was the only reason, but a materially false reason statement is a violation of section 201.
SEC. 302. MATERIAL CHANGES DURING THE HIRING PROCESS.
(a) NOTICE.—An employer shall notify in writing each applicant who has had a substantive interview of any material change in employment terms, or any change in the status of the position, within [5] business days after the change is decided, and in any event before the applicant is required to participate in any further interview, assessment, or decision.
(b) OFFER CONSISTENCY.—A written offer that contains a material change in employment terms from what was advertised or represented shall identify each change conspicuously on its first page.
SEC. 303. MINIMUM CONSIDERATION PERIOD FOR OFFERS (EXPLODING
OFFERS). (a) IN GENERAL.—An employer shall allow an applicant not less than [5] business days after receipt of a formal written offer of employment to accept or decline it, and not less than [10] business days where the offer requires relocation or includes a restrictive or repayment term permitted under this Act.
(b) REQUEST.—An offer may state a shorter response date only if it also states conspicuously that the applicant is entitled to the period under subsection (a) upon request. An employer may not withdraw an offer, reduce its terms, or treat the applicant less favorably because the applicant requested the statutory period.
(c) EMERGENCY EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) does not apply where the employer documents, before making the offer, a bona fide operational emergency (including a public-health or safety emergency, disaster response, or sudden unplanned vacancy in a position necessary to maintain safe operations) that requires a decision in a shorter period, discloses the reason to the applicant, and allows not less than [24] hours.
(d) SEASONAL AND DAY WORK.—The Secretary may by regulation set shorter periods for day-labor, seasonal, and short-term assignments of less than [30] days.
SEC. 304. OFFER RESCISSION AND RELIANCE PROTECTION.
(a) COVERED OFFER.—This section applies to a written offer of employment, including an offer for work as an economically dependent vendor, that identifies the position, compensation, and an anticipated start date or period, and that the applicant has accepted in writing or by conduct the employer requested. A disclaimer that the offer is
not binding, is at will, or is not a contract does not remove an offer from this section. Preliminary conversations, verbal indications of interest, and communications that do not contain those terms are not covered offers.
(b) PROHIBITION.—An employer may not rescind a covered offer, delay the start date by more than [30] days, or impose a material change in employment terms before or within [90] days after the start date, except as provided in subsection (d).
(c) NOTICE.—Any rescission or material change shall be made in writing, shall state the specific reason, and shall be delivered as soon as the employer decides on it.
(d) PERMITTED GROUNDS.—Subsection (b) does not apply where the rescission or change results from—
1. a material misrepresentation or fraud by the applicant;
2. the applicant's failure to satisfy a lawful, job-related contingency that was disclosed in the offer, including a background check conducted in compliance with this Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, license verification, or work-authorization verification;
3. the applicant's inability to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation, as determined in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990;
4. bankruptcy, closure, loss of a license, force majeure, or another catastrophic event that the employer could not reasonably have foreseen when the offer was made; or
5. the applicant's agreement, after the rescission is proposed, to a separate written settlement.
An economic downturn, budget reallocation, hiring freeze, reorganization, change in leadership, or identification of a preferred candidate is not a permitted ground under paragraph (4) unless the employer proves by clear and convincing evidence that it was not reasonably foreseeable at the time of the offer.
(e) STATUTORY RELIANCE REMEDY.—An applicant whose covered offer is rescinded or materially changed in violation of this section is entitled to—
1. reimbursement of all reasonable expenses incurred in reliance on the offer, including relocation, lease-termination costs, travel, required equipment, and forfeited deposits;
2. an amount equal to the greater of—
(A) [8] weeks of the base compensation stated in the offer; or
(B) the applicant's actual lost earnings resulting from reliance, not to exceed [12] months of the offered base compensation, including earnings from employment the applicant resigned and compensation from a competing offer the applicant declined;
3. where the employer induced, requested, or knew of the applicant's resignation from existing employment, an additional amount equal to [8] weeks of the offered base compensation; and
4. the other remedies available under Title XVI.
(f) MITIGATION.—Amounts under subsection (e)(2)(B) are reduced by earnings from replacement work, but amounts under subsection (e)(1), (e)(2)(A), and (e)(3) are not subject to mitigation.
(g) NO EFFECT ON CONTRACT CLAIMS.—This section does not limit any contract, promissory estoppel, or fraud claim under State law.
SEC. 305. EMPLOYMENT-STATUS DISCRIMINATION.
(a) PROHIBITION.—It is unlawful for an employer or covered intermediary—
1. to publish a job advertisement stating or implying that current employment is a qualification or that unemployed individuals will not be considered;
2. to refuse to consider or hire, or to screen out through an automated employment decision system, an applicant because the applicant is unemployed or has a gap in employment history; or
3. to direct an employment agency to do so.
(b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) does not prohibit consideration of—
1. whether the applicant holds a current license, certification, or security clearance that is a bona fide requirement of the position;
2. the recency of experience in a specific skill, where recency is job-related and consistent with business necessity; or
3. the reasons for an employment gap, where the applicant has volunteered them or the employer inquires in a manner that is job-related and consistent with business necessity.
SEC. 306. CREDIT HISTORY.
(a) PROHIBITION.—An employer may not obtain or use a consumer report, or any other information bearing on an individual's credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, or debt, for any employment decision, except for a position—
1. for which such use is required by Federal or State law;
2. with a national security clearance requirement;
3. with signatory authority over, or unsupervised access to, funds, securities, or assets of $[10,000] or more;
4. with regular access to financial account numbers of customers or trade secrets whose disclosure would cause substantial harm; or
5. identified by the Secretary by regulation as one in which financial history is substantially job-related.
(b) PROCEDURE.—Where credit information is permitted, the employer shall obtain it only after a conditional offer, shall disclose the specific reason credit is relevant to the position, and shall provide the individual an opportunity to explain adverse information before any adverse decision, in addition to the requirements of section 604 and 615 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
(c) AMENDMENT.—Section 604(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681b(b)) is amended to provide that a consumer report containing credit information may be furnished for employment purposes only in accordance with this section.
(a) ACCOUNT ACCESS PROHIBITED.—An employer or covered intermediary may not require, request, or coerce an applicant or worker to—
1. disclose a username, password, or other means of access to a personal account or personal device;
2. access a personal account in the employer's presence or allow the employer to observe its contents;
3. add the employer or its agent to a list of contacts; or
4. change privacy settings of a personal account.
(b) SYSTEMATIC INVESTIGATIONS.—An employer that conducts, or engages a third party to conduct, a systematic review of an applicant's or worker's online presence, including through a social-media screening vendor, shall—
1. provide advance written notice, identifying the vendor, the categories of information reviewed, and the job-related purpose;
2. limit the review to publicly available information bearing on the job-related criteria disclosed;
3. provide the individual, upon request, a copy of any report or summary used; and
4. before any adverse decision based materially on the review, provide the individual the information relied on and an opportunity to respond.
(c) PROTECTED INFORMATION.—An employer or vendor that encounters information concerning a characteristic protected under Federal, State, or local antidiscrimination law, lawful off-duty activity protected under section [908], or activity protected under section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, shall not record, transmit to the decisionmaker, or consider that information. A screening vendor shall implement technical and procedural controls to filter such information before transmission. Where a decisionmaker was exposed to such information, the employer bears the burden of proving the decision was not influenced by it.
(d) INDIVIDUAL SEARCHES.—This section does not prohibit an employer from viewing information an applicant has voluntarily made publicly available, subject to subsection (c), or from investigating a specific allegation of workplace misconduct, provided the investigation does not violate subsection (a).
SEC. 308. REFERENCE AND BACKCHANNEL INQUIRIES.
(a) CURRENT EMPLOYER.—An employer or covered intermediary may not contact an applicant's current employer, or any person it knows or reasonably should know is likely to inform the current employer, concerning the applicant's candidacy without the applicant's prior written consent specific to that contact.
(b) NOTICE OF REFERENCE INVESTIGATION.—An employer that intends to seek information about an applicant from any person not identified by the applicant as a reference, other than through a background check subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, shall notify the applicant in writing before a final hiring decision that it may do so and shall identify the categories of persons it intends to contact.
(c) DISCLOSURE ON REQUEST.—Upon written request of an applicant who was rejected after a final interview, the employer shall disclose whether it obtained information from any person not identified by the applicant, and the general substance of any such
information that materially contributed to the decision, and shall allow the applicant to respond in writing. The employer is not required to disclose the identity of a source who requested confidentiality, except to the Secretary or a court.
(d) HARM TO CURRENT EMPLOYMENT.—An employer that violates subsection (a), where the applicant subsequently suffers an adverse action by the current employer, is liable for the applicant's resulting lost earnings in addition to other remedies.
(e) PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING.—This section does not apply to ordinary professional communications that are not made in connection with evaluating a specific applicant, or to an unsolicited communication from a third party.
LC NOTE (First Amendment; overbreadth): Subsections (a) and (b) regulate speech by the employer to third parties. They are framed as regulating commercial conduct (a step in a hiring transaction) and are limited to inquiries about a specific applicant, which should survive intermediate scrutiny. Subsection (c)'s source-confidentiality limit balances the applicant's interest against chilling candid references.
(a) An employer may not require an applicant, as a condition of applying, to—
1. create an account with a third party other than an applicant-tracking account operated solely for the application;
2. agree to terms of service of a third party that authorize any use of the applicant's data beyond processing the application, or that include a predispute arbitration agreement, marketing consent, or data-sale authorization;
3. maintain a profile on a social media or professional networking service; or
4. provide information not necessary to evaluate the application at that stage, including date of birth, full social security number, or photograph, before a conditional offer except where required by law.
(b) ALTERNATIVE.—An employer shall provide a means of applying by email or another method that does not require account creation, upon request.
(c) DELETION.—Any applicant account shall be deletable by the applicant at any time, with deletion of associated applicant data as provided in Title V.
Title IV — Compensation and Employment-Term Transparency
SEC. 401. COMPENSATION RANGE DISCLOSURE.
(a) JOB ADVERTISEMENTS.—Each job advertisement subject to section 202 shall include a good-faith compensation range for base compensation.
(b) SEPARATE STATEMENTS.—The advertisement shall separately state—
1. the type of each significant form of variable compensation (such as commissions, bonuses, tips, equity, or profit-sharing), and—
(A) for commissions, tips, and nondiscretionary bonuses, the median amount received by workers in the same or a substantially similar position during the preceding [12] months, or, if none, a good-faith estimate labeled as such;
(B) for equity, the number or value range of units and the vesting schedule, and whether the equity is publicly traded; and
(C) for any compensation contingent on events outside the worker's control, a statement that it is contingent;
2. the major benefits provided; and
3. whether the position is paid by hourly rate, salary, piece rate, or commission only.
(c) NO SPECULATIVE INFLATION.—An employer may not state a total compensation figure that combines base compensation with variable compensation, benefits, or speculative amounts unless it also states base compensation separately with equal prominence.
(d) EXISTING WORKERS AND APPLICANTS WITHOUT ADVERTISEMENTS.—An employer shall provide the good-faith compensation range to—
1. an applicant for a position that was not advertised, before the first substantive interview;
2. any applicant upon request, at any time; and
3. an employee, upon request, for the employee's current position and for any position for which the employee applies.
(e) INTERNAL PROMOTION AND TRANSFER.—A Tier 1 employer shall make known to its employees opportunities for promotion or transfer, with the good-faith compensation range, before or at the same time as an external advertisement is published.
LC NOTE: Subsection (b)(1)(A)'s median-earnings disclosure is novel. It prevents nominal compliance through inflated "up to" commission claims, but requires data that small employers may not track. Part VII flags this for empirical review.
SEC. 402. SALARY HISTORY.
(a) PROHIBITION.—An employer or covered intermediary may not—
1. seek, directly or indirectly, including through a current or former employer, a consumer reporting agency, a data broker, or a public record search, the compensation history of an applicant;
2. rely on an applicant's compensation history in determining whether to extend an offer or in setting compensation; or
3. require that an applicant's prior compensation satisfy a minimum or maximum criterion.
(b) VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE.—Where an applicant voluntarily and without prompting discloses compensation history for a lawful purpose, including to negotiate higher compensation, the employer may consider it only to support compensation higher than the employer's initial offer. An employer may ask an applicant's compensation expectations.
(c) EXCEPTIONS.—This section does not apply to—
1. compensation information publicly available by law;
2. verification of compensation history after an offer that includes compensation has been made, at the applicant's request, to support a higher offer; or
3. internal applicants' current compensation with the same employer, provided it is not used to perpetuate a disparity prohibited by law.
SEC. 403. RIGHT TO INQUIRE ABOUT AND DISCUSS COMPENSATION.
(a) PROTECTED CONDUCT.—An employer may not take any adverse action against, or reduce the likelihood of an offer to, an applicant or worker because the individual inquires about, discusses, discloses, or negotiates the individual's own compensation, the compensation range for a position, or the compensation of other workers.
(b) CONFIDENTIALITY RULES VOID.—Any policy or agreement prohibiting workers from discussing or disclosing compensation is void, except that a worker whose job duties include access to the compensation information of others may be prohibited from
disclosing such information obtained through those duties without the consent of the affected individual, unless the disclosure is made in response to a complaint, charge, investigation, or proceeding.
SEC. 404. LATE-STAGE COMPENSATION REDUCTIONS.
(a) PROHIBITION.—After an applicant has completed a substantive interview, an employer may not reduce the compensation range, the base compensation offered, or the expected value of variable compensation for that applicant, or make an offer below the minimum of the disclosed range, unless—
1. the employer documents a legitimate changed circumstance arising after the disclosure (such as a documented budget reduction affecting the position, a change in the position's level or duties agreed to by the applicant, or a change in work location requested by the applicant);
2. the employer provides written notice of the reduction and its reason to the applicant within [5] business days after the decision and before any further interview; and
3. the reduction applies to all applicants for the position still under consideration.
(b) REPEATED REDUCTIONS.—An offer below the minimum of the disclosed range to [2] or more applicants for the same position within [12] months creates a rebuttable presumption that the range was not in good faith.
SEC. 405. COMPENSATION, REMOTE, HYBRID, SCHEDULE, AND LOCATION BAIT-AND-
SWITCH. (a) TRUTHFUL REPRESENTATION.—Representations about base compensation, the structure and expected value of variable compensation, remote work, hybrid work, onsite requirements, shift, weekend, overnight, on-call, and travel expectations, whether in an advertisement, interview, or offer, are subject to section 201.
(b) PROHIBITED CHANGE.—An employer that recruits an individual under a represented arrangement described in subsection (a) may not, before the start date or during the first [12] months of employment, reduce base compensation by more than [5] percent, materially alter the structure or expected value of variable compensation by more than [10] percent, or impose another material change in that arrangement, unless—
1. the change results from a legitimate changed circumstance that the employer did not know of, and could not reasonably have anticipated, at the time of the representation;
2. the employer provides not less than [90] days' written notice, stating the reason; and
3. the employer offers the affected worker the choice of accepting the change or separating with severance under subsection (c).
(c) REMEDY.—A worker subject to a change in violation of subsection (b), or who separates rather than accept a change permitted by subsection (b), is entitled to—
1. severance equal to the greater of [8] weeks of base compensation or [2] weeks per year of service;
2. reimbursement of reasonable relocation or commuting-setup costs incurred in reliance on the representation; and
3. where the change was knowingly contemplated at the time of the representation, the remedies for a violation of section 304.
(d) KNOWING RECRUITMENT.—There is a rebuttable presumption that a change was knowingly contemplated where the employer adopted or announced a policy requiring the change within [60] days after the worker's start date.
SEC. 406. ALGORITHMIC AND INDIVIDUALIZED WAGE SETTING.
(a) PROHIBITION.—An employer or covered intermediary may not set, adjust, or offer compensation, including base compensation, piece rates, per-task pay, bonuses, or incentives, for an individual worker or applicant, using an automated employment decision system or otherwise, on the basis of—
1. the individual's inferred or actual financial need, debt, credit, or economic desperation;
2. the individual's predicted willingness to accept lower compensation, reservation wage, or likelihood of accepting an offer or task;
3. behavioral profiling, browsing, purchasing, or device data unrelated to the work;
4. employment surveillance data, except for data measuring the quantity or quality of work performed under criteria disclosed in advance; or
5. any characteristic unrelated to the value, quantity, quality, skill, or responsibility of the work.
(b) DISCLOSURE.—Where an automated employment decision system materially determines compensation, the employer shall disclose in advance, in plain language, the factors used, their relative weight, and how the worker can see the calculation for any payment.
(c) ACCESS AND CORRECTION.—A worker may obtain, upon request, the data used to calculate the worker's compensation for any pay period within the preceding [3] years, and may correct inaccurate data under section 604, with back pay for any underpayment.
(d) EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL TASKS.—Workers performing substantially the same task at substantially the same time and place shall be offered the same rate, except for differences based on disclosed, job-related factors such as seniority, merit system, or measured quality of work.
LC NOTE: Subsection (a)(2) and (d) substantially constrain dynamic pricing of labor on gig and platform services. The prohibition reaches only workers covered by this Act (which, through section 101(12)(A) and (37), includes most platform workers). Expect preemption arguments from platforms operating under State-law classification regimes (e.g., California Proposition 22); this Act supplies a Federal floor that does not depend on classification.
SEC. 407. UNLIMITED LEAVE AND BENEFIT REPRESENTATIONS.
(a) DISCLOSURE.—An employer that describes paid leave as "unlimited," "flexible," "discretionary," or similar shall disclose in writing, before an offer is accepted and to each covered employee annually—
1. the standards and process for approval;
2. any usage limits, blackout periods, notice requirements, or minimum staffing rules;
3. the median number of paid leave days taken by employees in the same job category during the preceding year; and
4. whether unused leave accrues, carries over, or has monetary value on separation.
(b) MISLEADING REPRESENTATIONS.—Describing leave as "unlimited" when leave requests are routinely denied, when use is discouraged by adverse evaluation or action, or when the median use is below [10] days per year, is a materially misleading representation under section 201 unless accompanied by the disclosures in subsection (a).
(c) NO RETALIATION.—An employer may not take adverse action against an employee for using leave approved under the employer's policy, or rely on use of such leave in any performance evaluation.
(d) NO MANDATE.—This section does not require an employer to adopt any particular leave policy.
(e) BENEFIT REPRESENTATIONS GENERALLY.—Any representation of benefits in an advertisement, interview, or offer shall be accurate as of the date made, and shall disclose any waiting period exceeding [30] days.
Title V — Applicant and Employee Data and Privacy
SEC. 501. DATA MINIMIZATION AND PURPOSE LIMITATION.
(a) NECESSITY.—An employer or covered intermediary may collect, generate, infer, use, retain, or disclose applicant data or employee data only to the extent reasonably necessary and proportionate to—
1. evaluate an applicant for a specific position or disclosed category of positions;
2. administer the employment or work relationship, including payroll, benefits, scheduling, and legally required recordkeeping;
3. comply with law or legal process;
4. protect the safety and security of workers, customers, and property, subject to Title VIII; or
5. a purpose disclosed in advance and consented to in accordance with subsection (d).
(b) CURRENT TRANSACTION DISTINGUISHED.—An employer shall maintain applicant data collected for a specific position ("current-transaction data") separately, logically or physically, from data retained for future recruiting ("pool data"). Pool data may be retained only with the applicant's affirmative opt-in consent, obtained separately from the application, for not more than [12] months, renewable only by further affirmative consent.
(c) PROHIBITED COLLECTION.—An employer may not collect from applicants before a conditional offer—
1. biometric data, except as permitted by section [809] and Title VI;
2. information about medical conditions, genetic information, or disability, except as permitted by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008;
3. information about immigration status beyond eligibility to work, except as required by law;
4. precise geolocation; or
5. data from the applicant's personal devices or accounts.
(d) CONSENT.—Consent under this title shall be specific, informed, unambiguous, separate from other terms, and revocable, and shall not be a condition of application, employment, or any benefit. Consent is not valid if obtained by default settings, pre- checked boxes, or interface design that impairs the individual's choice.
LC NOTE: Consent in the employment context is inherently constrained by the power asymmetry the Act addresses. Subsection (d)'s non-conditioning rule is what gives consent meaning; without it, every secondary use would be "consented to" in onboarding paperwork.
SEC. 502. RETENTION AND DELETION.
(a) RETENTION LIMITS.—
1. Current-transaction data of an applicant not hired shall be deleted not later than [2] years after the final disposition of the application, or any longer period required by Federal law, by a litigation hold, or by an open charge or investigation.
2. Employee data shall be deleted not later than [4] years after separation, except personnel records required to be retained under section [1603], payroll and benefits records required by law, and data subject to a litigation hold.
3. Surveillance data is subject to section [808].
(b) DELETION ON REQUEST.—An applicant or worker may request deletion of applicant data or employee data. The employer shall delete the data within [45] days, except data it is required to retain by law, by section [1603], or by a litigation hold, and data reasonably necessary to defend a pending or reasonably anticipated claim, which shall be retained only for that purpose.
(c) NO DESTRUCTION OF EVIDENCE.—Deletion obligations under this section do not authorize deletion of any record required to be retained under section [1603], or of any record after the employer has notice of a request, complaint, charge, or claim to which the record is relevant.
(d) DOWNSTREAM DELETION.—An employer shall direct each covered intermediary and processor holding the data to delete it within the same period, and each such person shall comply.
SEC. 503. ACCESS, CORRECTION, AND PORTABILITY.
(a) ACCESS.—Upon request, an employer shall provide an applicant or worker, within [30] days and without charge (for up to [2] requests per year)—
1. a copy of the individual's applicant data or employee data, including inferences, scores, rankings, classifications, and profiles;
2. the categories of sources of the data;
3. the purposes for which it is used;
4. the identity of each third party to which it has been disclosed in the preceding [3] years; and
5. the retention period applicable to each category.
(b) CORRECTION.—An individual may request correction of inaccurate data. The employer shall, within [30] days, correct the data or provide a written explanation of why it believes the data is accurate, and shall attach the individual's statement of dispute to the data. Where corrected data was used in a consequential employment decision, the employer shall reconsider the decision under section 604.
(c) PORTABILITY.—Upon request, data provided by the individual and records of the individual's work output metrics shall be provided in a commonly used, machine-readable format.
(d) EXCEPTIONS.—Access may be withheld for—
1. information that would reveal the personal data of another individual, which shall be redacted rather than withheld entirely;
2. privileged communications; and
3. information relating to an ongoing investigation of a specific allegation of misconduct, until the investigation concludes or [90] days, whichever is earlier.
SEC. 504. SECURITY.
(a) An employer and each covered intermediary shall implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of applicant and employee data, including encryption of biometric data and data revealing protected characteristics, in accordance with standards the Secretary, in consultation with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Federal Trade Commission, establishes.
(b) In the event of unauthorized access to applicant or employee data, the employer shall notify affected individuals and the Secretary within [30] days after discovery, unless a shorter period is required by other law.
SEC. 505. DISCLOSURE TO THIRD PARTIES; SALE PROHIBITED.
(a) SALE PROHIBITED.—An employer or covered intermediary may not sell, license, rent, trade, or otherwise transfer applicant data or employee data for monetary or other valuable consideration.
(b) PERMITTED DISCLOSURE.—Data may be disclosed only—
1. to a processor or covered intermediary acting on the employer's behalf, under a written contract that limits use to the employer's purposes, prohibits further disclosure and secondary use, and requires compliance with this Act;
2. as required by law or legal process;
3. to a benefits provider or payroll provider for administration of the relationship;
4. in a merger, acquisition, or bankruptcy, subject to the continuing application of this title; or
5. with the individual's consent under section 501(d).
(c) DISCLOSURE OF RECIPIENTS.—An employer shall maintain and make available to workers a current list of categories of processors and covered intermediaries receiving applicant or employee data, and the specific identity of each upon request.
(d) DATA BROKERS.—An employer may not purchase or obtain from a data broker information about an applicant or worker for use in an employment decision, other than a consumer report obtained in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act and this Act.
SEC. 506. SECONDARY USE AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TRAINING.
(a) SECONDARY USE.—An employer or covered intermediary may not use applicant data or employee data for a purpose unrelated to the purposes described in section 501(a), including marketing, sale of products to workers, credit decisions, or research unrelated to the employment relationship, without consent under section 501(d).
(b) AI TRAINING.—
1. An employer or covered intermediary may not use applicant data or employee data to train, fine-tune, validate, or improve an artificial intelligence system except—
(A) to validate or audit an automated employment decision system used by that employer for bias, accuracy, or compliance with this Act, using de-identified data where practicable; or
(B) with the specific consent of each individual under section 501(d).
2. An employment-technology vendor may not use data received from one employer to train or improve a system offered to other employers, except de-identified data used solely for bias testing and validation, with the employer's written authorization and notice to workers.
3. This subsection does not restrict the use of ordinary work product that the employer owns, except as provided in section [1505] (digital replicas).
(c) DE-IDENTIFIED DATA.—Data is de-identified only if it cannot reasonably be used to infer information about, or be linked to, an individual, and the holder publicly commits not to re-identify it and contractually prohibits recipients from doing so.
SEC. 507. NOTICE OF DATA PRACTICES.
Each employer shall provide applicants, at or before collection, and employees, at hire and annually, a plain-language notice of the categories of data collected, the purposes, retention periods, recipients, and the rights under this title, in a format the Secretary prescribes.
Title VI — Automated Employment Decision Systems; Biometric
and Psychometric Inference
SEC. 601. ADVANCE NOTICE.
(a) An employer that uses an automated employment decision system in connection with a consequential employment decision shall provide each affected applicant or worker, before the system is used with respect to that individual, a plain-language notice stating —
1. that the system will be used, and for which decisions;
2. the role the system plays, including whether it screens out, ranks, scores, recommends, or decides, and at what stage;
3. the categories of data the system uses, and their sources;
4. the job-related qualifications or characteristics the system is designed to assess;
5. the identity of the vendor, if any;
6. how to request an accommodation or alternative process under section 108;
7. the rights to explanation, correction, human review, and appeal under this title; and
8. where to find the most recent impact assessment summary under section 605.
(b) For systems used in algorithmic management of current workers, the notice shall be provided at hire, before deployment of a new or substantially modified system, and annually.
SEC. 602. POST-DECISION EXPLANATION.
(a) An employer that makes a consequential employment decision adverse to an individual in which an automated employment decision system materially participated shall, within [10] business days, provide the individual a written statement—
1. that the system participated, and its role in the decision;
2. the principal factors, and the individual's data for each, that most influenced the output with respect to that individual;
3. the output (score, ranking, classification, or recommendation) and how it compared to any threshold used;
4. the identity and role of the human reviewer, by title; and
5. how to request correction, human review, and appeal.
(b) An explanation that is general, uninformative, or not specific to the individual does not satisfy this section. A trade-secret claim does not excuse compliance, subject to section 107(e).
SEC. 603. MEANINGFUL HUMAN REVIEW; SOLELY AUTOMATED
DECISIONS PROHIBITED. (a) PROHIBITION.—An employer may not make a decision concerning hiring, rejection after a substantive interview, termination, promotion, demotion, compensation, discipline, or deactivation of a worker solely on the basis of the output of an automated employment decision system, without meaningful human review before the decision takes effect.
(b) SCREENING-STAGE REVIEW.—Where an automated employment decision system is used to screen out applicants before any substantive interview, the employer shall—
1. provide meaningful human review of a random sample of not less than [5] percent of screened-out applicants, or [50] applicants, whichever is greater, per position or per quarter for high-volume categories; and
2. provide meaningful human review of any individual screen-out upon the applicant's request made within [30] days.
(c) RUBBER-STAMP PROHIBITION.—Characterizing a system as advisory, or requiring a natural person to formally approve its output, does not satisfy this section unless the review meets each element of section 101(22)(B).
(d) PRESERVATION OF REVIEWER RECORDS.—The employer shall retain the reviewer's documentation for the period required by section [1603].
(e) BLIND-REVIEW VALIDATION.—For each consequential decision category using an automated employment decision system, an employer subject to section 605 shall require a statistically meaningful sample of decisions, not less than [5] percent or [50] decisions annually, whichever is less, to receive blind human review. The reviewer shall record an independent assessment before seeing the system's score, ranking, recommendation, or flag. The independent auditor shall compare blind and system-informed review and test for automation bias, token overrides, and rubber-stamping.
SEC. 604. CORRECTION AND APPEAL.
(a) CORRECTION.—An individual may request correction of inaccurate data used by an automated employment decision system. Upon correction, the employer shall rerun the system or reconsider the decision with the corrected data within [15] business days.
(b) APPEAL.—An individual subject to an adverse consequential employment decision in which a system materially participated may appeal to a natural person who did not participate in the original decision and who has authority to reverse it. The employer shall decide the appeal within [20] business days and provide a written decision with reasons.
(c) REMEDY ON REVERSAL.—Where an appeal or correction reverses the decision, the employer shall place the individual in the position the individual would have occupied, including back pay, reinstatement, or restoration to the applicant pool with priority consideration for the position or the next comparable vacancy.
SEC. 605. IMPACT ASSESSMENTS AND INDEPENDENT AUDITS.
(a) PRE-DEPLOYMENT ASSESSMENT.—Before using an automated employment decision system, and before any substantial modification, a Tier 2 employer shall complete, and a Tier 1 employer shall obtain from the vendor or complete, a written impact assessment that—
1. describes the system's purpose, intended use, inputs, outputs, and decision role;
2. states the evidence that the system is valid and job-related for the specific positions and decisions for which it will be used;
3. analyzes disparate impact on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability, and on intersectional groups where data permits, using methods the Secretary and the EEOC prescribe;
4. identifies less discriminatory alternatives considered and the reasons for rejecting them;
5. assesses accessibility for individuals with disabilities;
6. assesses data quality and accuracy; and
7. describes the human review process and reviewer training.
(b) ANNUAL INDEPENDENT AUDIT.—A Tier 2 employer shall obtain an annual audit by an independent auditor meeting qualifications the Secretary establishes, which shall test the system's actual outcomes, validity, disparate impact, and compliance with sections 601 through 604.
(c) AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE.—An auditor may not be the vendor, a related entity of the employer or vendor, or a person that derived more than [10] percent of its revenue from the employer or vendor in the preceding year.
(d) PUBLIC SUMMARY; FILING.—The employer shall publish a summary of each impact assessment and audit on its website and file the full documents with the Office, which shall treat trade secrets as confidential. Summaries shall include selection rates and impact ratios by group.
(e) DISCONTINUANCE.—Where an assessment or audit finds that a system has a disparate impact that is not justified by business necessity, or that a less discriminatory alternative of comparable validity is available, the employer shall cease using the system for the affected decisions until the defect is remedied.
LC NOTE: The audit regime is modeled in part on New York City Local Law 144 and Colorado S.B. 24-205, with stronger independence and discontinuance provisions. Interaction with title VII's disparate-impact framework (42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(k)) is addressed in Part IV; assessments should not be construed as admissions, but the discontinuance duty creates independent liability.
SEC. 606. VENDOR DOCUMENTATION.
An employment-technology vendor shall provide each employer customer the documentation required by section [1406], sufficient for the employer to comply with this title. An employer may not use a system for which it has not obtained such documentation.
SEC. 607. EMOTION RECOGNITION AND BIOMETRIC INFERENCE.
(a) PROHIBITION.—An employer or covered intermediary may not use, or permit a vendor to use, any system or method that analyzes facial expression, facial geometry, gaze, eye movement, vocal characteristics, tone, speech patterns (other than the substantive content of what is said), body movement, physiological signals, or other biometric data to infer, predict, or score an applicant's or worker's—
1. emotional state, affect, or sentiment;
2. honesty, truthfulness, or integrity;
3. personality or character traits;
4. enthusiasm, engagement, loyalty, or attitude;
5. emotional stability or mental health;
6. work ethic, motivation, or employability; or
7. suitability, culture fit, or likelihood of success.
(b) PHYSIOGNOMY.—An employer may not use any inference drawn from an individual's physical appearance, facial structure, or biometric characteristics about the individual's intelligence, criminality, sexual orientation, political views, or any characteristic described in subsection (a).
(c) NARROW EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) does not apply to a use that—
1. measures a physiological state that is directly and objectively related to an immediate safety risk in a safety-sensitive position (such as detection of fatigue or impairment in a commercial vehicle operator), using a method validated for that purpose;
2. is approved in advance by the Secretary, after notice and public comment, upon a showing by the proponent, by clear and convincing evidence from peer-reviewed research, that the method is scientifically valid, reliable across demographic groups and disabilities, and necessary for the specific job-related purpose, and that no less intrusive alternative exists; and
3. is disclosed in advance to the affected worker, with the data used for no other purpose and deleted within [30] days unless required for a safety investigation. (c-1) OVER-DESIGNATION PRESUMPTION.—If an employer designates more than [20] percent of its positions, or more than [50] percent of positions within a job family, as requiring an exception under subsection (c), the designations are presumed not narrowly tailored. The employer bears the burden, by clear and convincing evidence, of showing position-specific necessity and cross-group reliability.
(d) NO PENALTY FOR REFUSAL.—Where a video or audio interview is used, the employer shall offer, upon request, an alternative interview format that is not recorded or analyzed by automated means.
LC NOTE: A bright-line ban is the brief's first-listed option and is adopted here, with an exception gated by agency approval and a clear-and-convincing burden. The Illinois Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (820 ILCS 42) and the EU AI Act's prohibition on workplace emotion recognition (Art. 5(1)(f)) are precedents. A vendor First Amendment challenge (analysis as speech) is unlikely to succeed against a regulation of employment conduct.
SEC. 608. PERSONALITY, INTEGRITY, AND PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING.
(a) REQUIREMENTS.—An employer may use a personality, integrity, honesty, psychometric, or psychological assessment in connection with an employment decision only if—
1. the assessment has been validated, in accordance with professionally accepted standards (including the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, 29 C.F.R. part 1607), as predictive of performance in the specific position or a substantially similar position;
2. the employer discloses in advance the categories of traits or characteristics assessed and how results will be used;
3. the assessment does not seek information that constitutes a medical examination or disability-related inquiry under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 before a conditional offer;
4. the assessment does not purport to diagnose or infer mental health conditions, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, or other protected characteristics;
5. reasonable accommodation and an alternative assessment method are available; and
6. the individual may obtain the individual's results and the interpretation used.
(b) SOLE-FACTOR LIMIT.—A result of an assessment described in subsection (a) may not be the sole or controlling basis for a consequential employment decision.
(c) POLYGRAPH ACT.—Nothing in this section authorizes any practice prohibited by the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988.
SEC. 609. RECORDS OF AUTOMATED DECISIONS.
(a) An employer shall retain, for the period required by section [1603], each output of an automated employment decision system used in a consequential employment decision, the input data, the system version, the configuration and thresholds used, and the human reviewer's documentation.
(b) Deletion, overwriting, or failure to log such records, where the employer knew or should have known of the retention duty, creates a rebuttable presumption in any proceeding that the records would have been unfavorable to the employer, in addition to any penalty under Title XVI.
Title VII — Interviewing, Assessments, and Applicant Work
SEC. 701. APPLICANT TIME.
(a) ADVANCE DISCLOSURE.—Before the first substantive interview, an employer shall disclose to the applicant the expected number of interview stages, the expected total time required of the applicant (including assignments and travel), and any required
presentations or assessments.
(b) COMPENSABLE APPLICANT TIME.—An employer shall compensate an applicant for all time the employer requires the applicant to spend in substantive interviews, assessments, assignments, presentations, and required travel, to the extent that the cumulative time for a single position exceeds [8] hours, at an hourly rate not less than the greater of—
1. the hourly equivalent of the minimum of the good-faith compensation range for the position; or
2. [150] percent of the Federal minimum wage.
(c) INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT LIMIT.—Any single take-home assignment, work sample, or assessment that the employer expects or requires to take more than [3] hours is compensable in full at the rate in subsection (b), regardless of cumulative time.
(d) PRESENTATIONS.—A requirement to prepare and deliver more than [2] presentations, or to present to more than [3] separate panels, for a single position is compensable in full.
(e) MEASUREMENT.—Time is measured by the greater of the employer's reasonable estimate disclosed in advance or the applicant's reasonable actual time, not to exceed [150] percent of the estimate unless the employer failed to disclose one. (e-1) ACTIVITIES CONSIDERED IN SELECTION.—An activity is treated as required time for purposes of this section if the employer requests, invites, recommends, accepts, scores, reviews, or otherwise considers the activity in making an employment decision, regardless of whether the employer labels participation voluntary. Purely optional social events that are not observed, scored, reported, or considered in selection are excluded.
(f) PRESERVED PRACTICES.—Nothing in this section requires compensation for—
1. time within the threshold in subsection (b);
2. an applicant's voluntary preparation, research, or travel not required by the employer; or
3. bona fide skills assessments under [3] hours that are not productive applicant work.
(g) NOT EMPLOYMENT.—Payment under this title does not by itself create an employment relationship for any other purpose, and is not wages for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
LC NOTE: A cumulative-time threshold implements the brief's direction to address excessive interviewing without prohibiting multiple rounds. The 8-hour figure is a placeholder; Part VII calls for data on median hiring-process duration by occupation.
SEC. 702. PRODUCTIVE APPLICANT WORK.
(a) PROHIBITION ON UNCOMPENSATED COMMERCIAL USE.—An employer may not use, adopt, implement, disclose, sell, license, or derive commercial or operational benefit from productive applicant work, or from any idea, analysis, or content substantially derived from it, unless the employer—
1. compensated the applicant at not less than the rate in section 701(b) for all time reasonably spent; and
2. entered into a separate written agreement, executed after the work was completed, under which the applicant agreed to transfer or license the work for additional consideration of not less than the fair market value of the work.
(b) OWNERSHIP.—Notwithstanding any agreement, the applicant retains all rights, including copyright and any other intellectual property rights, in productive applicant work and in any work performed in the course of an assessment, unless and until transferred under subsection (a)(2). An employer receives only a nonexclusive, nontransferable license to evaluate the work for the purpose of the application, which terminates on final disposition.
(c) ADVANCE DISCLOSURE.—Before assigning any task, the employer shall disclose in writing whether the task uses real, current, or planned business problems or data, whether the employer seeks any right to retain or use the output, and the applicant's rights under this section.
(d) PRESUMPTION.—A task is presumed to be productive applicant work if it uses the employer's actual data, customers, code base, products, or active projects, or if substantially similar output appears in the employer's operations within [18] months after submission.
(e) DELETION.—Upon final disposition, the employer shall delete or return all productive applicant work not transferred under subsection (a)(2), and shall certify deletion upon request.
(f) REMEDY.—In addition to other remedies, an applicant whose work is used in violation of this section is entitled to the greater of—
1. the fair market value of the work;
2. the employer's profits attributable to the work; or
3. $[10,000].
LC NOTE (copyright): Subsection (b) establishes applicant ownership by Federal statute, which overrides contrary assignment terms and interacts with 17 U.S.C. 201 and 204. Because both statutes are Federal, subsection (b) controls as the later and more specific enactment. Idea protection in subsection (a) goes beyond copyright (which does not protect ideas) and may raise questions of vagueness; the presumption in (d) supplies an objective trigger.
SEC. 703. PRE-EMPLOYMENT TRAINING.
(a) FUNCTIONAL TEST.—Any training, orientation, onboarding, instruction, certification, or preparatory activity that an employer requires an individual to complete before the start date, or before the first compensated shift, is compensable work for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act and this Act if—
1. it is specific to the employer's policies, systems, products, procedures, customers, or equipment;
2. it consists of compliance, policy, safety, or onboarding content the employer provides to its employees; or
3. it confers a benefit primarily on the employer rather than evaluating whether the individual will be hired.
(b) ASSESSMENT DISTINGUISHED.—Activity is not compensable under subsection (a) if it occurs before an offer, is limited to assessing the individual's existing qualifications, does not exceed the thresholds in section 701, and is not required after an offer is made.
(c) POST-OFFER PRESUMPTION.—Any required activity after an offer is accepted and before the start date is presumed to be compensable work.
(d) RATE.—Compensable pre-employment training shall be paid at the rate stated in the offer, or, if no offer, at the rate in section 701(b).
(e) CONDITIONING PROHIBITED.—An employer may not require an individual to pay for training described in subsection (a), or condition employment on completion of such training at the individual's expense, except as permitted by Title XIII.
(f) PORTAL-TO-PORTAL ACT.—Section 1709(b) amends section 4 of the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 (29 U.S.C. 254) so that activity expressly made compensable by this section is not excluded as preliminary or postliminary activity.
SEC. 704. APPLICATION EXPENSES.
(a) REIMBURSEMENT.—An employer shall reimburse an applicant, within [30] days after submission of documentation, for reasonable expenses the employer affirmatively requires the applicant to incur, including—
1. travel, lodging, and ground transportation for in-person interviews or assessments requiring travel of more than [50] miles one way;
2. fees for required testing, background checks, drug tests, medical examinations, or credential verification;
3. equipment, software, or subscriptions required solely to complete the application or an assessment; and
4. certifications, licenses, or training required by the employer uniquely for the application and not generally required for the occupation.
(b) ADVANCE PAYMENT.—Where expenses under subsection (a)(1) exceed $[250], the employer shall, upon request, pay them in advance or arrange direct billing.
(c) EXCLUSIONS.—Reimbursement is not required for ordinary incidental job-search expenses, including local commuting, clothing, internet access, general-purpose equipment the applicant already owns, or credentials generally required for the occupation.
(d) NO PASS-THROUGH.—An employer may not require an applicant to pay any fee to apply, be interviewed, or be considered.
Title VIII — Employment Surveillance and Algorithmic
Management
SEC. 801. ADVANCE NOTICE OF SURVEILLANCE.
(a) An employer may engage in employment surveillance only after providing each affected worker, not less than [15] days before the surveillance begins (or at hire), a written notice specifying—
1. each form of surveillance, and the technology and vendor used;
2. the specific purpose of each form, and why it is necessary to that purpose;
3. the data collected, when, where, and how frequently;
4. whether the data will be used in any consequential employment decision, and how;
5. any productivity, quota, or performance metric derived from the data, and how it is calculated;
6. who has access to the data, and the retention period; and
7. the worker's rights under this Act.
(b) A new form or new use of surveillance requires a new notice.
SEC. 802. PURPOSE LIMITATION AND PROPORTIONALITY.
(a) PERMITTED PURPOSES.—Employment surveillance is permitted only when it is strictly necessary to—
1. enable the performance of essential job functions;
2. protect the safety of workers, customers, or the public;
3. protect the security of data, systems, and property;
4. comply with law; or
5. measure the quantity or quality of work, using the least invasive means that achieves the purpose.
(b) LEAST INVASIVE MEANS.—An employer shall use the least invasive form of surveillance, collecting the least data, from the fewest workers, for the shortest time, that accomplishes the permitted purpose.
(c) CONTINUOUS INVASIVE MONITORING.—Continuous keystroke logging, periodic screenshots, continuous webcam or microphone activation, and continuous location tracking are presumed not proportionate, unless the employer demonstrates that the specific monitoring is necessary for a purpose in subsection (a)(2), (3), or (4) and that no less invasive means is effective. (c-1) SECURITY-PURPOSE LIMIT.—An employer relying on security, fraud prevention, or cybersecurity as a purpose for surveillance shall maintain a contemporaneous written risk assessment identifying the specific threat, the data reasonably necessary to address it, less intrusive alternatives considered, and the retention period. Data collected under this justification may not be used for productivity measurement, attendance scoring, ordinary performance management, discipline, or compensation, except to establish or investigate the specific security violation for which the data was collected.
(d) PROHIBITED PURPOSES.—Employment surveillance may not be used to—
1. identify, monitor, or interfere with activity protected under section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act or under this Act;
2. infer health, disability, pregnancy, religion, immigration status, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics;
3. monitor the exercise of any legal right, including the right to take leave, file a complaint, or communicate with a government agency; or
4. infer emotional state or any characteristic described in section 607(a).
SEC. 803. OFF-DUTY AND PERSONAL-DEVICE LIMITS.
(a) An employer may not engage in employment surveillance of a worker outside the worker's working time, including through a device, vehicle, or application the worker uses for personal purposes, except—
1. location tracking of an employer-owned vehicle or device the worker is permitted to take home, limited to determining its location for recovery if lost or stolen or for a specific security incident; or
2. security monitoring of access to employer systems.
(b) An employer may not require a worker to install surveillance software on a personally owned device, or to carry a device capable of location tracking outside working time, unless the software can be disabled by the worker outside working time and collects no data from personal applications.
SEC. 804. SENSITIVE LOCATIONS.
An employer may not engage in audio, video, or biometric surveillance in any sensitive location, or of a worker's private residence, except for video monitoring of a workspace in a residence during working time where the worker has consented under section 501(d) and the monitoring is necessary for a permitted purpose.
SEC. 805. COVERT SURVEILLANCE.
(a) PROHIBITION.—An employer may not engage in employment surveillance without the notice required by section 801.
(b) NARROW EXCEPTION.—Covert surveillance is permitted only where—
1. the employer has reasonable, individualized suspicion, based on specific and articulable facts, that an identified worker or group of workers is engaged in criminal activity, serious misconduct threatening safety, or theft or misappropriation of trade secrets;
2. overt surveillance would defeat the investigation;
3. the surveillance is limited to the suspected conduct, to the workers reasonably suspected, and to a period not exceeding [30] days, renewable once upon renewed documentation;
4. a senior officer or counsel approves in writing before the surveillance begins, documenting paragraphs (1) through (3); and
5. the affected worker is notified within [30] days after the surveillance ends, unless law enforcement requests delay.
(c) No covert surveillance may occur in a sensitive location under any circumstance.
SEC. 806. HUMAN CORROBORATION.
(a) An employer may not make a consequential employment decision based wholly or substantially on data derived from employment surveillance or on a productivity metric produced by algorithmic management unless—
1. a natural person conducting meaningful human review has independently corroborated the data through means other than the same surveillance system, such as direct observation, review of work product, or interview;
2. the worker has been provided the data relied on and an opportunity to respond; and
3. the reviewer has considered context not captured by the system, including equipment failures, assignment variations, accommodations, leave, and protected activity.
(b) Discipline or termination for failure to meet an automated quota is prohibited where the quota was not disclosed in advance under section 807.
SEC. 807. PRODUCTIVITY QUOTAS AND ALGORITHMIC MANAGEMENT.
(a) DISCLOSURE.—An employer that uses a quota, pace requirement, or productivity metric shall disclose it in writing before it applies, including how it is calculated and the consequences of not meeting it.
(b) PROHIBITED QUOTAS.—A quota or metric may not—
1. prevent compliance with meal and rest breaks, restroom use, lactation breaks, or travel time within the workplace;
2. prevent compliance with health and safety requirements; or
3. count time for protected activity or approved accommodation against the worker.
(c) ACCESS.—A worker may obtain the worker's own quota and performance data for the preceding [90] days upon request, and the aggregate data for the worker's job category.
LC NOTE: Subsections (b)(1)–(2) are modeled on California A.B. 701 (Labor Code § 2100 et seq.) and similar State warehouse-quota laws, generalized to all covered workers.
SEC. 808. SURVEILLANCE DATA MINIMIZATION AND RETENTION.
(a) Surveillance data shall be used only for the purpose disclosed under section 801 and may not be combined with other data sets to create new inferences without a new notice.
(b) Surveillance data shall be deleted not later than [90] days after collection, unless it has been used in a consequential employment decision (in which case it shall be retained with the personnel record under section [1603]), is subject to a litigation hold, or is necessary for an investigation under section 805.
(c) Surveillance data may not be sold, used to train artificial intelligence except as permitted by section 506, or disclosed to a third party except a processor under section 505.
SEC. 809. BIOMETRIC DATA.
(a) An employer may collect biometric data only—
1. for identity verification for access to secure locations or systems, or for timekeeping, where the worker is offered a non-biometric alternative without penalty; or
2. as permitted by section 607(c).
(b) Biometric data shall be encrypted, used only for the purpose collected, not sold or disclosed, and deleted within [30] days after the purpose ends or the worker separates.
(c) This section establishes a floor and does not preempt the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act or any stronger State law.
SEC. 810. RIGHT TO REFUSE UNLAWFUL SURVEILLANCE.
A worker may refuse to submit to employment surveillance that violates this title, and may disable surveillance software on a personal device outside working time, without adverse action.
Title IX — Scheduling, Right to Disconnect, and Off-Duty Conduct
SEC. 901. GOOD-FAITH SCHEDULE ESTIMATE.
At hire, and upon request once per year, an employer shall provide each nonexempt employee a written good-faith estimate of the employee's expected work schedule, including average weekly hours, days and times of shifts, whether on-call shifts will be required, and the typical number of hours on call.
SEC. 902. ADVANCE NOTICE OF SCHEDULES.
(a) An employer shall provide each nonexempt employee a written work schedule not less than [14] days before the first day of the schedule.
(b) An employee may decline any hours not included in the schedule as originally posted, without adverse action.
SEC. 903. PREDICTABILITY PAY.
(a) For each change the employer makes to a posted schedule with less than [14] days' notice, the employer shall pay the employee, in addition to wages for hours worked—
1. [1] hour of pay at the regular rate for each shift added or for each increase in hours, or change in date or time, without loss of hours; and
2. not less than [one-half] of the employee's regular rate for each hour of scheduled work reduced or canceled.
(b) Predictability pay is not required for a change that—
1. the employee requests, or voluntarily accepts through a mutually agreed shift trade or coverage;
2. results from threats to property or safety, failure of public utilities, acts of nature, or declared emergencies;
3. results from the employee's discipline for cause, documented in writing; or
4. arises from a voluntary offer of additional hours sent to a group of employees and accepted by an employee.
SEC. 904. REST BETWEEN SHIFTS ("CLOPENING").
An employer may not schedule, or require, an employee to work a shift that begins less than [11] hours after the end of the employee's previous shift, unless the employee consents in writing to the specific shift, in which case the employer shall pay [1.5] times the regular rate for the hours worked within the [11]-hour period.
SEC. 905. ON-CALL AND AVAILABILITY.
(a) ON-CALL PAY.—An employer shall pay an employee who is scheduled to be on call but is not called in, or who is required to call in to determine whether to report, not less than [4] hours, or one-half of the scheduled on-call hours if greater, at the regular rate.
(b) RESTRICTIVE ON-CALL AS WORKING TIME.—On-call time during which the employee is required to remain on the employer's premises, respond within [30] minutes, or refrain from consuming alcohol or leaving a specified area, is working time.
(c) AVAILABILITY WITHOUT HOURS.—An employer may not require, as a condition of employment or scheduling, that an employee maintain availability for work exceeding [125] percent of the hours the employer reasonably expects to schedule the employee, or take adverse action against an employee for limiting availability to such amount.
(d) OFFER OF HOURS.—Before hiring new employees or contracting for staffed workers, a Tier 2 employer shall offer additional available hours to existing part-time employees who are qualified to perform the work, in a transparent and nondiscriminatory manner.
SEC. 906. RIGHT TO REQUEST SCHEDULE CHANGES.
(a) An employee may request a change to the employee's schedule, hours, location, or on- call obligations. The employer shall respond in writing within [14] days and, where the request is denied, state the bona fide business reason.
(b) An employer shall grant a request related to the employee's caregiving responsibilities, enrollment in education or career training, serious health condition, or a second job, unless the employer demonstrates a bona fide business reason for denial.
(c) An employer may not take adverse action against an employee for making a request under this section.
SEC. 907. RIGHT TO DISCONNECT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—An employee has the right to not monitor, read, or respond to communications from the employer, a supervisor, a coworker, or a client during the employee's nonworking time, including scheduled days off, vacation, leave, and hours outside the employee's scheduled or customary working hours.
(b) POLICY.—A Tier 1 employer shall adopt and disclose a written policy stating the employee's nonworking hours and the procedures for emergency communications.
(c) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) does not apply to communications—
1. concerning an emergency threatening the safety of persons, a serious risk to property, or a disruption of critical operations that the employer could not reasonably have anticipated;
2. to an employee during compensated on-call time;
3. concerning schedule changes for the next [24] hours;
4. to an employee whose job duties, as disclosed in writing at hire, require after-hours response and whose compensation reflects that requirement; or
5. that the employee has agreed in writing to receive in a specific period.
(d) NO ADVERSE ACTION.—An employer may not take adverse action against, or consider in any performance evaluation, an employee's non-response to a communication not described in subsection (c).
(e) COMPENSATION.—Time a nonexempt employee spends responding to employer communications during nonworking time is working time.
SEC. 908. LAWFUL OFF-DUTY CONDUCT.
(a) PROHIBITION.—An employer may not take adverse action against an applicant or worker because of the individual's lawful conduct outside working time and off the employer's premises, including lawful use of lawful products and lawful political, religious, and recreational activities, unless the conduct—
1. creates a material conflict of interest with the employer's business;
2. materially interferes with the individual's job performance, including through impairment during working time; or
3. directly and substantially harms the employer's legitimate business interests in a manner the employer demonstrates with specific evidence.
(b) CANNABIS.—An employer may not take adverse action against an applicant or worker on the basis of—
1. the individual's use of cannabis off the employer's premises during nonworking time in a jurisdiction where such use is lawful under State law; or
2. a drug test that detects nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites, or that does not indicate impairment during working time.
(c) IMPAIRMENT.—Nothing in subsection (b) prohibits an employer from taking action against an individual who is impaired by any substance during working time, or from prohibiting possession or use on the employer's premises or during working time. An employer may rely on a test designed to indicate recent use or impairment, or on documented observable signs of impairment by a trained supervisor.
(d) SAFETY-SENSITIVE POSITIONS.—Subsection (b) does not apply to—
1. a position subject to drug testing under Federal law, including Department of Transportation regulations;
2. a position requiring a Federal security clearance; or
3. a position the employer has designated as safety-sensitive in writing, before any test, where the position involves duties that, if performed while impaired, could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical injury to the employee or others (such as operating heavy equipment, carrying a firearm, or performing surgery), and the designation is limited to such positions and documented with a specific rationale for each position.
(e) ANTI-EVASION.—There is a rebuttable presumption that a designation under subsection (d)(3) is invalid if the employer designates more than [50] percent of its positions, or any position consisting primarily of office, clerical, retail sales, or remote work, as safety-sensitive.
(f) FEDERAL LAW.—Nothing in this section requires an employer to violate Federal law, including the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988, or to permit cannabis use in violation of Federal law on Federal property.
LC NOTE (cannabis): Protecting off-duty State-lawful cannabis use while cannabis remains a Schedule I substance (or, if rescheduled, a controlled substance) under the Controlled Substances Act creates tension. This section does not authorize use; it limits employment consequences for off-duty use lawful under State law. Subsection (f) and the Federal-requirement carve-out in section 107(c) reduce conflict. Status of Federal scheduling should be verified before introduction.
Title X — Discipline, Personnel Records, and Termination
SEC. 1001. RIGHT TO INSPECT AND COPY PERSONNEL RECORDS.
(a) An employee or former employee, or the individual's designated representative, may inspect and obtain a copy of the individual's personnel records. The employer shall provide access within [10] business days after a written request, without charge for the first copy in any [12]-month period.
(b) A former employee may exercise this right for [3] years after separation.
(c) An employer may redact the personal information of other individuals, privileged communications, and records of an ongoing investigation of specific misconduct until the investigation concludes or [90] days pass, whichever is earlier.
SEC. 1002. CONTENTS OF PERSONNEL RECORDS; CORRECTION AND
REBUTTAL. (a) CONTENTS.—Personnel records include, at a minimum—
1. applications, offer letters, and employment agreements;
2. performance evaluations and ratings;
3. disciplinary records, warnings, and performance improvement plans;
4. attendance and timekeeping records;
5. complaints against the individual that were materially relied on in any employment decision, with the identities of complainants redacted where necessary to protect them from retaliation;
6. records of promotion, transfer, and compensation decisions;
7. termination and separation records;
8. rehire-eligibility designations and any designation described in section 1003;
9. outputs of automated employment decision systems, and surveillance-derived metrics, materially affecting any consequential employment decision; and
10. any other record used in a consequential employment decision.
(b) NO SECRET FILES.—A record not included in the personnel records made available under section 1001 may not be used against the individual in any employment decision or proceeding, unless the employer demonstrates that the omission was inadvertent and harmless.
(c) CORRECTION.—An individual may request correction of materially inaccurate factual information in a personnel record. Within [15] business days, the employer shall correct the record or state in writing why it declines.
(d) REBUTTAL.—An individual may submit a written rebuttal of up to [5] pages to any record, which the employer shall attach to the record and include whenever the record is disclosed to any person or used in any decision.
SEC. 1003. REHIRE-ELIGIBILITY AND CAREER-AFFECTING DESIGNATIONS.
(a) COVERED DESIGNATIONS.—This section applies to any designation, flag, code, or classification maintained by or on behalf of an employer, including "not eligible for rehire," "do not rehire," misconduct, integrity, security, or equivalent designations, that may affect an individual's future employment with the employer, any related entity, or any other person.
(b) REQUIREMENTS.—An employer maintaining a covered designation shall—
1. base the designation on documented factual findings, retained with the designation;
2. distinguish in the record between factual findings and opinions or characterizations;
3. notify the individual in writing of the designation and its factual basis within [10] business days after it is made, or at separation;
4. permit the individual to inspect the designation and its basis under section 1001;
5. permit correction of inaccurate factual information under section 1002(c);
6. provide an internal appeal to a person not involved in the original designation, decided within [30] days; and
7. retain the designation and its supporting record for the period required by section [1603], after which the designation shall be expunged unless renewed on a documented finding of continuing basis.
(c) DURATION.—A covered designation expires after [5] years unless it is based on a finding of workplace violence, sexual harassment, theft, fraud, or a comparable serious violation, documented after an investigation meeting section 1005(c).
(d) DISCLOSURE.—An employer may disclose a covered designation to a person outside the employer and its related entities only with the individual's written consent, as required by law, or in response to a lawful reference request limited to the factual findings.
SEC. 1004. BLACKLISTING.
(a) It is unlawful for an employer, covered intermediary, or any person to—
1. agree with another employer or person, expressly or tacitly, not to hire, solicit, or engage an individual or class of individuals, except as permitted by section 1102;
2. maintain, share, or use a shared list, database, or designation that identifies individuals as ineligible for employment across unrelated employers, other than as required by law; or
3. communicate false or misleading information about an individual to prevent or attempt to prevent the individual from obtaining employment.
(b) Sharing of a covered designation among related entities is subject to section 1003, and a related entity may not rely on another's designation without independently reviewing its factual basis.
(c) Industry-wide databases maintained under Federal law (such as FINRA registration records or the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse) are not subject to subsection (a) (2).
SEC. 1005. JUST CAUSE AFTER PROBATIONARY PERIOD.
(a) PROHIBITION.—A Tier 2 employer may not discharge an employee who has completed a probationary period, except for just cause or a bona fide economic reason.
(b) PROBATIONARY PERIOD.—An employer may establish a probationary period of not more than [180] days after the start date, disclosed in writing at hire. An employer may not use successive probationary periods, rehire, or reassignment to extend it.
(c) JUST CAUSE.—Just cause exists only if—
1. the employee engaged in misconduct, or failed to perform the duties of the position satisfactorily after notice under paragraph (3), for reasons within the employee's control;
2. the employee knew or reasonably should have known the standard of conduct or performance, and the standard is reasonable and related to the employer's legitimate business;
3. for performance deficiencies, the employer provided written notice of the deficiency, the expected standard, and a reasonable opportunity to improve;
4. the employer conducted a fair and objective investigation, including giving the employee notice of the reasons and an opportunity to respond before the decision, except where the employee's continued presence poses an immediate threat, in which case the employer may suspend with pay pending the investigation;
5. the employer applied its standards consistently to similarly situated employees; and
6. discharge is proportionate to the conduct, considering the employee's record and progressive discipline where appropriate.
(d) SERIOUS MISCONDUCT.—Paragraphs (3) and (6) of subsection (c) do not apply to serious misconduct, including workplace violence, theft, fraud, sexual harassment, intentional safety violations, or conduct constituting a crime related to the job.
(e) BONA FIDE ECONOMIC REASON.—A bona fide economic reason is the elimination of a position, a reduction in force, a business closure, a reorganization, or technological displacement, that results from a documented change in the employer's operations, finances, or technology, and not from the individual employee's conduct or performance. In a reduction in force, the employer shall use objective, documented selection criteria applied consistently, and shall comply with Title XV where applicable.
(f) PRESUMPTION.—A discharge described as economic is presumed to be a discharge without just cause if the employer, within [12] months, fills the position or a substantially similar position with another individual (other than through recall of the discharged employee).
(g) REMEDIES.—An employee discharged in violation of this section is entitled to reinstatement or, where reinstatement is impracticable, front pay of not less than [6] months' compensation; back pay; and the remedies in Title XVI.
(h) OTHER GROUNDS UNAFFECTED.—This section does not limit any other claim under Federal, State, or local law.
LC NOTE (federalism and constitutional): Employment termination has historically been governed by State law (employment at will), and only Montana (Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act, Mont. Code Ann. § 39-2-901 et seq.) has adopted statewide just-cause protection; New York City has a sector-specific law for fast- food workers. Congress has Commerce Clause authority to regulate termination by employers engaged in commerce (cf. the NLRA and title VII), and there is no Tenth Amendment barrier to regulating private employers. The principal risks are (1) the application to State employers, which raises sovereign-immunity and anti- commandeering concerns addressed in section 110; (2) due-process concerns for public employees, which already have property interests where tenured (Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill); and (3) political rather than legal durability. ALT: limit the just-cause standard to employers with [500] or more employees and phase in over [3] years, or enact it as a condition of Federal contracts under Title XVII.
RECORDS. (a) PROHIBITION.—An employer may not create, impose, or rely on a performance improvement plan, warning, evaluation, or other performance record that the employer knows, or recklessly disregards, is—
1. materially false;
2. based on requirements that are impossible or not reasonably attainable in the time provided; or
3. created primarily to manufacture cause for termination, to disguise a layoff, to defeat severance, bonus, equity, or contractual rights, or to retaliate for protected activity.
(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR PLANS.—A performance improvement plan shall—
1. identify the specific deficiencies and the facts supporting them;
2. state measurable standards that are consistent with those applied to similarly situated employees;
3. provide a period to improve of not less than [30] days (or [60] days for employees with more than [2] years of service), with the resources reasonably necessary to meet the standards; and
4. provide for at least one documented meeting during the period.
(c) EVIDENTIARY PRESUMPTION.—A performance improvement plan or warning is presumed to be pretextual under subsection (a)(3) if—
1. it was issued within [90] days after the employee engaged in protected activity, requested leave or accommodation, or became eligible for vesting, a bonus, or severance;
2. it was issued to an employee who received a rating of meets expectations or higher in the preceding [12] months, without documented intervening events; or
3. more than [80] percent of employees placed on plans by the same manager or unit in the preceding [12] months were terminated, or the plan was issued during or within [60] days before a reduction in force. (c-1) HEADCOUNT-REDUCTION PRESUMPTION.—A performance improvement plan issued within [90] days after a manager, business unit, or related entity receives or documents a headcount-reduction, ranking-distribution, forced-attrition, or position-elimination target affecting the worker's unit is presumed pretextual if the plan is materially inconsistent with the worker's prior documented performance. The employer may rebut the presumption by clear and convincing evidence of independently documented performance grounds.
(d) NO ADJUDICATION OF ORDINARY MANAGEMENT JUDGMENT.—This section does not authorize a court to substitute its judgment for the employer's good-faith assessment of performance. The inquiry is whether the record was false, impossible, or pretextual, not whether it was correct.
SEC. 1007. WRITTEN STATEMENT OF TERMINATION REASON.
(a) A Tier 1 employer that involuntarily terminates an employee who has worked for the employer for [90] days or more shall, at or within [5] business days after separation, provide the employee a written statement identifying—
1. whether the separation is for cause, or is a layoff, elimination of position, reorganization, technological displacement, business closure, or other economic reason;
2. the principal reason or reasons for the separation, with the facts relied on; and
3. the employee's rights to access personnel records, the rehire-eligibility status, and any severance, continuation of benefits, or unemployment insurance information.
(b) An employer may not rely, in any subsequent proceeding, on a reason not stated in the written statement, unless the employer shows the reason was discovered after the statement was issued.
(c) The statement is admissible in any proceeding, including an unemployment insurance proceeding.
Title XI — Worker Mobility, Restrictive Agreements, and Silencing
Agreements
SEC. 1101. NONCOMPETE AGREEMENTS.
(a) PROHIBITION.—No person may enter into, attempt to enter into, enforce, attempt to enforce, or represent that a worker is subject to, a noncompete agreement with a worker.
(b) DEFINITION.—The term "noncompete agreement" means any agreement, policy, or term, however labeled, that prohibits, restricts, penalizes, or functions to prevent a worker, after the work relationship ends, from—
1. seeking or accepting work with another person;
2. operating a business; or
3. working in a particular field, geographic area, or for a particular class of employers.
(c) EXISTING AGREEMENTS.—Each noncompete agreement in effect on the date of enactment is void as of the effective date of this section. Within [120] days after that date, each employer shall notify each current and former worker (for whom it has contact information) subject to such an agreement that the agreement is void.
(d) SALE-OF-BUSINESS EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) does not apply to a noncompete agreement entered into by a person who—
1. sells a bona fide ownership interest of not less than [25] percent in a business entity, or substantially all of the operating assets of a business;
2. receives consideration for the sale that is separately stated and reflects fair value of the interest; and
3. agrees to a restriction limited to the geographic area in which the business operated and a duration not exceeding [3] years.
The exception does not apply to equity acquired through compensation, equity grants, stock options, or rollover arrangements in connection with employment.
LC NOTE: The FTC's 2024 Non-Compete Clause Rule (16 C.F.R. part 910) was set aside nationwide in Ryan LLC v. FTC (N.D. Tex. 2024) on the ground that the FTC lacked authority; the status of any appeal should be verified. A statute eliminates that authority question. Retroactive voiding of existing contracts is subject to a Takings Clause argument, which is weak where the restriction is regulated for public purposes (see Connolly v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., 475 U.S. 211 (1986)); the Contracts Clause applies only to States.
SEC. 1102. NO-POACH, NO-HIRE, AND THIRD-PARTY RESTRAINTS.
(a) PROHIBITION.—No person may enter into, maintain, or enforce any agreement or understanding with another person that restricts, penalizes, or discourages either party, or a third party, from soliciting, recruiting, hiring, or engaging a worker of the other, including agreements between—
1. employers;
2. franchisors and franchisees, or among franchisees;
3. staffing agencies or labor contractors and their clients;
4. contractors, subcontractors, and customers; and
5. vendors and their customers.
(b) CONVERSION AND PLACEMENT FEES.—A fee or payment charged by a staffing agency to a client upon the client's direct hire of a staffed worker is not prohibited by subsection (a) if it does not exceed the limits in section [1405], and the staffed worker is not bound, penalized, or informed that the worker may not accept direct employment.
(c) ANTITRUST.—A violation of subsection (a) is also an unreasonable restraint of trade under section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1) where the parties are competitors for labor, and nothing in this section limits any antitrust remedy.
(d) NO WORKER NEGOTIATION.—Subsection (a) does not apply to a restraint that the affected worker individually negotiated for separate consideration with the assistance of counsel and that does not exceed [12] months, except that it applies in any case to staffing-agency and labor-contractor arrangements.
SEC. 1103. NONSOLICITATION AND FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENTS.
(a) CUSTOMER NONSOLICITATION.—An agreement restricting a worker from soliciting customers of the employer after separation is void, except that an employer may prohibit a former worker, for up to [12] months after separation, from soliciting specific customers with whom the worker had material personal contact during the preceding [12] months of employment, where—
1. the worker's annualized compensation exceeded $[150,000];
2. the restriction does not prevent the worker from accepting business from a customer who initiates contact, or from working for any employer; and
3. the restriction is disclosed in writing before acceptance of the offer.
(b) EMPLOYEE NONSOLICITATION.—An agreement restricting a worker from soliciting or hiring other workers of the employer after separation is void.
(c) FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENTS.—The following are void to the extent they function to prevent a worker from seeking or accepting work or operating a business after separation —
1. forfeiture of earned compensation, equity, benefits, or deferred compensation conditioned on not competing;
2. overbroad nondisclosure agreements that cover information generally known in the industry or the worker's general skill and knowledge;
3. repayment obligations prohibited by Title XIII;
4. liquidated damages, fees, or penalties payable on departure; and
5. any other term the Secretary determines by rule has the same effect. (c-1) MATERIAL CONTACT.—For any customer nonsolicitation exception permitted by this section, "material contact" means direct, personal responsibility for servicing or managing the customer during the [12] months preceding separation. It does not include knowledge of a customer, access to a customer list, incidental communication, or service performed solely as part of a broad team. Any permitted restriction may cover no more than [25] specifically identified customers and may not prohibit accepting unsolicited business.
(d) PAID NOTICE PERIODS.—A requirement that a worker provide notice of resignation of not more than [30] days (or [90] days for workers with annualized compensation exceeding $[250,000]), during which the worker receives full compensation and benefits and may be relieved of duties ("garden leave"), is not a noncompete agreement.
(e) TRADE SECRETS.—This title does not limit an employer's rights under the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 or State trade-secret law. An employer may enforce a nondisclosure agreement that is limited to trade secrets and confidential information that
is not generally known.
LC NOTE: The brief directs substantial restriction "or prohibition" and prevention of evasion via labels. Subsection (a) takes the restrictive path with a narrow high- earner exception; ALT: void all customer nonsolicits and rely solely on trade-secret law (the California approach under Bus. & Prof. Code § 16600).
SEC. 1104. NOTICE; CHOICE OF LAW.
(a) Every employer shall post, and provide to each worker at hire, a notice of the worker's rights under this title.
(b) No choice-of-law or forum-selection provision may be used to enforce a restraint prohibited by this title against a worker who primarily resides or works in the United States.
SEC. 1105. ENFORCEMENT AGAINST THIRD PARTIES.
An employer may not sue, threaten to sue, or communicate with a subsequent employer for the purpose of enforcing a restraint prohibited by this title. A communication to a subsequent employer asserting a prohibited restraint is retaliation and a separate violation.
SEC. 1106. SILENCING AGREEMENTS.
(a) PROHIBITION.—Any agreement, policy, or term, including a nondisclosure, nondisparagement, confidentiality, or settlement provision, is void and unenforceable to the extent it prohibits or restricts a worker from disclosing or discussing—
1. conduct that the worker reasonably believes is unlawful, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour violations, and safety or health violations;
2. conduct that the worker reasonably believes violates this Act or any regulatory requirement;
3. information about wages, hours, and working conditions;
4. the existence or facts of a claim, charge, or complaint relating to such conduct; or
5. information in communications with a government agency, law enforcement, an attorney, a licensed health care provider, a union, or a legislative body.
(b) SETTLEMENT EXCEPTION.—A settlement agreement may keep confidential the amount of a monetary settlement, and may keep confidential the identity of the claimant at the claimant's request, but may not restrict disclosure of the underlying facts of the claim except at the claimant's written request.
(c) NONDISPARAGEMENT.—A nondisparagement term that prohibits truthful statements about the employer is void as to the matters in subsection (a). A nondisparagement term is enforceable only if mutual, limited to false statements of fact, and not a condition of employment, severance, or benefits.
(d) TRADE SECRETS.—This section does not authorize disclosure of trade secrets, except as provided in 18 U.S.C. 1833(b), or of information subject to a privilege held by the employer.
(e) NOTICE.—Every agreement containing a confidentiality, nondisclosure, or nondisparagement term shall state conspicuously that nothing in it prohibits the disclosures described in subsection (a).
LC NOTE: This section generalizes the Speak Out Act (42 U.S.C. 19401 et seq.) beyond sexual harassment and assault, and is consistent with the NLRB's McLaren Macomb decision (372 NLRB No. 58 (2023)) on severance nondisparagement clauses. Its status should be verified.
Title XII — Arbitration, Waivers, and Access to Justice
SEC. 1201. PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION OF EMPLOYMENT DISPUTES.
(a) UNENFORCEABILITY.—Notwithstanding title 9, United States Code, no predispute arbitration agreement or predispute joint-action waiver shall be valid or enforceable with respect to an employment dispute.
(b) CONDITIONING PROHIBITED.—No person may require, request, or induce an applicant or worker to enter into a predispute arbitration agreement or predispute joint- action waiver as a condition of, or in connection with—
1. application or consideration for work;
2. employment or engagement;
3. continued employment or engagement;
4. promotion or transfer;
5. compensation, including bonuses and equity;
6. severance; or
7. receipt of earned benefits or participation in any benefit plan.
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this title—
1. EMPLOYMENT DISPUTE.—The term "employment dispute" means any dispute between a worker and an employer, covered intermediary, related entity, or principal arising out of or relating to recruitment, application, employment, engagement, compensation, benefits, working conditions, or separation, including claims under this Act and under any other Federal, State, or local law.
2. PREDISPUTE JOINT-ACTION WAIVER.—The term "predispute joint-action waiver" means an agreement, whether or not part of a predispute arbitration agreement, that would prohibit, or waive the right of, a party to participate in a joint, class, collective, or representative action in any forum, concerning a dispute that has not yet arisen.
(e) SUPERSESSION OF TITLE 9.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including title 9, United States Code, no predispute arbitration agreement or predispute joint-action waiver is valid or enforceable with respect to a covered employment dispute or a dispute described in section 1202. This subsection and section 1207 are an express later-enacted exception to sections 1 through 4 and chapters 2 and 3 of title 9 to the extent of any conflict.
(f) FINDINGS ON EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT.—Congress finds that compulsory predispute arbitration and predispute joint-action waivers can materially alter the cost, publicity, aggregation, discovery, and effective enforcement of employment rights. The prohibition in this title rests on Congress's decision to provide a public judicial forum and joint-action mechanisms for the covered class of disputes; enforceability does not turn on case-by-case proof that a particular arbitral forum would prevent vindication.
SEC. 1202. ECONOMICALLY DEPENDENT VENDORS AND CONTRACTORS.
(a) EXTENSION.—Section 1201 applies to disputes between an economically dependent vendor, including its owners, and its principal, arising out of or relating to the business relationship, to the same extent as to employment disputes.
(b) CONDITIONING PROHIBITED.—A principal may not require a predispute arbitration agreement or predispute joint-action waiver as a condition of doing business with, or continuing to do business with, an economically dependent vendor, an individual contractor, a sole proprietor, a single-member entity, a freelancer, or a consultant that is an economically dependent vendor.
(c) DETERMINATION BY COURT.—Whether an individual or entity is an economically dependent vendor shall be determined by a court, applying section 101(11), without regard to any delegation clause.
(d) ARM'S-LENGTH COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION PRESERVED.—Nothing in this section affects an arbitration agreement between businesses neither of which is an economically dependent vendor of the other.
SEC. 1203. POST-DISPUTE ARBITRATION.
An agreement to arbitrate an employment dispute, or a dispute under section 1202, entered into after the dispute has arisen is enforceable only if—
1. it is in writing, in plain language, and describes the specific dispute;
2. the worker received a written explanation of the right to proceed in court or before an agency, and the right to join a class or collective action;
3. the worker had not less than [21] days to consider it and [7] days after signing to revoke it;
4. it was not a condition of employment, engagement, severance, or any benefit, and no adverse action followed a refusal;
5. the employer or principal pays all arbitration costs beyond a filing fee equal to the court filing fee; and
6. the arbitration forum permits the remedies available in court, reasonable discovery, and a written decision.
SEC. 1204. DETERMINATION OF APPLICABILITY.
An issue as to whether this title applies to an agreement shall be determined under Federal law by a court, rather than an arbitrator, irrespective of whether the party resisting arbitration challenges the arbitration agreement specifically or in conjunction with other terms of the contract containing it, and irrespective of whether the agreement purports to delegate such determinations to an arbitrator.
SEC. 1205. INDIRECT ROUTES.
This title applies to any predispute arbitration agreement or predispute joint-action waiver, however presented, including one contained in—
1. an employee benefit plan, including a plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, to the extent the agreement would govern an employment dispute;
2. an equity, option, or incentive award agreement;
3. a severance, separation, or release agreement;
4. a handbook, policy, or electronic acknowledgment;
5. the terms of service of a platform, applicant-tracking system, background-screening company, staffing agency, or other covered intermediary, as applied to a worker; or
6. an agreement between an employer and a covered intermediary purporting to bind the worker as a third-party beneficiary.
LC NOTE (ERISA): Applying this title to arbitration terms in ERISA plans intersects with ERISA section 514 preemption and circuit caselaw on plan arbitration clauses. Because both statutes are Federal, this title controls as the later and more specific enactment; section 1709(e) supplies an express ERISA savings rule.
SEC. 1206. NO RETALIATION FOR REFUSAL.
An employer, principal, or covered intermediary may not refuse to hire, engage, or continue to engage, or take any adverse action against, an individual because the individual refused to enter into, or sought to rescind, a predispute arbitration agreement or predispute joint-action waiver.
SEC. 1207. AMENDMENT TO TITLE 9.
(a) EMPLOYMENT DISPUTES.—Chapter 4 of title 9, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
"§ 403. Employment and economically dependent vendor disputes
"(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: "(1) The term 'employment dispute' means a dispute arising out of or relating to an applicant, employee, former employee, staffed worker, or individual independent contractor's recruitment, application, employment, compensation, working conditions, discipline, separation, or exercise of a right under Federal, State, Tribal, or local employment or labor law. "(2) The term 'economically dependent vendor dispute' means a dispute between an economically dependent vendor, as defined in section 101(11) of the FAIR WORK Act, including its owners, and its principal arising out of or relating to that relationship.
"(b) NO VALIDITY OR ENFORCEABILITY.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, no predispute arbitration agreement or predispute joint-action waiver shall be valid or enforceable with respect to an employment dispute or economically dependent vendor dispute.
"(c) DETERMINATION BY COURT.—The applicability of this section, the existence of an employment dispute or economically dependent vendor dispute, and the validity and enforceability of an agreement to which this section applies shall be determined by a court, rather than an arbitrator, irrespective of any delegation clause.
"(d) POST-DISPUTE AGREEMENTS.—Nothing in this section prohibits an agreement to arbitrate a particular dispute made after the dispute has arisen, if the agreement satisfies section 1203 of the FAIR WORK Act."
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sections for chapter 4 of title 9 is amended by adding after the item relating to section 402 the following: "403. Employment and economically dependent vendor disputes."
(c) APPLICATION.—The amendments made by this section apply to any dispute or claim that arises or accrues on or after the date of enactment, without regard to when the arbitration agreement or joint-action waiver was entered into.
LC NOTE: This amendment directly changes title 9 rather than attempting to redefine "transportation worker." It supersedes the statutory rules applied in Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams, 532 U.S. 105 (2001), AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011), and Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, 584 U.S. 497 (2018), for the covered class of disputes. Because those decisions interpreted the FAA, Congress may alter the governing statutory rule. The amendment does not purport to overrule a constitutional holding.
Title XIII — Worker Debt and Training Repayment
SEC. 1301. PROHIBITED TRAINING REPAYMENT AGREEMENTS.
(a) PROHIBITION.—No person may require a worker to enter into, or enforce against a worker, a training repayment agreement with respect to—
1. training that the employer requires as a condition of employment or continued employment;
2. training specific to the employer's policies, systems, products, procedures, customers, or equipment;
3. orientation, onboarding, compliance, safety, or policy training;
4. training required by law for the position; or
5. on-the-job training, supervision, or mentoring.
(b) NO PENALTY FOR SEPARATION.—No training repayment agreement, including one permitted under section 1302, may be enforced when the worker is terminated without cause, laid off, or constructively discharged, or separates because of a violation of this Act by the employer.
SEC. 1302. PERMITTED EDUCATION ASSISTANCE AGREEMENTS.
A training repayment agreement is permitted only if each of the following conditions is met:
1. The education or training leads to a credential, degree, or license that is transferable, recognized by employers other than the employer, and not required for the worker's current position.
2. The worker voluntarily elected the education, and was offered the option of receiving it without the repayment obligation for additional payment, or of not participating without adverse consequence.
3. The repayment amount does not exceed the actual, documented, out-of-pocket cost the employer paid to an unrelated third-party provider, and excludes wages, internal costs, overhead, and the value of employer-provided instruction.
4. The repayment obligation is prorated in equal monthly amounts over a period not exceeding [2] years after completion.
5. No interest, fees, or collection costs are charged.
6. The agreement is provided in writing, with the total maximum repayment amount and proration schedule, not less than [10] business days before the worker commits to the education.
7. The agreement contains no confession of judgment, acceleration clause, or waiver of defenses.
SEC. 1303. OTHER EMPLOYER-DRIVEN DEBT.
(a) EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS.—An employer may not require a worker to purchase, lease, or pay for equipment, tools, uniforms, software, or vehicles required for the work, or to repay their cost upon separation, except for the fair market value of employer-owned property the worker fails to return in reasonable condition.
(b) SIGN-ON BONUSES AND RELOCATION.—A repayment obligation for a sign-on bonus or relocation payment is permitted only if—
1. it is disclosed in the offer;
2. it is prorated over not more than [12] months;
3. it does not exceed the gross amount paid; and
4. it does not apply where section 1301(b) applies.
(c) DEPARTURE PENALTIES.—No agreement may impose a fee, penalty, or liquidated damages on a worker for resigning, for failing to remain employed for a period, or for failing to give notice exceeding the period in section 1103(d).
(a) CHARACTERIZATION.—This title applies regardless of whether the obligation is characterized as a loan, advance, promissory note, income-share agreement, deferred compensation, bond, or scholarship, and regardless of whether the lender or obligee is the employer, a related entity, a training provider, or a third-party financer arranged or referred by the employer.
(b) ASSIGNEES.—Any assignee, holder, or purchaser of an obligation subject to this title takes it subject to all claims and defenses the worker has against the employer, and is jointly liable for any violation. A debt collector attempting to collect an obligation void under this title violates section 807 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692e).
(c) CREDIT REPORTING.—No person may furnish information to a consumer reporting agency concerning an obligation void under this title, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act is amended accordingly.
SEC. 1305. EXISTING AGREEMENTS.
Any agreement prohibited by this title in effect on the effective date is unenforceable as to any amount not paid before that date. Amounts collected after the effective date on a prohibited obligation shall be refunded with interest.
LC NOTE: The CFPB has analyzed TRAPs as potential consumer-credit products (2023 report), and several States (e.g., California A.B. 692, Colorado, Connecticut) restrict them. This title adopts a Federal floor and routes enforcement to both DOL and CFPB (Title XVI). The retroactive unenforceability in section 1305 faces the same Takings argument as section 1101(c), and is similarly defensible.
Title XIV — Staffing Agencies, Recruiters, Vendors, and Labor
Intermediaries
SEC. 1401. WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT TERMS.
(a) Before dispatching a staffed worker to an assignment, a staffing agency or labor contractor shall provide the worker, in writing and in the worker's language—
1. the name, address, and telephone number of the staffing agency, the client employer, and the worksite;
2. the nature of the work, any required equipment or clothing and who provides it, and known hazards;
3. the rate of pay, overtime rate, and pay schedule;
4. the expected schedule and duration of the assignment;
5. whether transportation is provided, and its cost, if any;
6. whether a meal or equipment will be charged for; and
7. the worker's rights under this Act, including the right to accept direct employment.
(b) For day-labor assignments, the information may be provided by electronic message before the worker departs for the worksite.
SEC. 1402. FEES CHARGED TO WORKERS.
A staffing agency, labor contractor, or employment agency may not charge a worker, directly or through deduction, any fee for placement, registration, application, referral, background checks, drug testing, training, equipment required for the work, cashing a paycheck, or accessing wages, except a charge for the actual cost of optional transportation that does not reduce the worker's pay below the applicable minimum wage.
SEC. 1403. FALSE ASSIGNMENTS; SHOW-UP PAY.
(a) A staffing agency or labor contractor may not send a worker to an assignment that does not exist, has been filled, or has terms materially different from those disclosed.
(b) Where a worker reports to an assignment and is not put to work, or is given less than half the hours disclosed, the staffing agency shall pay the worker for not less than [4] hours, or the disclosed hours if fewer, and reimburse transportation costs.
(c) The client employer is jointly liable for amounts under subsection (b) where it canceled the assignment without timely notice to the agency.
SEC. 1404. TRANSPORTATION.
Where a staffing agency, labor contractor, or client employer provides or arranges transportation to a worksite—
1. the vehicle shall be operated by a licensed driver, insured, and maintained in safe condition, with no more passengers than seats and safety belts;
2. the charge, if any, may not exceed the actual cost per rider or [3] percent of daily wages, whichever is less; and
3. time spent in required transportation from a designated pick-up point is working time.
SEC. 1405. BARRIERS TO DIRECT EMPLOYMENT; CONVERSION FEES.
(a) A staffing agency or labor contractor may not restrict a staffed worker from accepting direct employment with a client employer or any other person.
(b) A staffing agency may charge a client employer a conversion fee upon direct hire of a staffed worker only if—
1. the fee is disclosed in the client agreement;
2. the fee does not exceed [the lesser of the agency's gross margin on the worker for the preceding [60] days of work or [15] percent of the worker's first-year base compensation]; and
3. no fee applies after the worker has worked for the client for [90] days, in total, through the agency.
(c) A client may not refuse to hire a staffed worker because of a conversion fee, and may not pass any part of a conversion fee to the worker.
(e) LONG-TERM ASSIGNMENTS.—After [12] months of substantially continuous assignment to the same client employer, a staffed worker is presumed to be an employee of the client employer for purposes of Titles X and XV. Interruptions of fewer than [60] days, reassignment through a related staffing entity, or nominal changes in job title do not restart the period. The client may rebut the presumption only by clear and convincing evidence that the assignment is genuinely temporary because of a documented project, leave replacement, seasonal need, or similarly time-limited circumstance.
SEC. 1406. OBLIGATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT-TECHNOLOGY VENDORS.
(a) DOCUMENTATION.—An employment-technology vendor shall provide each employer customer, before deployment and upon any substantial modification—
1. a description of the system's intended uses and the uses the vendor knows to be unsuitable;
2. the data inputs, training data sources and their characteristics, and known limitations;
3. validation evidence for each intended use, including the positions or job categories on which it was validated;
4. disparate-impact testing results for sex, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability;
5. accessibility testing results and accommodation options;
6. known risks, errors, and failure modes;
7. the explanation information required for the employer to comply with section 602; and
8. instructions for meaningful human review.
(b) TESTING AND VALIDATION.—A vendor shall test and validate each system for its intended uses before offering it, retest at least annually and after substantial modification, and correct identified defects.
(c) AUDIT ACCESS.—A vendor shall provide an employer's independent auditor, and the Office, access to the system, documentation, and data reasonably necessary for audits under section 605, subject to confidentiality protections.
(d) DATA ACCURACY AND CORRECTION.—A vendor that maintains data about applicants or workers shall implement procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy and shall correct inaccurate data within [15] business days after notice from an employer or individual.
(e) KNOWN-RISK DISCLOSURE.—A vendor that discovers a defect, discriminatory effect, or security incident affecting a system shall notify each affected employer customer and the Office within [30] days.
(f) RETENTION AND SECURITY.—A vendor shall retain records necessary for employers to comply with section [1603] and shall comply with Title V.
(g) COOPERATION.—A vendor shall cooperate with employer compliance, including by providing individual explanations, facilitating corrections and appeals, and implementing alternative processes under section 108.
(h) PROHIBITED CONTRACT TERMS.—A contract between a vendor and an employer may not prohibit the employer from complying with this Act, from disclosing information to a worker, auditor, or government agency as required by this Act, or from reporting a violation.
SEC. 1407. EMPLOYER AND VENDOR LIABILITY.
(a) NO THIRD-PARTY DEFENSE.—It is not a defense to any claim under this Act that a decision was made or recommended by a system, data, or service provided by a third party.
(b) JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY TO WORKERS.—An employer and an employment- technology vendor are jointly and severally liable to an affected individual for a violation caused in whole or in part by the vendor's system, where the vendor—
1. failed to comply with section 1406;
2. knew or should have known of the defect causing the violation; or
3. marketed the system for the use that caused the violation.
(c) APPORTIONMENT BETWEEN DEFENDANTS.—As between an employer and vendor, liability shall be apportioned according to relative fault, and either may seek contribution. Apportionment does not reduce the amount recoverable by the affected individual.
(d) DUE-DILIGENCE CONSIDERATION.—An employer that obtained and reviewed the documentation under section 1406(a), completed an impact assessment under section 605, implemented meaningful human review, and acted promptly on known defects, shall not be subject to enhanced damages or civil penalties for a violation caused by an undisclosed defect in a vendor's system, but remains liable for actual damages, equitable relief, and fees.
(e) VENDOR SAFE HARBOR.—A vendor that complied fully with section 1406, and whose system was used by the employer in a manner contrary to the vendor's documented instructions or for an unsuitable use the vendor disclosed, is not liable for the resulting violation.
(f) OUTSOURCED FUNCTIONS.—An employer that outsources screening, surveillance, assessment, scheduling, or any other function regulated by this Act to a covered intermediary remains responsible for compliance as if it had performed the function itself.
SEC. 1408. REGISTRATION OF STAFFING AGENCIES AND LABOR
CONTRACTORS. (a) Not later than [2] years after enactment, each staffing agency and labor contractor operating in interstate commerce shall register with the Secretary, disclose its owners and related entities, and maintain a surety bond in an amount the Secretary sets by regulation, not less than $[50,000].
(b) A client employer that knowingly uses an unregistered staffing agency or labor contractor is liable for any violation by that agency or contractor affecting workers supplied to it.
LC NOTE: Sections 1401–1404 draw on Illinois's Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (820 ILCS 175), Massachusetts's Temporary Workers Right to Know Act, and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). Registration in section 1408 mirrors MSPA's farm labor contractor registration.
Title XV — AI Displacement, Digital Replicas, and Worker
Replacement
SEC. 1501. TECHNOLOGICAL DISPLACEMENT NOTICE.
(a) DEFINITION.—The term "technological displacement event" means the elimination of positions, layoff, reduction in hours of more than [50] percent, or involuntary reassignment to lower-paid work, where the adoption or expansion of an automated employment decision system, artificial intelligence, robotics, or other automation is a substantial factor, affecting within any [90]-day period—
1. [25] or more workers at a single site or in a single job category; or
2. [10] percent or more of the workers of a Tier 2 employer in a job category.
(b) NOTICE.—A Tier 2 employer shall provide written notice not less than [90] days before a technological displacement event to—
1. each affected worker;
2. each labor organization representing affected workers;
3. the Secretary and the State dislocated worker unit; and
4. the chief elected official of the local government where the site is located.
(c) CONTENTS.—The notice shall describe the technology, the positions and number of workers affected, the expected dates, the transition rights under section 1503, and any new positions the employer expects to create.
(d) WARN ACT.—Notice under this section may be combined with notice under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, but compliance with that Act does not satisfy this section.
(e) SUBSTANTIAL FACTOR PRESUMPTION.—Automation is presumed to be a substantial factor where the employer, within [12] months before the event, deployed automation that performs a material portion of the eliminated positions' core tasks.
(f) AGGREGATION.—Position eliminations, hour reductions, or deactivations occurring within any rolling [12]-month period are aggregated in determining whether a technological displacement event occurred. Separate transactions, vendors, deployments, business units, or related entities are aggregated where they form part of a common plan or have the purpose or reasonably foreseeable effect of avoiding this title.
(g) CAUSATION PRESUMPTION.—If an employer or related entity deploys, procures, or materially expands automation and, within [24] months, eliminates or materially reduces positions whose core tasks are performed by that automation, the displacement is presumed caused in material part by the automation. The employer may rebut the presumption by clear and convincing evidence of an independent cause.
(h) OUTSOURCED AUTOMATION.—A technological displacement event includes displacement caused by outsourcing, subcontracting, or transferring work to a vendor, affiliate, platform, or service provider where a substantial portion of the transferred work is performed by automation. An employer may not avoid this title by purchasing an automated result as a service rather than deploying the underlying technology itself.
SEC. 1502. TECHNOLOGY IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND WORKFORCE IMPACT
REPORT. (a) ASSESSMENT.—Before deploying automation reasonably expected to cause a technological displacement event, a Tier 2 employer shall prepare a technology impact assessment describing the technology, affected tasks and positions, expected workforce effects, skills required for new or changed positions, and the transition measures the employer will provide.
(b) CONSULTATION.—The employer shall make the assessment available to, and consult in good faith with, affected workers and any labor organization representing them, not less than [60] days before the event.
(c) ANNUAL REPORT.—A Tier 2 employer shall report annually to the Secretary, on a form the Secretary prescribes, the number of positions eliminated, created, and materially changed as a result of automation, by job category, and the transition measures provided. Reports shall not identify individual workers.
SEC. 1503. TRANSITION RIGHTS.
(a) PRIORITY CONSIDERATION.—A worker displaced by a technological displacement event shall, for [12] months, be offered any vacant position with the employer or a related entity for which the worker is qualified or can become qualified with reasonable training, before the position is offered to external applicants.
(b) RETRAINING.—The employer shall offer each displaced worker employer-paid retraining for a newly created or vacant position, or a voucher of not less than $[5,000] for training with an eligible provider under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, at the worker's election.
(c) SEVERANCE.—A displaced worker not placed in a comparable position shall receive severance of not less than [2] weeks of base compensation per year of service, with a minimum of [4] weeks, and continuation of group health coverage at the active-employee premium for [3] months.
(d) NO RELEASE AS CONDITION.—Transition rights under this section may not be conditioned on a release of claims.
SEC. 1504. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this title prohibits an employer from adopting productivity-enhancing technology, or requires an employer to maintain any position.
SEC. 1505. DIGITAL REPLICAS AND REPLACEMENT TRAINING.
(a) CONSENT REQUIRED.—No employer, covered intermediary, or related entity may create, train, or use a digital replica of a worker, or use a worker's voice, image, likeness, writing, creative output, decision patterns, or individually distinctive expertise to train or configure a system for the specific purpose of replicating or substituting for that identifiable worker, unless—
1. the worker gives consent under subsection (b); and
2. the worker receives compensation under subsection (c).
(b) CONSENT.—Consent shall—
1. be in a separate written agreement, not a condition of employment or any benefit, and executed with a reasonably specific description of the intended uses;
2. be negotiated with the assistance of counsel or a labor organization, or accompanied by written notice of the right to such assistance;
3. be limited to a stated duration not exceeding [3] years, renewable only by further consent; and
4. be revocable prospectively upon [90] days' notice, except as to completed works in which the replica was lawfully used.
(c) COMPENSATION.—Compensation shall be separately stated and reasonable in light of the use, and for use after separation shall be paid at not less than the rate that would apply to the worker's performance of equivalent work.
(d) ORDINARY WORK PRODUCT.—This section does not restrict an employer's ownership or use of ordinary work product created within the scope of employment, including its use in training general-purpose systems, except where the purpose or reasonably
foreseeable effect of the use is to create a digital replica of, or system specifically designed to replace, an identifiable worker. (d-1) WORKER-SPECIFIC TRAINING PRESUMPTION.—A system is presumed to be a digital replica or a system specifically designed to replace an identifiable worker where the system is fine-tuned, adapted, retrieval-augmented, or otherwise configured using a corpus in which that worker's output constitutes more than [50] percent of the worker- identifiable training or reference material, or where the system is marketed, evaluated, or deployed by reference to that worker's identity or distinctive expertise. The presumption may be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence that the system does not reproduce or substitute for the worker's individually distinctive attributes.
(e) POST-SEPARATION AND POSTHUMOUS USE.—No digital replica may be used after the worker's separation, or after the worker's death, without consent given after separation by the worker, or after death by the worker's estate or heirs.
(f) DISCLOSURE.—Any use of a digital replica to communicate with the public or other workers shall be disclosed as synthetic.
(g) EXISTING REPLICAS.—Within [180] days after the effective date, an employer shall notify each worker of any digital replica of the worker in its possession and delete it unless the worker consents under subsection (b).
LC NOTE: This section draws on the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA agreements, New York and California digital replica statutes (e.g., Cal. Lab. Code § 927), Tennessee's ELVIS Act, and the proposed NO FAKES Act. It overlays copyright and work-for-hire doctrine (17 U.S.C. 101, 201(b)) by regulating use rather than ownership. "System specifically designed to replace an identifiable worker" is the most litigable phrase; the purpose-or-reasonably-foreseeable-effect standard in subsection (d) supplies an objective test.
Title XVI — Enforcement, Remedies, Recordkeeping, Anti-
Retaliation, and Whistleblower Protection
SEC. 1601. OFFICE OF FAIR HIRING AND ALGORITHMIC ACCOUNTABILITY.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT; STATUS; SUPERVISION.— (1) There is established in the Department of Labor an Office of Fair Hiring and Algorithmic Accountability, headed by a Director appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of [5] years. The Director may be removed by the President. (2) The Director is an inferior officer within the Department of Labor and exercises authority on behalf of, and subject to the direction and supervision of, the Secretary. Except for a function that another provision of Federal law assigns to an administrative law judge, the Administrative Review Board, a court, or another officer under a separately prescribed review scheme, the Secretary may review, affirm, reverse, modify, or remand a final administrative or executive action of the Director and may direct the manner in which a delegable function is performed. (3) No function or duty under this Act shall be construed to vest unreviewable final executive authority exclusively in the Director. If a provision is reasonably susceptible to two constructions, the construction preserving direction, supervision, and review by a Senate-confirmed superior officer shall govern.
(b) FUNCTIONS.—The Office shall, on behalf of the Secretary—
1. administer and enforce this Act, except as otherwise provided;
2. receive, investigate, and adjudicate complaints;
3. receive and review impact assessments, audits, and reports;
4. qualify and maintain a registry of independent auditors under section 605;
5. maintain the registry of staffing agencies and labor contractors under section 1408;
6. operate the whistleblower program under section 1611 and the small-business assistance program under section 109(e);
7. employ technologists, data scientists, industrial-organizational psychologists, and economists; and
8. publish an annual enforcement report.
(c) STAFFING.—The Office shall have not fewer than [300] full-time employees within [3] years after enactment, of whom not fewer than [50] shall be technical staff. LC NOTE: Draft Three retains Draft Two's removal fix. Trump v. Slaughter, 609 U.S. ___ (2026), held the FTC's for-cause removal provision unconstitutional and overruled any remaining extension of Humphrey's Executor to an agency exercising executive power. Trump v. Cook, 609 U.S. ___ (2026), treated the Federal Reserve as a historically exceptional central-bank arrangement, not a general model for ordinary executive enforcement offices. Paragraphs (a)(2) and (3) additionally make the Director's inferior-officer status structural: the Secretary directs and supervises the Director and retains review of final executive action, consistent with Edmond v. United States, 520 U.S. 651 (1997), and United States v. Arthrex, Inc., 594 U.S. 1 (2021). Sections 1608, 1609, and 1710 continue to make worker and State rights independent of continued Federal enforcement.
SEC. 1602. INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.
(a) JURISDICTION.—
1. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission shall enforce this Act, concurrently with the Office, to the extent a violation involves discrimination prohibited by laws the Commission administers, including disparate impact from automated employment decision systems, and may bring claims under this Act together with those laws.
2. The Federal Trade Commission shall enforce Titles II, V, VI (as to vendors), XIII, and XIV (as to employment-technology vendors and employment agencies) as unfair or deceptive acts or practices, with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as under the Federal Trade Commission Act, and notwithstanding any exclusion in that Act for common carriers, nonprofit organizations, or banks to the extent they act as employers or covered intermediaries.
3. The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection shall enforce Title XIII and section 306 concurrently, as consumer financial products or services.
4. The Attorney General shall represent the United States in litigation, may bring civil actions for pattern-or-practice violations, and shall prosecute violations of section 1614.
5. The National Labor Relations Board retains exclusive jurisdiction over unfair labor practices; nothing in this Act displaces that jurisdiction.
(b) COORDINATION COUNCIL.—There is established an Interagency Council on Fair Hiring and Algorithmic Accountability, chaired by the Director and including the Chair of the EEOC, the Chair of the FTC, the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the Attorney General, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the General Counsel of the NLRB, which shall coordinate enforcement, share information, avoid duplicative proceedings, and issue joint guidance.
(c) MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING.—Within [1] year after enactment, the agencies in subsection (a) shall enter into memoranda of understanding allocating complaint intake and referral.
SEC. 1603. RECORDKEEPING.
(a) REQUIRED RECORDS.—Each employer and covered intermediary shall make, keep, and preserve records sufficient to demonstrate compliance with this Act, including—
1. job advertisements, disclosures, revisions, recertifications, and disposition of positions;
2. applicant dispositions, status notices, and reasons provided;
3. compensation ranges and the basis for them, and compensation of hires;
4. interview history, applicant time records, assessments, and payments;
5. automated employment decision system inputs, outputs, versions, configurations, and reviewer documentation;
6. impact assessments, audits, and vendor documentation;
7. material communications with applicants and workers regarding rights under this Act;
8. offer terms, rescissions, and material changes;
9. performance documentation, performance improvement plans, discipline, and rehire designations;
10. surveillance notices, surveillance data used in consequential decisions, and covert- surveillance authorizations;
11. schedules, changes, and predictability pay;
12. termination statements and records of reductions in force; and
13. agreements subject to Titles XI, XII, and XIII.
(b) RETENTION.—Records shall be retained for not less than [4] years after the record is created or the relationship with the individual ends, whichever is later, and for any longer period while a request, complaint, charge, investigation, or litigation to which the record is relevant is pending.
(c) SPOLIATION.—Where a required record is not produced because it was not made, was destroyed, or was altered in violation of this section—
1. there is a rebuttable presumption that the record would have supported the individual's claim;
2. the individual's reasonable estimate of any amount owed is presumed accurate; and
3. the failure is a separate violation for each record.
(d) SYSTEM DESIGN.—An employer may not configure an automated employment decision system or surveillance tool so that outputs used in consequential decisions are not logged, or are automatically deleted before the period in subsection (b).
SEC. 1604. ADMINISTRATIVE ENFORCEMENT.
(a) COMPLAINTS.—Any individual, organization, or labor organization may file a complaint with the Office within [3] years after the violation. The Office may also investigate on its own initiative.
(b) INVESTIGATIVE POWERS.—The Secretary may enter and inspect places and records, question persons, issue subpoenas for witnesses, documents, data, and access to systems, and require the production of automated employment decision systems or data for testing, under the authority of section 11 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 211) and section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 49).
(c) ORDERS.—Upon finding a violation, the Secretary may issue an order requiring compliance; reinstatement or instatement; correction of records; payment of back pay, restitution, reliance losses, or other make-whole relief to affected individuals to the extent constitutionally permitted; cessation of use of a system; deletion of unlawfully obtained data or models trained on it; preservation of evidence; and other equitable or remedial relief. A person subject to an order may request a hearing before an administrative law judge within [30] days, with review by the Administrative Review Board and judicial review in the court of appeals.
(d) CIVIL PENALTIES AND JURY TRIAL.—A civil penalty under section 1605 may be assessed administratively only if the respondent, after notice of the alleged violation and potential penalty, knowingly and voluntarily waives any right to adjudication in an Article III court and any jury-trial right. Absent such a waiver, the Secretary or Attorney General shall seek the civil penalty in Federal district court. Any issue for which the Seventh Amendment requires a jury shall be tried to a jury. LC NOTE: SEC v. Jarkesy, 603 U.S. 109 (2024), held that the Seventh Amendment requires a jury for civil penalties on claims analogous to common-law actions. Draft Two no longer makes the respondent identify which penalty is sufficiently common-law in nature. Unless the respondent waives Article III and jury adjudication, Federal civil penalties are sought in district court. Administrative make-whole and equitable relief is preserved to the extent constitutionally permitted.
(e) EXPEDITED RELIEF.—Where the Secretary has reasonable cause to believe that a violation is causing irreparable harm, including ongoing use of a system with unlawful disparate impact or ongoing retaliation, the Secretary may seek a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction.
SEC. 1605. CIVIL PENALTIES.
(a) AMOUNTS.—A person that violates this Act is liable for a civil penalty, for each violation and for each affected individual, of not more than—
1. $[5,000] for a violation of a notice, disclosure, or timing requirement;
2. $[25,000] for any other violation; and
3. $[100,000] for a violation that is willful, repeated, or retaliatory, or that involves deception of applicants, unlawful use of emotion recognition, or covert surveillance.
(b) CONTINUING VIOLATIONS.—Each day a ghost job, prohibited agreement, or unlawful system remains in use is a separate violation, not to exceed $[1,000,000] per course of conduct for violations described in subsection (a)(1).
(c) REVENUE-BASED CAP FLOOR.—For a person with annual revenue exceeding $[1,000,000,000], the maximum penalties in subsection (a) are multiplied by [4].
(d) FACTORS.—In determining the amount, the Secretary or court shall consider the size of the person, the gravity and number of violations, good faith, history of violations, and whether the person used model notices or corrected the violation promptly.
(e) INFLATION.—Amounts are adjusted annually for inflation under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990.
(f) USE OF PENALTIES.—Penalties collected shall be deposited in a Worker Protection Fund, available without further appropriation for whistleblower awards, restitution to affected individuals who cannot be located, and enforcement.
SEC. 1606. CIVIL ACTIONS BY THE SECRETARY AND ATTORNEY GENERAL.
The Secretary, through the Solicitor of Labor, or the Attorney General may bring a civil action in Federal district court for any relief available under sections 1604, 1605, and 1609, on behalf of affected individuals, and for pattern-or-practice violations. An action by the Secretary on behalf of an individual does not extinguish the individual's right to intervene.
SEC. 1607. ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.
A violation of any provision described in section 1602(a)(2) is treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)), and the Commission may seek civil penalties, consumer redress, and injunctive relief under sections 5(m), 13(b), and 19 of that Act.
LC NOTE: Treating violations as rule violations restores FTC monetary relief in light of AMG Capital Management v. FTC, 593 U.S. 67 (2021).
SEC. 1608. ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.
(a) PARENS PATRIAE.—The attorney general of a State, or a State labor agency authorized by State law, may bring a civil action in Federal district court or a State court of competent jurisdiction on behalf of residents of the State to enjoin a violation, obtain damages, restitution, and civil penalties under section 1605, and obtain attorney's fees.
(b) NOTICE.—The State shall serve notice on the Secretary before filing, or immediately after filing where prior notice is not feasible. The Secretary may intervene.
(c) NO BAR.—A pending Federal action does not bar a State action against a defendant not named in the Federal action or for a violation not alleged in it.
(d) STATE PENALTIES.—Penalties recovered by a State may be retained by the State for enforcement of worker protection laws.
SEC. 1609. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any individual aggrieved by a violation of this Act, or a representative of such individuals, may bring a civil action in any Federal or State court of competent jurisdiction against any person that committed or is liable for the violation. No exhaustion of administrative remedies is required.
(b) RELIEF.—The court shall award a prevailing plaintiff—
1. actual damages, including lost wages and benefits, reliance damages, consequential damages, and damages for emotional distress;
2. in the alternative to actual damages where the plaintiff elects, statutory damages under subsection (c);
3. an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, unless the defendant proves that the violation was in good faith and it had reasonable grounds for believing it was not a violation;
4. punitive damages for a willful, malicious, or repeated violation, without regard to the limits in section 1977A(b)(3) of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1981a(b)(3));
5. restitution and disgorgement of any benefit obtained through the violation, including the value of productive applicant work;
6. injunctive and declaratory relief, including reinstatement, instatement, correction of records, cessation of use of a system, and deletion of data;
7. reasonable attorney's fees, expert fees, and costs; and
8. pre-judgment and post-judgment interest.
(c) STATUTORY DAMAGES.—Statutory damages are, per violation per individual—
1. $[500] to $[2,500] for a violation of a notice, disclosure, status-notice, or timing requirement;
2. $[2,500] to $[10,000] for a violation of Title II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, or X not described in paragraph (1);
3. $[5,000] to $[25,000] for a violation of Title XI, XII, or XIII, or of section 607 or 805; and
4. $[10,000] to $[50,000] for retaliation.
(d) JOINT ACTIONS.—An action may be maintained as a class action under rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or a State equivalent, or as a collective action, and no statutory damages cap applies to class or collective actions.
(e) AGGRIEVED INDIVIDUAL; INJURY.—For purposes of the statutory cause of action, an individual is aggrieved where a violation causes or subjects the individual to one or more of the following: lost time or uncompensated work; reliance or out-of-pocket expenditure; denial or material delay of an employment opportunity; loss of wages, benefits, hours, assignments, or mobility; collection, use, disclosure, sale, or retention of personal or biometric data contrary to a legally protected privacy interest; unlawful surveillance; automated evaluation using the individual's data; deprivation of information that this Act requires to be disclosed and that is material to a transaction the individual entered or considered; enforcement or threatened enforcement of a prohibited restraint or debt; or retaliation. Nothing in this subsection eliminates the independent constitutional requirements for Federal jurisdiction. A statutory claim that a Federal court cannot hear for lack of Article III standing may be heard in a State court whose law permits jurisdiction, and may be enforced publicly under sections 1604 through 1608. LC NOTE (Article III): TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. 413 (2021), does not permit Congress simply to declare every bare statutory violation a concrete Article III injury. Draft Two therefore identifies the transaction, privacy, economic, informational, and exposure injuries the Act regulates, while expressly leaving Article III's minimum to the courts and preserving State-court and public enforcement where Federal standing is absent.
(f) LIMITATIONS.—An action shall be commenced within [3] years after the violation, or [5] years for a willful violation, or within [3] years after the individual discovered or reasonably should have discovered the violation, whichever is later. The period is tolled while a complaint is pending before the Office or a State agency.
(g) FEES TO DEFENDANTS.—A court may award fees to a prevailing defendant only upon a finding that the action was frivolous and brought in bad faith.
SEC. 1610. ANTI-RETALIATION.
(a) PROTECTED ACTIVITY.—It is unlawful for any person to retaliate against an individual, including an applicant, employee, former employee, independent contractor, economically dependent vendor, staffed worker, witness, or family member of any such individual, because the individual has, or is perceived to have, or is about to—
1. requested information, a notice, an explanation, a record, or a compensation range under this Act;
2. challenged or sought correction of an inaccurate record or data;
3. refused to enter into, or sought to rescind, a predispute arbitration agreement or other agreement prohibited by this Act;
4. requested human review, an appeal, an accommodation, or an alternative process;
5. complained about a deceptive advertisement or any other violation, internally or to any person;
6. disclosed a violation to a government agency, law enforcement, a legislative body, a labor organization, an attorney, or the media;
7. cooperated with or testified in any investigation or proceeding;
8. exercised any scheduling, disconnection, privacy, data, or surveillance right;
9. refused to submit to unlawful surveillance or to participate in a violation;
10. inquired about, discussed, or asserted compensation rights; or
11. exercised or attempted to exercise any other right under this Act.
(b) BURDEN OF PROOF.—An individual establishes a violation by showing that protected activity was a contributing factor in the adverse action. The respondent may avoid liability only by showing, by clear and convincing evidence, that it would have taken the same action in the absence of the protected activity.
(c) PRESUMPTION.—An adverse action taken within [90] days after protected activity is presumed to be retaliatory.
(d) PRELIMINARY REINSTATEMENT.—Where the Secretary finds reasonable cause to believe retaliation occurred, the Secretary shall order preliminary reinstatement, which shall not be stayed pending a hearing.
(e) IMMIGRATION-RELATED RETALIATION.—Threatening to report, or reporting, an individual's suspected immigration status to any authority because of protected activity is retaliation and a willful violation.
SEC. 1611. WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION AND AWARDS.
(a) PROTECTION.—Section 1610 applies to any individual who provides information relating to a violation of this Act to the Office, another Federal agency, a State attorney general, or a supervisor or person with authority to investigate.
(b) AWARDS.—Where original information provided by a whistleblower leads to a successful enforcement action resulting in monetary sanctions exceeding $[1,000,000], the Secretary shall pay the whistleblower an award of not less than [10] percent and not more than [30] percent of the sanctions collected, from the Worker Protection Fund.
(c) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The Office shall not disclose information that could reasonably be expected to reveal the identity of a whistleblower, except as required in a criminal proceeding or with the whistleblower's consent. A whistleblower may submit information anonymously through counsel.
(d) EVIDENTIARY PROTECTION.—No agreement or policy may prohibit an individual from providing to a government agency documents or data relevant to a violation, including records relating to the individual or to automated employment decision systems, and the individual is not liable under any agreement for doing so, except that trade secrets shall be provided subject to 18 U.S.C. 1833(b).
(e) REMEDIES.—A whistleblower subjected to retaliation is entitled to reinstatement, [2] times back pay with interest, special damages, and fees, in addition to relief under section 1609.
SEC. 1612. NOTICE OF RIGHTS.
Each employer shall post, electronically and at each worksite, and provide at hire, a notice of rights under this Act prepared by the Secretary.
SEC. 1613. INDIVIDUAL LIABILITY.
An officer, director, or agent who knowingly directs or participates in a willful violation of Title XI, XII, or XIII, or of section 1610, is individually liable for civil penalties and damages under this title.
SEC. 1614. CRIMINAL PENALTIES.
Whoever knowingly destroys, alters, or falsifies a record required under section 1603 with intent to impede an investigation or proceeding under this Act, or knowingly makes a materially false statement in an impact assessment, audit, or certification filed with the Office, shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned not more than [2] years, or both.
Title XVII — Federal-State Relationship, Federal Contracting,
Severability, Effective Dates, Studies, and Rulemaking
SEC. 1701. RELATIONSHIP TO STATE AND LOCAL LAW.
(a) FEDERAL FLOOR.—This Act establishes minimum protections. Nothing in this Act preempts, limits, or supersedes any State or local law, regulation, ordinance, or collective bargaining agreement that provides equal or greater protection to applicants or workers, or that addresses subjects not addressed by this Act.
(b) CONFLICT.—A State or local law is preempted only to the extent it provides less protection than this Act, and only as to the lesser protection.
(c) DETERMINATION.—Whether a State or local law provides greater protection is determined provision by provision, from the perspective of the affected individual.
(d) NO FEDERAL DEFENSE.—Compliance with this Act is not a defense to a claim under a State or local law providing greater protection.
(e) FAA.—State laws that restrict predispute arbitration of employment disputes to an extent equal to or greater than Title XII are not preempted by title 9, United States Code.
LC NOTE: The default of a Federal floor with no preemption follows the brief. Industry will argue for preemption of State AI, privacy, and noncompete laws to reduce compliance fragmentation. No compelling reason for preemption has been identified for Draft One. Subsection (e) reverses FAA preemption of State anti-arbitration laws only to the extent they are consistent with Title XII.
SEC. 1702. FEDERAL CONTRACTING, GRANTS, AND BENEFITS.
(a) CONTRACTOR CERTIFICATION.—Each offeror for a Federal contract exceeding $[250,000] shall certify compliance with this Act and disclose any administrative merits determination, civil judgment, or arbitral award finding a violation of this Act within the preceding [3] years.
(b) CONTRACT CLAUSE.—The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall, within [1] year, amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require a clause in covered contracts and subcontracts obligating compliance with this Act, including Title X (just cause) and Title IX (scheduling) without regard to the size thresholds in section 102, for workers performing on or in connection with the contract.
(c) RESPONSIBILITY.—A contracting officer shall consider violations disclosed under subsection (a) in determining responsibility, and the Secretary may recommend suspension or debarment for willful or repeated violations.
(d) GRANTS AND WORKFORCE FUNDS.—As a condition of receiving Federal grants exceeding $[250,000], funds under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, economic development assistance, or tax credits for job creation, a recipient shall comply with this Act, and shall be subject to repayment of assistance for willful violations.
(e) SMALL-EMPLOYER IMPLEMENTATION TAX CREDIT; PROHIBITED-ENFORCEMENT COSTS.—
1. For each of the first [3] taxable years beginning after the applicable effective date, an employer with fewer than [100] workers is allowed a credit against tax imposed by subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 equal to [50] percent of qualified FAIR WORK implementation expenditures, not to exceed $[25,000] for a taxable year.
2. Qualified expenditures are reasonable, documented, incremental costs of initial compliance with this Act, including accessibility changes, required notices and forms, data-security changes, payroll or scheduling-system modifications, independent AEDS audits, and professional compliance assistance. Qualified expenditures do not include ordinary payroll, damages, civil penalties, settlements, lobbying, or costs of opposing an individual's exercise of a right under this Act.
3. No deduction is allowed under chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for legal fees or other expenditures incurred after the applicable effective date to enter into or knowingly enforce a noncompete agreement, predispute arbitration agreement, training repayment agreement, or silencing term that this Act expressly declares void, except for costs attributable to a bona fide trade-secret claim independently permitted by this Act.
4. The Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe aggregation, anti-abuse, recapture, and no-double-benefit rules for this subsection, treating related entities under section 103 as one employer. Legislative counsel shall place the credit and deduction rule in the appropriate provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 before introduction.
LC NOTE: Spending-power conditions must be unambiguous (Pennhurst State School v. Halderman, 451 U.S. 1 (1981)) and related to the Federal interest. Procurement conditions have been upheld under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act; this section supplies express statutory authority, avoiding the vulnerability of executive-order approaches (e.g., the rescinded Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order).
SEC. 1703. WAIVER OF STATE SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY.
A State's receipt or use of Federal financial assistance under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the Wagner-Peyser Act, or title III of the Social Security Act, for any fiscal year beginning after the date that is [2] years after enactment, constitutes a waiver of the State's sovereign immunity to suit under this Act by an aggrieved individual in Federal or State court. Each State accepting such assistance shall be given notice of this condition by the Secretary.
SEC. 1704. RULEMAKING.
(a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall prescribe regulations to carry out this Act. The EEOC, FTC, and Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection may prescribe regulations for provisions they enforce, in coordination through the Council under section 1602(b).
(a-1) INTERIM IMPLEMENTATION GUIDANCE.—Within [60] days after enactment, the Secretary shall publish nonbinding examples of covered and excluded automated employment decision systems, surveillance practices, and economically dependent vendor relationships. Interim guidance may create a reliance safe harbor for conduct taken in good faith before final regulations, but may not create an obligation, exemption, or defense inconsistent with this Act.
(b) DEADLINES.—
1. Within [270] days: model notices (section 109(b)); disclosure format for job advertisements (section 202(d)); rejection-reason categories (section 301(a)(4)).
2. Within [1] year: final regulations for Titles II through V, VII, IX, and XI through XIV.
3. Within [18] months: final regulations for Titles VI, VIII, X, and XV, including impact assessment methodology, auditor qualifications, and human-review time thresholds.
(c) FAILURE TO ISSUE.—A failure to issue regulations does not delay the effective date of any provision that is self-executing.
SEC. 1705. EFFECTIVE DATES.
(a) GENERAL.—Except as provided in this section, this Act takes effect [1] year after enactment.
(b) IMMEDIATE.—Sections 1101 (as to new agreements), 1102, 1106, 1201, 1206, 1207, and 1610 take effect on the date of enactment.
(c) EXTENDED FOR TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS.—Sections 605 and 1406 take effect [2] years after enactment.
(d) SMALLER EMPLOYERS.—For employers with fewer than [100] workers, the obligations in section 102(b) take effect [2] years after enactment, except for the provisions in section 102(a).
(e) EXISTING AGREEMENTS.—Section 1101(c) and section 1305 take effect [180] days after enactment.
(f) ENFORCEMENT CO-EFFECTIVITY.—Title XVI, sections 1701, 1708, and 1710 through 1714, and every definition or procedural provision necessary to enforce a substantive provision take effect with respect to that provision on the same date the substantive provision takes effect. No right made immediately effective by subsection (b) lacks a contemporaneous cause of action or remedy because another provision of this Act has a later general effective date.
SEC. 1706. STUDIES, DATA COLLECTION, AND REPORTING.
(a) DATA COLLECTION.—The Commissioner of Labor Statistics, in coordination with the Office, shall collect and publish anonymized aggregate data concerning—
1. hiring outcomes, time-to-hire, and applicant-to-hire ratios by occupation;
2. prevalence of ghost jobs, including by incorporating questions into the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey;
3. use of automated employment decision systems, and aggregate selection-rate and impact-ratio data from filings under section 605;
4. offer rescissions;
5. technological displacement, from reports under section 1502(c);
6. prevalence and forms of worker surveillance;
7. employment-related debt and training repayment agreements; and
8. prevalence of restrictive covenants and predispute arbitration agreements.
(b) PRIVACY.—No publication under this section shall include information identifying an individual worker or applicant. Data shall be protected under the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018.
(c) STUDIES.—The Comptroller General shall report to Congress within [3] years on the effectiveness of this Act, including the effect of section 102 thresholds, the good-faith compensation range width limits, the economically dependent vendor tests, and the just- cause standard.
(d) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Office shall report annually to Congress on enforcement activity, complaint volume, penalties, and recommendations.
SEC. 1707. APPROPRIATIONS; WORKER PROTECTION FUND; CONTINUITY.
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act, including not less than $[150,000,000] for each of fiscal years [2028] through [2032] for the Office.
(b) DIRECT APPROPRIATION.—In addition to amounts otherwise appropriated, there is appropriated to the Secretary, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $[150,000,000] for fiscal year [2028] and each fiscal year thereafter, to remain available until expended, for the Office, technical capacity, complaint intake, audits, data systems, and enforcement of this Act.
(c) NO SUSPENSION BY FUNDING LAPSE.—A lapse, delay, rescission proposal, deferral, apportionment decision, or other unavailability of Federal administrative funds does not suspend a substantive right, limitations-period tolling rule, private cause of action, State enforcement authority, or employer obligation under this Act.
(d) WORKER PROTECTION FUND.—Amounts deposited in the Worker Protection Fund under section 1605(f) remain available without fiscal-year limitation for the purposes stated in that section. No officer may transfer or use those amounts for an unrelated purpose absent a later Act of Congress that expressly refers to this subsection.
SEC. 1708. SEVERABILITY AND STATUTORY FALLBACKS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this Act, or the application of such provision or amendment to any person or circumstance is held unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provision to any other person or circumstance shall not be affected.
(b) INDEPENDENT TITLES AND SECTIONS.—Congress finds and declares that each title of this Act addresses a distinct subject, that each title is independently justified, and that Congress would have enacted each title and each section within each title even if every other title or section were invalid. Title I definitions and Title XVI enforcement apply to whatever substantive provisions remain in effect.
(c) PUBLIC EMPLOYERS.—If application of any provision to a State or State employer is invalid, the provision continues to apply to private employers, political subdivisions to the extent permitted, Federal employers, and every other valid application.
(d) THRESHOLDS, PRESUMPTIONS, AND DEFINITIONS.—If a numerical threshold or rebuttable presumption is invalid, the invalid threshold or presumption is severed and the underlying substantive standard remains operative wherever it can function without the severed language. A court may not invent a replacement number. If part of a definition is invalid, the remaining text and enumerated inclusions remain effective; a definition from another statute is substituted only where this Act expressly directs that substitution.
(e) ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE.—If any appointment, succession, delegation, or structural provision concerning the Office is invalid, the Secretary shall exercise or reassign the affected statutory functions to the maximum extent constitutionally permitted. No structural invalidity affects sections 1608, 1609, or a State or private right of action.
(f) ADJUDICATION.—If administrative adjudication of any category of claim or remedy is invalid, the Secretary or Attorney General may seek that claim or remedy in Federal district court under section 1606. If a jury is constitutionally required, the issue shall be tried to a jury.
(g) REMEDIAL SCOPE.—Except in a properly certified class action or a facial action governed by section 1711, relief against enforcement of this Act shall be no broader than necessary to redress the injury of the parties before the court, to the fullest extent permitted by the Constitution.
(h) CONGRESSIONAL PREFERENCE.—When severance is legally permissible, Congress prefers continuation of the greatest amount of worker protection and enforcement authority consistent with the Constitution over invalidation of an entire title or Act.
(a) FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT.— (1) Section 604(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681b(b)) is amended by adding: "A consumer report containing credit history or credit-score information may be procured or used for employment purposes only to the extent permitted by section 306 of the FAIR WORK Act." (2) Section 623 of that Act (15 U.S.C. 1681s-2) is amended to prohibit furnishing information concerning an obligation that is void under Title XIII of the FAIR WORK Act.
(b) PORTAL-TO-PORTAL ACT.—Section 4 of the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 (29 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding that an activity expressly made compensable by section 703 or 907(e) of the FAIR WORK Act is not excluded from compensable time as preliminary or postliminary activity.
(c) CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT.—Section 102 of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1302) is amended by adding the FAIR WORK Act to the laws made applicable to the legislative branch, subject to the procedures of that Act except where the FAIR WORK Act expressly provides otherwise.
(d) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ACT.—For enforcement of provisions assigned to the Federal Trade Commission by section 1602(a)(2), exclusions from Commission jurisdiction based solely on nonprofit status, common-carrier status, or banking status do not apply to conduct performed as an employer or covered intermediary. Congress expressly authorizes civil-penalty and redress remedies stated in section 1607.
(e) EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY ACT.—Section 514 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1144) shall not be construed to supersede, preempt, or authorize waiver of Titles XI, XII, XIII, or XV of the FAIR WORK Act, including where an arbitration, repayment, release, or severance term appears in an employee benefit plan.
(f) CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION ACT.—For purposes of subtitle E of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, an employment-related debt, training repayment obligation, or third-party financing arrangement regulated by Title XIII, when offered or arranged for personal, family, household, licensing, or employment access purposes, is a consumer financial product or service to the extent necessary for the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to exercise the concurrent authority granted by section 1602(a)(3).
(g) COPYRIGHT ACT.—Section 201 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding that nothing in that section, including work-made-for-hire rules, limits a right or restriction created by sections 702 or 1505 of the FAIR WORK Act concerning applicant work, consent, digital replicas, or worker-specific replacement training.
(h) COMMUNICATIONS ACT.—Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230) shall not be construed to bar or limit a duty imposed directly on an interactive computer service by section 203(f) of the FAIR WORK Act concerning display of posting dates, notices, or removal of stale advertisements. Liability under section 203(f) is based on the service's own statutory duty and not on treating it as the publisher or speaker of third-party content.
(i) CIVIL SERVICE REFORM ACT.—Chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code, is amended so that an adverse action subject to section 1005 or 1007 of the FAIR WORK Act must also satisfy those provisions. Existing Merit Systems Protection Board and negotiated-grievance procedures remain available unless the FAIR WORK Act provides a more protective right.
(j) TITLE VII CLARIFICATION.—For purposes of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, use of an automated employment decision system in selection, assignment, compensation, promotion, discipline, or termination is an employment practice, and a person that regularly screens, ranks, or refers applicants for employers through such a system may be treated as an employment agency to the extent otherwise consistent with title VII.
LC NOTE: Subsections (a) through (j) replace Draft One's conforming-amendment placeholders. Legislative counsel should conform subsection lettering and codification instructions to the enrolled U.S. Code before introduction.
SEC. 1710. CONTINUITY OF RIGHTS; EXECUTIVE NON-SUSPENSION; VACANCIES.
(a) SELF-EXECUTION.—Each prohibition, right, cause of action, defense, and remedy stated in sufficiently definite terms in this Act is self-executing on its effective date unless the provision expressly states that a regulation is a condition precedent.
(b) NO EXECUTIVE SUSPENSION.—No executive order, proclamation, memorandum, enforcement policy, regulatory-review directive, waiver, or instruction of an officer or employee of the United States may suspend, dispense with, narrow, postpone, or waive a statutory duty or private or State right under this Act except pursuant to authority expressly granted by this Act or a later Act of Congress.
(c) NONENFORCEMENT DOES NOT PRECLUDE OTHER ENFORCEMENT.—A decision by the President, Attorney General, Secretary, Office, or another Federal agency not to investigate, prosecute, adjudicate, defend, appeal, or otherwise enforce this Act does not extinguish, stay, preclude, or reduce a private action under section 1609 or a State action under section 1608.
(d) MINISTERIAL DUTIES.—A person aggrieved by unreasonable failure to perform a nondiscretionary duty expressly required by this Act, including docketing a complaint, maintaining a registry, accepting a filing, publishing a required report, or making a statutorily required payment, may seek declaratory or mandamus relief. This subsection does not authorize a court to compel the Executive Branch to commence a particular prosecution or civil enforcement action where the statute leaves commencement to prosecutorial discretion.
(e) VACANCIES; APPOINTMENTS CLAUSE SAFEGUARDS.—
(1) A vacancy in the office of Director does not suspend the Office or any right, remedy, filing, investigation, adjudication, registry, or deadline under this Act.
(2) The Secretary shall designate by regulation an order of succession beginning with Senate-confirmed officers of the Department. If no such officer is available, Congress hereby vests in the Secretary, as Head of a Department under article II, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution, authority to appoint a qualified Department official to serve temporarily as Acting Director as an inferior officer, subject at all times to the Secretary's direction, supervision, review, and removal.
(3) A career employee who has not been appointed as an officer of the United States in a constitutionally authorized manner may perform only duties lawfully assignable to an employee and may not exercise significant authority that the Constitution requires an officer to exercise.
(4) Acting service by a person who has not been confirmed by the Senate to another office shall be limited to special and temporary conditions and may not exceed [210] days from the vacancy, except that such service may continue while a first or second nomination for Director is pending and for the same additional periods following rejection, withdrawal, or return of a nomination that section 3346 of title 5 permits.
(5) Notwithstanding sections 3345 through 3349d of title 5 to the extent of a conflict, this subsection supplies an office-specific succession mechanism. Nothing in this subsection authorizes indefinite acting service or permits temporary service to be used to evade the Senate's advice-and-consent role.
(6) The Secretary may personally exercise, or assign to an available Senate-confirmed Department officer, any function of the Director that is not by law required to be performed by another specified adjudicator. If a court holds that a particular acting designation is constitutionally defective, this paragraph governs prospectively and preserves the Office's remaining functions and all private and State rights.
LC NOTE: The structure follows the Appointments Clause distinction between principal and inferior officers. Edmond requires direction and supervision by a Senate-confirmed superior; Arthrex emphasizes superior review of final executive decisions; and United States v. Eaton, 169 U.S. 331 (1898), permits an inferior officer to perform a superior officer's duties for a limited time under special and temporary conditions. The [210]-day benchmark tracks 5 U.S.C. 3346 and should be conformed by legislative counsel.
(f) ARTICLE II SAVINGS.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit an exclusive constitutional power of the President. This section governs statutory rights, statutory duties, and statutory enforcement consequences created by Congress.
LC NOTE: Trump v. Slaughter, 609 U.S. ___ (2026), confirms broad Presidential removal authority over officers exercising executive power. Draft Three responds by preserving Presidential control over the Director while preventing removal, vacancy, or nonenforcement from extinguishing Congress-created private and State rights.
SEC. 1711. SPECIAL JUDICIAL REVIEW OF FACIAL CHALLENGES.
(a) EXCLUSIVE FACIAL-CHALLENGE FORUM.—An action seeking facial invalidation of this Act, a title, a section, or a final regulation of general applicability under this Act shall be filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and heard by a three-judge district court convened under section 2284 of title 28, United States Code.
(b) FILING PERIOD; LATER-ACCRUING CHALLENGERS.—
(1) A person that has Article III standing to bring a facial challenge during the [180]-day period after a statutory provision first becomes effective shall file that facial challenge within that period. A person that has Article III standing to challenge a final rule during the [180]-day period after publication shall file a facial challenge to that rule within that period.
(2) A person that could not, with reasonable diligence, have established Article III standing during the period described in paragraph (1) because the person had not yet suffered, and was not yet subject to an imminent threat of, concrete injury may bring a facial challenge within [180] days after the person's first concrete injury or imminent threat of concrete injury from the provision or rule. The challenger bears the burden of showing that paragraph (1) could not constitutionally have been invoked earlier.
(3) Paragraph (2) does not restart a filing period for a person, successor, affiliate, or privy that had standing during the paragraph (1) period, and does not displace ordinary rules of claim preclusion, issue preclusion, or binding precedent.
(4) This subsection does not bar a later as-applied constitutional defense or challenge arising from a concrete application to the challenger. Every facial challenge permitted by this subsection remains subject to the exclusive forum and three-judge-court procedure in subsection (a).
(c) DIRECT REVIEW.—A final order granting or denying interlocutory or permanent injunctive relief in an action under subsection (a) is reviewable by direct appeal to the Supreme Court under section 1253 of title 28, United States Code.
(d) INTERVENTION.—The Secretary and the Attorney General may intervene as of right. A State attorney general whose residents are materially affected may intervene as of right. A worker, applicant, labor organization, or representative organization may intervene as of right upon satisfying Article III and the requirements of rule 24 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
(e) REMEDIAL AUTHORITY.—Only a court convened under subsection (a) may enter facial relief suspending enforcement of a provision of this Act on a nationwide basis. As-applied relief in another action shall be no broader than necessary to redress the plaintiff's injury, subject to section 1708(g).
(f) FRIVOLOUS OR BAD-FAITH CHALLENGES.—If a court finds by clear and convincing evidence that a facial challenge was frivolous and brought in bad faith, the court shall award reasonable attorney's fees, expert fees, and costs to the prevailing governmental or intervening parties. A good-faith constitutional challenge is not sanctionable merely because it fails.
LC NOTE: Draft Three does not attempt to eliminate pre-enforcement constitutional review categorically. The primary [180]-day period supplies prompt finality for parties already capable of suing, while paragraph (b)(2) addresses the accrual concern in Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors, 603 U.S. 799 (2024), by preserving a limited facial-challenge window for a genuinely later-injured plaintiff that lacked Article III standing during the original period. All facial challenges remain channeled through the three-judge/direct-appeal model.
SEC. 1712. PROCEDURAL REVIEW; REGULATORY DEADLINES.
(a) EXECUTIVE REVIEW MAY NOT DELAY STATUTORY DEADLINES.—No review required solely by executive order, Office of Management and Budget policy, or Executive Branch regulatory-review procedure may postpone a deadline Congress establishes in this Act.
(b) PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT.—A collection of information expressly required by this Act or reasonably necessary to administer a right or filing mandated by this Act is exempt from the approval-delay provisions of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, to the extent necessary to meet a statutory deadline. The Office shall minimize burden and publish the information collection and burden estimate notwithstanding that exemption.
(c) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW ACT.—Chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, does not apply to a rule that this Act expressly requires to be issued by a date certain. Nothing in this subsection prevents Congress from amending or repealing such a rule or this Act by later legislation.
(d) NO IMPLIED ADMINISTRATIVE STAY.—Filing a petition for review, request for reconsideration, or executive review does not itself stay a rule or statutory obligation. A stay requires an order issued under otherwise applicable law.
SEC. 1713. EXPRESS TECHNICAL DELEGATIONS; STANDARD OF REVIEW.
(a) EXPRESS DELEGATION.—Congress expressly delegates to the Secretary, within the standards and limits stated in the referenced provisions, authority to specify technical methodologies, forms, categories, and numerical implementation details under sections 101(27)(G), 102(c)(2), 109(b), 202(d), 301(a)(4), 504, 603, 605, 607(c), 609, 802, 908, 1406, 1408, 1502, and 1704. The existence of economic or political significance does not negate an express delegation within those boundaries.
(b) REVIEW OF EXPRESSLY DELEGATED SPECIFICATIONS.—In reviewing a regulation adopted under an express delegation listed in subsection (a), a court shall determine independently the meaning and outer boundaries of the statute. If the regulation remains within those boundaries, the court shall review the agency's policy and technical choices under the arbitrary-or-capricious and substantial-evidence standards applicable by law and shall not substitute the court's preferred technical methodology for one reasonably supported by the record.
(c) NO GENERAL DEFERENCE RULE.—Nothing in this section requires deference to an agency interpretation of a statutory question that Congress did not expressly delegate. The purpose of this section is to specify which questions Congress assigns to the agency, not to recreate a general presumption of ambiguity-based deference.
LC NOTE: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369 (2024), requires courts to exercise independent judgment on statutory meaning but recognizes that Congress may expressly delegate discretionary authority. Draft Three responds through express, bounded delegations rather than language purporting to make an agency conclusively authoritative on constitutional or statutory questions.
SEC. 1714. COORDINATION, PRECLUSION, AND DUPLICATE RECOVERY.
(a) PARALLEL AUTHORITY.—The existence or pendency of a Federal administrative, Federal judicial, State, or private proceeding does not automatically preclude another authorized enforcement proceeding, subject to ordinary doctrines of claim and issue preclusion after final judgment and to this section.
(b) NO DOUBLE COMPENSATORY RECOVERY.—An individual may not recover twice for the same item of actual economic loss. Amounts paid and finally retained as compensation for the same wage, benefit, expense, or reliance loss shall be credited against a later award of that same loss.
(c) INDEPENDENT REMEDIES.—Subsection (b) does not offset civil penalties, statutory damages elected in lieu of actual damages, liquidated damages, punitive damages, whistleblower awards, attorney's fees, interest, injunctive relief, or remedies compensating distinct injuries.
(d) SETTLEMENTS AND GOVERNMENT ACTIONS.—A settlement or consent decree by the United States or a State does not release an individual's private claim without that individual's knowing written consent, except to the extent the individual has actually received and retained compensation for the same loss. A Federal declination or dismissal based on enforcement discretion has no preclusive effect on a private or State claim.
(e) COORDINATION.—The Council under section 1602 shall maintain procedures for notice among enforcing agencies, consolidation where appropriate, protection against inconsistent obligations, and allocation of collected restitution, without delaying an individual's right to timely relief. DRAFT THREE ANALYTICAL UPDATE The following Parts II–VIII are retained from Draft One so that no prior analysis, warning, empirical research item, or requirement mapping is lost. Where a retained statement describes a provision changed by Draft Three, the operative text above and the update notes below control. In particular:
• Part III removal-protection analysis is superseded by section 1601 and the 2026 decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook; the Appointments Clause analysis is further updated by sections 1601(a) and 1710(e). • Part III's Jarkesy, TransUnion, Loper Bright, Corner Post, and standing concerns are addressed by sections 1604(d), 1609(e), 1711, and 1713 but remain useful as risk analysis. Row 18's ministerial-exception issue is addressed by section 107(j). • Part IV's "amendment needed" items are now implemented principally in sections 1207 and 1709; retained table entries should be read as the provenance for those amendments. • Part VI's 12 partial evasions and one open evasion are adopted as Draft Three amendments: de minimis side clients; multi-level pay bands; blind AI review; selection activities mislabeled voluntary; safety-sensitive over-designation; post-offer compensation cuts; overbroad customer nonsolicits; franchise-system scheduling aggregation; staggered displacement; delayed displacement; outsourced automated displacement; worker-specific model fine-tuning; headcount-driven PIPs; security-labeled surveillance; and permanent-temp avoidance. • Part VIII preserves the Draft One requirement map and adds Draft Three rows for judicial review, executive continuity, regulatory timing, express delegation, parallel enforcement, and completed conforming amendments without deleting any mapped policy requirement.
Part II — Section-by-Section Explanation
Each row states in plain English what the section does. Bracketed numbers in the draft are placeholders and are not repeated here.
Section Plain-English summary
1–3 Names the Act, lists findings tying the practices to
interstate commerce, and states 20 purposes.
101 Defines 38 terms. Key choices: an ABC test for
"employee"; revenue-based tests for "economically
dependent vendor"; objective width limits for pay
ranges; a six-part test for "meaningful human
review" with a rubber-stamp presumption.
102 Core prohibitions (fraud, retaliation, coercion, data
misuse, arbitration, noncompetes) apply to every
employer. Procedural duties start at 15 workers;
audits, just cause, scheduling, and displacement
duties start at 100.
103 Makes client employers, affiliates, controlling
franchisors, and controlling private-equity owners
jointly liable. Successors inherit liability.
104 Looks past labels to the real relationship. Forcing
workers to form LLCs is illegal, and the owners are
treated as employees.
105 Voids advance waivers. Allows release of past
claims only with OWBPA-style protections and no
arbitration or gag terms. Disregards structures
built to evade the Act.
106 Covers U.S.-based work and applicants, including
remote workers for foreign employers. Voids
choice-of-law and distant-forum clauses that strip
protections.
107 Construes the Act broadly, preserves other federal
rights, respects conflicting federal mandates,
credits equivalent union contracts, protects trade
secrets without excusing explanations, and adds a
narrow constitutional ministerial-exception rule.
108 Every process must be accessible, with a human
alternative on request and no penalty for asking.
Section Plain-English summary
109 No small-business exemption from core rules.
Model notices create a safe harbor; tiny firms get a
cure period for technical errors.
110 Covers federal, legislative-branch, judicial-branch,
state, and local employers, with state immunity
waived through federal funding.
201 Bans materially false or misleading recruitment
statements; each is also an FTC Act violation.
202 Job ads must disclose 14 items, including whether
the vacancy is real and funded, internal
candidates, location, schedule, pay, and AI use.
Pipeline ads must say "This is not a current job
opening."
203 Bans ghost jobs. Ads come down within 10 days of
filling; long-running ads need dated recertification.
Bans résumé harvesting. Repeated posting without
hires creates a presumption. Platforms must show
dates and take down stale ads.
204–205 Recruiters need a real engagement and applicant
consent before submitting candidates. Ad records
must be kept.
301 Escalating status-notice duties: more applicant
time invested means faster and fuller answers,
including reasons on request after 6+ hours.
Indefinite ghosting after a final interview is a
violation.
302 Applicants must be told of material changes during
the process, and offers must flag them on page
one.
303 Offers must stay open at least 5 business days (10
with relocation), with a documented-emergency
exception.
Section Plain-English summary
304 Rescinding an accepted written offer without a
listed ground triggers reliance costs plus a
minimum of 8 weeks' pay, with more if the
employer induced a resignation. "Nonbinding"
disclaimers do not avoid this.
305 Bans refusing to consider the unemployed, with
job-related exceptions.
306 Limits credit checks to listed finance-sensitive and
security positions, and only after a conditional
offer.
307 Bans password demands. Systematic social-media
screening requires notice, filtering of protected
information, and a chance to respond.
308 No contact with a current employer without
consent. Notice of backchannel checks, and
disclosure of their substance on request. Ordinary
networking is exempt.
309 No forced third-party accounts or unrelated terms
to apply; an email alternative is required.
401 Pay ranges in every ad and on request, with base
pay stated separately from commissions, tips,
equity, and benefits. Commission claims must
show medians.
402 Bans salary-history inquiries, except applicant-
volunteered history used to raise an offer.
403 Protects asking about and discussing pay; voids
pay-secrecy rules.
404 Bans cutting the range after interviews without a
documented changed circumstance and notice.
405 Remote, hybrid, and schedule bait-and-switch:
changes within 12 months require unforeseen
cause, 90 days' notice, and a severance option.
Section Plain-English summary
406 Bans pay-setting based on desperation, predicted
willingness to accept less, or unrelated profiling.
Algorithmic pay must be explained and
correctable.
407 "Unlimited PTO" must come with approval rules
and actual usage data. No PTO model is mandated.
501 Data may be collected only as needed. Current-
application data is kept separate from future-pool
data, which requires opt-in. Sensitive data is
barred before an offer. Consent cannot be a
condition of work.
502 Retention caps, deletion on request, and
downstream deletion, but never deletion of
evidence.
503 Access to all data including inferences and scores,
correction, and portability.
504 Security standards and breach notice.
505 Bans sale of worker data and data-broker
purchases. Disclosure only to bound processors.
506 Bans unrelated secondary use and AI training on
worker data without specific consent, except bias
audits. Vendors may not pool data across clients.
507 Annual plain-language data notice.
601–602 Advance notice of AI use, and an individualized
explanation after adverse decisions.
603 No solely automated hiring, firing, promotion, pay,
or discipline decisions. Screen-out samples must
get human review. Labeling a system "advisory" is
not enough.
604 Data correction triggers a re-run. Appeals go to an
independent human; reversal restores position.
Section Plain-English summary
605 Pre-deployment impact assessments; annual
independent audits for 100+ employers; public
summaries; systems must stop if unjustified
disparate impact is found.
606 No use of a vendor system without the required
vendor documentation.
607 Bright-line ban on emotion recognition and
biometric inference of traits, with a narrow safety
exception gated by agency approval.
608 Personality and integrity tests must be validated,
disclosed, non-medical, and never the sole basis
for a decision.
609 AI decision records must be logged and kept;
deleting them creates an adverse presumption.
701 Required applicant time beyond 8 hours (or any
single task over 3 hours) is paid at the range
minimum.
702 Employers may not use productive applicant work
without payment and a separate post-completion
license. Applicants keep ownership.
703 A functional test makes employer-specific or post-
offer training paid work.
704 Employers reimburse substantial required
expenses (travel, tests, special equipment), not
ordinary job-search costs. No application fees.
801–802 Advance notice of each surveillance tool.
Surveillance is limited to strict necessity and the
least invasive means; continuous keystroke,
screen, and webcam monitoring is presumed
disproportionate. Bans surveillance of union
activity and health inference.
Section Plain-English summary
803–804 No monitoring off the clock or on personal devices
beyond narrow limits. No surveillance in
bathrooms, break rooms, or homes.
805 Covert surveillance only on documented
individualized suspicion, time-limited, pre-
approved, and with after-the-fact notice.
806–807 Metric-based discipline requires independent
human corroboration and a chance to respond.
Quotas must be disclosed and cannot override
breaks or safety.
808–810 Surveillance data is deleted in 90 days unless used.
Biometric use requires a non-biometric alternative.
Workers may refuse unlawful monitoring.
901–903 Schedule estimate at hire, 14 days' advance notice,
and predictability pay for late changes, with listed
exceptions.
904–905 11 hours' rest between shifts unless the worker
consents to premium pay. Pay for unused on-call
shifts. Limits on demanding open availability. Extra
hours offered to part-timers first.
906 Right to request schedule changes, with a
presumption of approval for caregiving, school,
health, and second jobs.
907 Right to ignore non-emergency after-hours
contact, with listed exceptions; response time is
paid for nonexempt workers.
908 Protects lawful off-duty conduct. Protects off-
duty state-legal cannabis use and bars metabolite-
only tests. Narrow, documented safety-sensitive
exceptions, with a presumption against over-
designation.
1001–1002 Right to see and copy the personnel file, including
AI scores and rehire flags. No secret files.
Correction and rebuttal rights.
Section Plain-English summary
1003 Do-not-rehire and similar flags need facts, notice,
appeal, and expiry.
1004 Bans cross-employer blacklists and no-hire pacts.
1005 After a probation period of up to 180 days, 100+
employers may fire only for just cause (defined in
six elements) or a documented economic reason.
1006 Bans fabricated, impossible, or pretextual PIPs,
with objective red-flag presumptions. Ordinary
management judgment is protected.
1007 Written termination reason within 5 days,
classified as cause or economic; the employer is
bound to that reason later.
1101 Voids all worker noncompetes, including existing
ones, except for sale of a real ownership stake.
1102 Bans no-poach and no-hire pacts, including staffing
and franchise arrangements.
1103 Voids employee nonsolicits and most customer
nonsolicits, and catches disguised restraints.
Allows paid garden leave. Trade-secret law is
unaffected.
1104–1105 Notice of rights. No enforcing void restraints
through choice of law or letters to new employers.
1106 Voids gag clauses covering unlawful conduct, pay,
and working conditions. Settlements may keep
amounts confidential.
1201 Bans forced arbitration and class waivers for all
employment disputes, at every stage from
application to severance.
1202 Extends the ban to economically dependent
contractors; arm's-length business arbitration is
preserved.
Section Plain-English summary
1203–1204 Post-dispute arbitration only with informed,
uncoerced consent and employer-paid costs.
Courts, not arbitrators, decide coverage.
1205–1207 Closes routes through benefit plans, equity
awards, platform terms, and vendor contracts.
Bans retaliation for refusing. Amends the FAA.
1301–1302 Bans repayment demands for required or
employer-specific training. Allows prorated,
interest-free repayment only for voluntary,
transferable credentials at actual cost.
1303–1305 Limits equipment charges, sign-on clawbacks, and
quit penalties. Relabeling as a loan changes
nothing; debt buyers take subject to defenses.
Existing prohibited debts become unenforceable.
1401–1404 Written assignment terms, no worker-paid fees,
show-up pay for fake or cut assignments, and safe,
low-cost transportation.
1405 Workers can always take direct jobs; conversion
fees are capped and expire.
1406 HR-tech vendors must document, validate, test for
bias, allow audits, fix data, and disclose known
defects.
1407 "The algorithm did it" is no defense. Vendor and
employer are jointly liable to the worker, with fault
apportioned between them. Diligent employers
avoid penalties but not damages.
1408 Staffing agencies and labor contractors must
register and post bonds.
1501–1502 90 days' notice and an impact assessment before
automation-driven layoffs; annual reporting.
1503–1504 Displaced workers get first call on openings,
retraining, and severance without a release.
Technology adoption itself is not restricted.
Section Plain-English summary
1505 No digital replica or worker-specific replacement
training without separate, time-limited,
compensated consent. Ordinary work product is
unaffected.
1601–1602 Creates a DOL Office with technical staff and an
interagency council; places the Director under the
Secretary's direction, supervision, and review; and
allocates roles among EEOC, FTC, CFPB, DOJ, and NLRB.
1603 Detailed recordkeeping for 4+ years; missing
records trigger presumptions for the worker.
1604–1608 Administrative investigation and orders (with a jury
right for penalties), tiered civil penalties scaled for
large firms, DOJ and FTC actions, and state AG
enforcement.
1609 Private suits in any court: actual or statutory
damages, double damages, uncapped punitive
damages for willful violations, fees, and class
actions. 3–5 year limitations period.
1610–1611 Broad anti-retaliation with a contributing-factor
standard and a 90-day presumption. Whistleblower
awards of 10–30%.
1612–1614 Posting, individual liability for executives in willful
cases, and criminal penalties for destroying
records or falsifying audits.
1701 Federal floor; stronger state and local laws survive.
1702–1703 Contractors and grantees must certify compliance
and face debarment; states waive immunity by
accepting workforce funds.
1704–1707 Rulemaking deadlines, phased effective dates, BLS
data collection including ghost-job measurement, a
GAO study, and appropriations.
1708–1709 Title-by-title severability with statutory fallbacks;
operative conforming and nonpreemption amendments.
1710 Makes self-executing rights independent of executive
nonenforcement or vacancies; preserves Article II;
and supplies Appointments-Clause-safe succession.
1711 Channels facial challenges to a three-judge D.C.
court, gives later-injured challengers a limited
accrual window, permits intervention, and provides
direct Supreme Court review under existing law.
1712 Prevents executive regulatory review from delaying
statutory deadlines; targeted PRA/CRA treatment.
1713 Expressly delegates bounded technical questions and
specifies review after Loper Bright.
1714 Coordinates parallel enforcement and prevents duplicate
compensatory recovery without reducing independent
statutory, liquidated, punitive, or civil remedies.
Part III — Constitutional, Federalism, and Jurisdictional Issues
No requested provision was omitted because of these issues. Draft Two converts several Draft One risks into operative fallbacks. As of September 21, 2026, the principal residual issues are State sovereign immunity, Spending Clause conditions, compelled-commercial- speech boundaries, Article III standing at the margins, and the limits of judicial-remedy channeling. SEC v. Jarkesy is addressed by routing nonwaived civil penalties to district court; Loper Bright is addressed through express bounded delegations; Corner Post is addressed through a specific facial-review limitations period; and Trump v. Slaughter makes the former Director removal protection untenable for an ordinary executive enforcement office. Trump v. Cook recognizes a historically specific Federal Reserve exception and is not used as the structural basis for this Office.
# Issue Provisions Risk Mitigation in draft
affected
1 Commerce Clause § 102(a) (all Low. Hiring and Finding 15;
reach to small, local employers) employment are jurisdictional
employers economic activity, hook in § 101(14)
and aggregation ("engaged in
applies (Wickard; commerce or in
Gonzales v. Raich). any industry
Lopez and Morrison affecting
concerned non- commerce").
economic activity.
2 Tenth Amendment / § 110 (state and Low. Regulating None needed.
anti- local employers) states as employers
commandeering under generally
applicable law is
permissible (Garcia
v. SAMTA; Reno v.
Condon). The Act
does not direct
states to regulate
private parties.
# Issue Provisions Risk Mitigation in draft
affected
3 State sovereign §§ 110(c), 1703 High for private Spending-
immunity from damages against condition waiver
private damages states. Article I (§ 1703); Ex parte
suits cannot abrogate Young relief;
(Seminole Tribe; federal
Alden). Section 5 enforcement;
abrogation requires political
congruence and subdivisions are
proportionality not immune.
(Kimel; Garrett).
4 Spending Clause §§ 1702, 1703 Medium. Explicit notice;
conditions Conditions must be conditions tied to
unambiguous workforce and
(Pennhurst), employment-
related to the services funds;
federal interest prospective
(Dole), and not application after
coercive (NFIB v. 2 years.
Sebelius).
5 Compelled §§ 202, 401, 407, Medium for § Reasonable-
commercial speech 1106(e) 202(a)(5) (internal expectation
candidates) and § standard; factual
202(b)'s mandated framing;
phrasing; low for severability.
factual disclosures
(Zauderer; cf.
NIFLA).
# Issue Provisions Risk Mitigation in draft
affected
6 Restrictions on § 402 (salary Medium. Salary- Limited to
employer speech history), § 308 history bans have inquiries about
(backchannel), § been upheld as specific
1105 (letters to regulation of applicants in a
new employers) commercial speech hiring
(Greater Phila. transaction;
Chamber of networking
Commerce v. City carve-out (§
of Philadelphia, 949 308(e)).
F.3d 116 (3d Cir.
2020)).
Backchannel limits
are narrower and
transaction-
specific.
7 Platform liability § 203(f) Medium. May be Display and
and Section 230 argued to treat notice-and-
platforms as takedown duties,
publishers. not content
liability; an
express non-
preemption
clause is
recommended.
8 Seventh §§ 1604, 1605 High for § 1604(d) routes
Amendment jury administrative civil penalties to court
right penalties on fraud- on demand; §
like claims (SEC v. 1708(f) fallback.
Jarkesy, 2024).
9 Article III standing § 1609(e) High in federal Injury tied to lost
(informational court for bare time and reliance;
and exposure disclosure concurrent state-
injuries) violations court jurisdiction
(TransUnion v. preserved.
Ramirez).
# Issue Provisions Risk Mitigation in draft
affected
10 Removal protection § 1601(a) High (Seila Law; ALT to delete; §
for a single-headed Collins). 1708(e)
office severability
fallback.
11 Nondelegation, §§ 101(27)(G), Medium. After Explicit statutory
major questions, 102(c)(2), 607(c) Loper Bright standards and
and end of Chevron (2), 1704 Enterprises v. numeric
deference Raimondo (2024), thresholds;
agency readings get delegations
no deference; broad bounded by
delegations may stated criteria.
face major- Convert more
questions bracketed rules
arguments (West into statute in
Virginia v. EPA). Draft Two.
12 Takings and §§ 1101(c), 1305, Low to medium. Express
retroactivity 1207(b) Voiding existing effective-date
covenants and provisions;
debts is a prospective
regulatory enforceability
adjustment of framing.
contract rights
(Connolly v. PBGC).
The Landgraf
presumption is
overcome by
express
retroactivity
language.
13 Due process: §§ 101(30), 702 Medium. Civil Objective
vagueness (productive standards get more presumptions (§§
work), 802 (strict latitude, but 702(d), 1006(c));
necessity), 1006 penalties raise the model rules; safe
(pretextual PIPs) stakes. harbors.
# Issue Provisions Risk Mitigation in draft
affected
14 Due process: § 1609(b)(4) Medium. Awards Statutory
punitive damages (uncapped) remain subject to damages and
State Farm v. liquidated
Campbell ratio damages supply
review. deterrence
independent of
punitives.
15 NLRA preemption Titles IX, X; § Medium. Garmon CBA equivalence
and labor-law 107(d) and Machinists clause; NLRB
interplay preemption apply jurisdiction
to state law, not to preserved (§
later federal 1602(a)(5)).
statutes, but
conflicts with
bargaining
obligations can
arise.
16 ERISA interaction § 1205(1) Medium. Plan Later-in-time,
arbitration clauses specific statute;
and ERISA conforming
preemption ERISA
doctrine. amendment
recommended.
17 Federal controlled- § 908(b) Medium. Tension § 908(f) and §
substances law (cannabis) with the Controlled 107(c) carve-outs
Substances Act; for federal
does not authorize requirements.
use.
# Issue Provisions Risk Mitigation in draft
affected
18 Religious employers Titles X and XI as Medium. The Addressed in
applied to ministerial Draft Three by §
ministers exception 107(j), using a
(Hosanna-Tabor; narrow functional
Our Lady of rule that protects
Guadalupe) and ministerial
RFRA may bar just- autonomy without
cause and certain creating a general
procedural claims religious-employer
by ministerial exemption.
employees.
19 Extraterritoriality § 106 Low. The Express
presumption territorial rule
against tied to U.S. work
extraterritoriality and applicants.
(Morrison v.
National Australia
Bank) is overcome
by express text.
20 Copyright and IP §§ 702(b), 1505 Low to medium. Objective
ownership Federal statute can presumption;
reallocate ownership limited
ownership; idea to applicant work
protection is novel. before hire.
21 Federalism policy § 1005 Legal risk low for Tier 2 threshold;
objection to just private employers; CBA equivalence;
cause political and ALT to phase in or
federalism-policy limit to
risk high (at-will is contractors.
traditionally state
law).
Part IV — Existing Federal-Law Interactions and Required
Amendments Draft Two converts Draft One's principal conforming-amendment recommendations into operative text in sections 1207 and 1709 and adds targeted treatment of ERISA, the Copyright Act, Communications Act section 230, the Civil Service Reform Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act, and the Congressional Review Act. The retained table below remains the issue inventory; any "amendment needed" notation is satisfied to the extent section 1207, 1709, 1712, or another Draft Two provision now supplies that amendment.
Statute Interaction Amendment needed?
Federal Arbitration Act (9 Title XII overrides FAA Yes: extend chapter 5 (9
U.S.C.) enforceability for U.S.C. 401–402) to
employment and employment disputes (§
dependent-vendor 1207).
disputes; § 1701(e) lifts FAA
preemption of consistent
state laws.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 Applies concurrently to Yes: § 604(b) (employment
U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) background checks; § 306 purpose) and § 623
narrows employment credit (furnisher duties).
checks; § 1304(c) bars
reporting void worker
debts.
Fair Labor Standards Act / Pre-employment training (§ Yes: 29 U.S.C. 254 (§ 703(f)).
Portal-to-Portal Act 703) and after-hours The definitional divergence
response time (§ 907(e)) is intentional but should be
become hours worked; reconsidered.
applicant-time payments (§
701(g)) are not wages. The
ABC test in § 101(12) differs
from the FLSA economic-
reality test.
Title VII, ADEA, ADA, GINA, Preserved (§ 107(b)). Title Consider amending title VII
PWFA, EPA VI assessments use the to state expressly that use
disparate-impact of an AEDS is an
framework (42 U.S.C. "employment practice" and
2000e-2(k)) and the that vendors are
Uniform Guidelines (29 "employment agencies."
C.F.R. 1607). ADA governs Consider amending 42 U.S.C.
medical inquiries in §§ 1981a(b)(3) caps for AEDS
501(c), 608. disparate-treatment claims.
Statute Interaction Amendment needed?
National Labor Relations Act Section 7 rights preserved; No. Coordinate with NLRB
surveillance of protected on surveillance and silencing
activity barred (§ 802(d)); doctrine.
CBA equivalence (§
107(d)).
ERISA Arbitration clauses in plans Recommended: amend
(§ 1205); severance plans ERISA § 514 or add a savings
(§ 1503). clause.
WARN Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et Title XV notice is additional; No; optional cross-reference
seq.) combined notice permitted. in WARN.
Employee Polygraph Preserved (§ 608(c)); § 607 No.
Protection Act goes further on biometric
"lie detection."
Federal Trade Commission FTC enforces listed titles; Yes: confirm jurisdiction
Act violations treated as rule over nonprofits and banks
violations for monetary acting as employers or
relief (§ 1607). intermediaries (§ 1602(a)
(2)).
Consumer Financial CFPB enforces Title XIII and Yes: designate worker debt
Protection Act § 306 concurrently. as a consumer financial
product or service.
Fair Debt Collection Collecting void worker debt No; cross-reference
Practices Act is a deceptive practice (§ suffices.
1304(b)).
Sherman Act No-poach violations may No.
also be antitrust violations
(§ 1102(c)); nothing limits
antitrust remedies.
Defend Trade Secrets Act (18 Preserved; whistleblower No.
U.S.C. 1836, 1833(b)) immunity incorporated (§§
1106(d), 1611(d)).
Speak Out Act; EFASASHA Title XI and Title XII No; the prior Acts remain for
generalize both. claims they cover.
Statute Interaction Amendment needed?
Copyright Act (17 U.S.C.) § 702(b) (applicant Recommended: savings
ownership) and § 1505 clause in 17 U.S.C. 201.
(replicas) overlay work-for-
hire and transfer rules.
Communications Act § 230 Platform duties in § 203(f). Recommended: express
non-preemption clause.
Controlled Substances Act; § 908 cannabis protections No.
Drug-Free Workplace Act; yield to federal testing
DOT testing (49 C.F.R. part mandates.
40)
Congressional Accountability Extends the Act to the Yes: 2 U.S.C. 1302 (§ 110(b)).
Act legislative branch.
Workforce Innovation and Funding conditions and Recommended: conforming
Opportunity Act; Wagner- sovereign-immunity waiver references in WIOA.
Peyser; SSA title III (§§ 1702(d), 1703);
retraining vouchers (§
1503(b)).
Federal Acquisition Contract clause and Regulatory implementation
Regulation (41 U.S.C.) certification (§ 1702). by the FAR Council.
Civil Service Reform Act (5 Federal employee Yes: conforming
U.S.C.) procedures (§ 110(a)) and amendments to chapter 75
interaction with MSPB of title 5 to align just-cause
appeals for adverse and appeal rights.
actions.
Confidential Information Protects BLS data No.
Protection and Statistical collection (§ 1706(b)).
Efficiency Act
Internal Revenue Code Optional tax levers (§ Committee coordination
1702(e), reserved). needed.
Part V — Federal Agency Enforcement Architecture
A dedicated Office inside the Department of Labor is the hub, with concurrent jurisdiction assigned to agencies whose existing expertise matches specific titles. A dedicated office is warranted because no existing agency combines labor enforcement with the technical capacity to audit automated systems.
flowchart TD W[Worker / applicant /<br/>whistleblower] --> O[DOL Office of Fair Hiring<br/>and Algorithmic Accountability] W --> C[Private suit<br/>federal or state court] W --> S[State AG / labor agency] O --> COUNCIL[Interagency Council] COUNCIL --> EEOC[EEOC<br/>discrimination, AEDS impact] COUNCIL --> FTC[FTC<br/>deception, vendors, data] COUNCIL --> CFPB[CFPB<br/>worker debt, credit checks] COUNCIL --> NLRB[NLRB<br/>Section 7, exclusive] O --> ALJ[ALJ / ARB orders] O --> DOJ[DOJ / Solicitor<br/>court actions, penalties] O --> FAR[FAR Council<br/>contract clause, debarment]
Complaints can enter through the Office, a state enforcer, or directly in court; the Council routes cases so that no agency duplicates another's proceeding.
Agency Titles and sections Tools
DOL Office (lead) All titles; exclusive intake Investigations, subpoenas,
for Titles III, VII, IX, X, XV system testing,
administrative orders,
penalties, auditor registry,
staffing registry,
whistleblower awards
EEOC Title VI and any provision Charges, pattern-or-practice
where discrimination is suits, joint assessment
implicated methodology with DOL
FTC Titles II, V, XIII, XIV (vendors Rule-violation civil penalties,
and agencies); § 607 as to redress, injunctions
vendors
Agency Titles and sections Tools
CFPB Title XIII; § 306 Supervision and
enforcement of worker debt
as a consumer financial
product
DOJ / Solicitor of Labor Litigation for all titles; § 1614 Civil actions, jury trials for
prosecutions penalties under § 1604(d),
criminal referrals
NLRB Section 7 rights (exclusive) Unfair labor practice
proceedings; coordinates on
surveillance and silencing
doctrine
NIST Technical standards for §§ Security and audit-
504, 605 methodology guidance
BLS / GAO § 1706 Aggregate data, JOLTS
ghost-job measurement,
effectiveness study
FAR Council / contracting § 1702 Contract clause,
agencies responsibility
determinations, debarment
OPM / Office of § 110 Public-sector procedures
Congressional Workplace
Rights / Judicial Conference
State AGs and labor All titles Parens patriae suits in
agencies federal or state court; state
penalties retained
Design choices for Draft Two:
Placement. The Office could instead be an independent commission (bipartisan, multi- member), which would sidestep the Seila Law removal problem, or a bureau within the EEOC. DOL placement is chosen because most substantive titles are wage-and-hour and working-conditions rules DOL already enforces. Funding. The Worker Protection Fund (§ 1605(f)) supplements appropriations but is limited to awards, restitution, and enforcement to avoid Appropriations Clause objections.
Staffing. The 300-person, 50-technologist floor is a placeholder; see Part VII.
Part VI — Adversarial Loophole Analysis
Draft One tested 36 evasion strategies: 23 were already blocked, 12 were partially blocked, and 1—outsourcing displacement to an automated vendor—was open. Draft Two adopts the surgical amendment proposed for every partial or open item. The retained table below records the adversarial test that produced those amendments; where a row says "Partially" or "No," read the proposed-amendment column as ADOPTED IN DRAFT TWO. These changes do not alter the policy direction of the affected title.
# Provision Evasion strategy Blocked? Proposed
circumvented amendment
1 § 101(12), Title Reclassify Yes: ABC test, None
XII employees as burden on the
"vendors" or business (§ 104(b)),
contractors misclassification is a
separate violation
2 § 101(11), § Require workers to Yes: conclusive None
1202 form LLCs dependence (§
101(11)(B)); § 104(c)
3 § 101(11)(D) Worker keeps Partially: disregard Disregard clients
several trivial side requires a finding of below the de
clients to fall below avoidance purpose minimis threshold
60% automatically,
without a purpose
finding
4 § 101(21) Post an absurdly Yes: width cap plus None
wide salary range historical-
consistency
presumption
5 § 101(21)(C) Post one ad Yes: per-level ranges Add: an ad may not
"covering Levels I– required cover more than
IV" to justify a wide [2] levels
band
# Provision Evasion strategy Blocked? Proposed
circumvented amendment
6 §§ 202(b), 203 Call postings "talent Yes: must be labeled None
communities" as non-openings,
with retention limits
and opt-in pool data
7 § 203(e) Make trivial edits to Yes: "substantially None
reset the posting similar" test;
date platforms show
original date
8 §§ 101(6)(C), Label AI as Partially: the Require blind
603 "advisory" while departure-rate review (reviewer
humans rubber- presumption can be records
stamp gamed with token assessment before
overrides seeing the score)
for a sample of
decisions; auditors
test review quality
9 § 1407(f) Outsource Yes: employer None
screening to a remains responsible;
recruitment- joint liability
process vendor
10 §§ 101(17), Have a client or Yes: "by or on behalf None
1407(f) vendor run of"; outsourced
surveillance functions covered
11 § 701 Call extended Partially: duty Treat any activity
assessments attaches to considered in
"voluntary" "required" time selection as
required
12 §§ 701, 703 Label pay as Yes: rate floors apply None
"stipend" or regardless of label
"training allowance"
to pay below rate
# Provision Evasion strategy Blocked? Proposed
circumvented amendment
13 § 908(d) Declare every Yes: the over- Apply the same
position safety- designation presumption to §
sensitive presumption in § 607(c)(1)
908(e)
14 § 304(a) Mark offer letters Yes: disclaimers None
"nonbinding" expressly ineffective
15 § 304(b) Delay start dates Yes: a delay over 30 None
indefinitely instead days is treated as a
of rescinding rescission
16 § 304(b) Cut pay on day 91 as Partially: § 304 Extend § 405's 12-
a constructive protects 90 days; § month rule to base
rescission 405 covers only compensation
location and
schedule for 12
months
17 §§ 101(19), 301 Keep applicants out Yes: presumptions None
of "final interview" after 3 interviews,
status reference or
compensation talks,
or 10 days' silence
18 §§ 609, 1603 Delete algorithmic Yes: adverse None
scores presumption,
separate violations,
logging mandate, §
1614 crime
19 §§ 1003, 1004 Share blacklists Yes: independent None
through affiliates review required;
disclosure limits
# Provision Evasion strategy Blocked? Proposed
circumvented amendment
20 § 1103 Use nonsolicits in Partially: the high- Define material
place of earner customer contact as direct,
noncompetes exception could personal servicing
expand via a broad within the last 12
reading of "material months, capped at
contact" a listed number of
customers
21 § 1304 Structure TRAPs as Yes: substance over None
third-party loans form; lenders and
debt buyers liable
22 §§ 105, 1106 Use severance to Yes: no conditioning; None
buy prohibited OWBPA-style
waivers release; no gag or
arbitration
23 § 1205 Route arbitration Yes: all listed routes None
through benefit covered
plans, equity
awards, or vendor
terms
24 § 106 Foreign choice of Yes: U.S. work None
law or offshore controls; choice-of-
employer-of-record law voided
25 § 102(d) Split headcount Yes: related-entity None
across entities to aggregation
stay under 15 or 100
26 § 103(b)(3), Franchise model Partially: Aggregate
Title IX keeps each unit independent franchise systems
below 100 franchisees count of [500]+ workers
separately for Title IX, as
Seattle and New
York City do
# Provision Evasion strategy Blocked? Proposed
circumvented amendment
27 § 1501(a) Stagger automation Partially Add a 12-month
layoffs to stay under aggregation rule
the 90-day with an anti-
threshold evasion purpose
test
28 § 1501(e) Delay layoffs until Partially Extend the
more than 12 presumption to 24
months after months
deployment
29 Title XV Outsource the work No: not "adoption" of Include
to a vendor whose automation by the displacement
service is employer caused by
automated, then outsourcing to a
eliminate positions substantially
automated service
30 § 1505(d) Claim a replica-like Partially: Presume a replica
model is "general- foreseeable-effect where a model is
purpose" training test helps fine-tuned
predominantly on
one identifiable
worker's output
31 § 702 Disguise a real Yes: 18-month None
business problem as presumption
hypothetical, then
use the output
32 § 1005(f) Pretextual Yes: refill None
"reorganization" and presumption covers
renaming the role substantially similar
positions
# Provision Evasion strategy Blocked? Proposed
circumvented amendment
33 § 1006(c) Time PIPs just Partially: other Add a presumption
outside presumptions and for PIPs issued
presumption the general standard within 90 days of a
windows still apply manager's
documented
headcount-
reduction target
34 § 802 Label productivity Partially: security is a Require a
monitoring as permitted purpose documented
"security" security risk
assessment and
bar using security-
justified data for
productivity or
discipline except
for security
violations
35 § 1405 Keep staffed Partially After [12] months
workers as of continuous
permanent temps to assignment,
avoid conversion presume the client
and just cause is the employer for
Titles X and XV
36 § 103(b)(4) PE sponsor controls Yes: operational None
HR via control via
"management fee" management
contracts agreements covered
Part VII — Provisions Requiring Empirical Research Before Draft
Two Every bracketed figure in the draft needs calibration; these 18 carry the most policy weight or the greatest risk of unintended effects.
Provision Open question Suggested data source
§ 102 tier thresholds (15 / Compliance cost by firm Census Statistics of U.S.
100) size; share of workers Businesses; SBA Office of
covered at each threshold Advocacy
§ 101(11) dependent-vendor Revenue concentration IRS Schedule C and 1099
tests (60% / 80% / $1M) among solo contractors; how data; BLS Contingent Worker
many genuine small Supplement
businesses fall inside
§ 101(12) ABC test Effects on occupations with State unemployment-
genuine independent work; insurance and tax data; post-
experience in California and AB 5 studies
Massachusetts
§ 101(21) range width (25% / Actual pay dispersion within Colorado, New York,
40%) and historical- job titles by level and region Washington, and California
consistency presumption pay-transparency
compliance data; payroll-
provider data
§ 203 ghost-job Prevalence and typical JOLTS; job-board posting-to-
presumptions (120 days; 3× duration of unfilled postings; hire data; academic ghost-
hires) legitimate long-duration job surveys
hiring
§ 301 status-notice Median time-to-decision and Applicant-tracking vendor
deadlines and 6-hour trigger applicant hours by aggregates; applicant
occupation surveys
§ 304 reliance damages (8 + Frequency and cost of offer Court records; state agency
8 weeks; 12-month cap) rescissions complaints; the § 1706 data
series once live
§ 701 compensable-time Typical total interview Industrial-organizational
threshold (8 hours; 3-hour burden by occupation; psychology literature;
task) effect on hiring volume employer surveys
§ 603(b) screen-out Statistical power needed to NIST; EEOC; audit-firm
sampling rate (5% / 50) detect screening errors at experience under NYC Local
plausible volumes Law 144
Provision Open question Suggested data source
§ 101(22)(C) rubber-stamp Realistic override rates for Auditor data; academic
presumption (2% accurate versus flawed studies of automation bias
departure) systems
§ 605 audit regime Audit cost; auditor supply; NYC LL 144 compliance
validity of impact-ratio record; Colorado AI Act
metrics for small samples implementation
§ 607(c) biometric Whether any emotion or Peer-reviewed literature
exception biometric inference method review commissioned from
meets validity and cross- the National Academies
group reliability standards
Title IX scheduling (14 days; Industry-specific Evaluations of Seattle, San
predictability pay; 11-hour operational costs and Francisco, New York City,
rest) worker outcomes Oregon, and Chicago fair-
workweek laws
§ 1005 just cause Litigation volume and labor- Montana WDEA experience;
market effects New York City fast-food just-
cause law; comparative
OECD data
§ 1103 customer nonsolicit Whether an earnings State noncompete-reform
exception ($150,000) threshold captures studies (Oregon,
legitimate customer- Washington, Illinois,
relationship interests Colorado)
Title XIII TRAP limits Prevalence by industry CFPB 2023 TRAP report;
(nursing, trucking, aviation, state enforcement data
retail); actual training costs
Title XV displacement How to identify automation BLS Displaced Worker
thresholds (25 workers / as a cause; cost of transition Survey; WARN notice data;
10%) and severance benefits firm technology-adoption
formula surveys
§ 1605 and § 1609 penalty Levels sufficient to deter Comparative data on FLSA,
and damages amounts large employers without FCRA, BIPA, and TCPA
overwhelming small ones damages outcomes
The Office staffing floor (§ 1601(c)) and appropriation (§ 1707) should be sized after these
studies establish expected complaint and audit-filing volumes.
Draft Two adds the following research and legislative-counsel checks before an
introduction-ready draft:
• calibrate the [180]-day facial-review period against comparable three-judge-court
statutes and confirm the final 28 U.S.C. 1253/2284 cross-references;
• size the permanent appropriation in section 1707 against expected complaint,
audit, and technical-testing volume;
• validate the [12]-month long-term staffing presumption and [500]-worker franchise
scheduling aggregation threshold;
• validate the [24]-month technological-displacement causation presumption;
• determine whether any information collections exempted by section 1712 should
retain selected Paperwork Reduction Act safeguards by express incorporation; and
• conform the codification language in sections 1207 and 1709 to the United States
Code as it exists on the date of introduction.
Part VIII — Requirement-to-Section Mapping
All 52 Draft One policy requirements (A through AZ), all 35 requested definitions, and every Draft One structural and output requirement remain included. Draft Two also completes the formerly reserved tax-incentive mechanism (§ 1702(e)), the title 9 amendment (§ 1207), and the Portal-to-Portal Act amendment (§§ 703(f), 1709(b)), and adds the resilience provisions in sections 1710 through 1714.
Req. Subject Section(s) Status
A Truthful job advertising; 201, 202, 203, 204; INCLUDED
ghost jobs; obsolete 101(1), (20), (25)
postings
B Compensation 101(21), 401, 402, INCLUDED
transparency; range width; 403, 404
salary history; late
reductions
C Post-interview status; 301, 302 INCLUDED
material changes during
process
D Excessive interviewing and 701 INCLUDED
applicant time
E Take-home assignments 101(30), 702 INCLUDED
and work-product
extraction
F Unpaid pre-employment 703 INCLUDED (Portal-to-
training Portal amendment text
pending)
G Interview and application 704 INCLUDED
expenses
H Offer rescission and 304 INCLUDED
reliance
Req. Subject Section(s) Status
I Exploding offers 303 INCLUDED
J Remote, hybrid, and 202(a)(8)–(10), INCLUDED
schedule bait-and-switch 405; 101(23), (31)
K Employment-status 305 INCLUDED
(unemployed)
discrimination
L Credit checks; social 306, 307 INCLUDED
media; passwords
M Backchannel references 308 INCLUDED
N Blacklists and rehire 1003, 1004 INCLUDED
designations
O Personnel file access 1001, 1002 INCLUDED
P PIPs and manufactured 1006 INCLUDED
paper trails
Q Just cause and termination 1005 INCLUDED (LC note on
procedure federalism; ALT offered,
not substituted)
R Termination notice and 1007 INCLUDED
reason
S Scheduling rights 901–906 INCLUDED
T Right to disconnect 907 INCLUDED
U Employment surveillance 801–810 INCLUDED
("bossware")
V Applicant and employee 501–507 INCLUDED
data rights
W AI and automated 101(6), 601–606, INCLUDED (solely
employment decisions 609 automated decisions
prohibited, § 603)
Req. Subject Section(s) Status
X Emotion, personality, and 607 INCLUDED (bright-line
biometric inference ban with gated
exception)
Y Personality and 608 INCLUDED
psychometric testing
Z Algorithmic wage setting 406 INCLUDED
AA Restrictive covenants 1101, 1103, 1104, INCLUDED
1105
AB Third-party no-hire 1102 INCLUDED
agreements
AC Training repayment 101(36), 1301–1305 INCLUDED
agreements
AD Forced arbitration: 1201, 1203–1207; INCLUDED (FAA
employees 105 amendment text
pending)
AE Forced arbitration: 101(11), 1202 INCLUDED
dependent vendors
AF NDAs, non-disparagement, 1106 INCLUDED
silencing
AG Unlimited PTO and benefit 407 INCLUDED
representations
AH Off-duty conduct; 908 INCLUDED
cannabis
AI Staffing agencies and 1401–1405, 1408 INCLUDED
intermediaries
AJ AI displacement and 1501–1504 INCLUDED
technological layoffs
AK Digital replicas; training 101(10), 1505 INCLUDED
replacements
AL Employment-technology 1406 INCLUDED
vendor duties
Req. Subject Section(s) Status
AM Vendor liability and joint 1407; 103 INCLUDED
responsibility
AN Applicant accounts and 309 INCLUDED
platform lock-in
AO Accessibility and 108 INCLUDED
accommodation
AP Retaliation 101(32), 1610 INCLUDED
AQ Recordkeeping 1603, 609 INCLUDED
AR Private right of action 1609 INCLUDED
AS Government enforcement 1601, 1602, 1604– INCLUDED
1607
AT State enforcement; federal 1608, 1701 INCLUDED
floor
AU Whistleblowers 1611 INCLUDED
AV No waiver and anti-evasion 103, 104, 105, 106 INCLUDED
AW Small-business and 102, 109 INCLUDED
legitimate-need provisions
AX Federal contracting and 1702, 1703 INCLUDED; Draft Two adds
implementation-incentive small-employer compliance
lever credit and deduction rule
AY Research and reporting 1706, 1502(c) INCLUDED
AZ Severability 1708 INCLUDED
Definitions All 35 requested terms 101(1)–(38) INCLUDED; "vendor" split
(applicant through into employment-
retaliation) technology vendor and
economically dependent
vendor (§ 101(18) note)
Structure Short title; findings; 1, 2, 3 INCLUDED
purposes
Req. Subject Section(s) Status
Structure Rulemaking authority and 1704 INCLUDED
statutory deadlines
Structure Effective dates 1705 INCLUDED
Structure Relationship to state and 1701 INCLUDED
local law
Draft Two Executive continuity and
non-suspension
1710
INCLUDED
Draft Two Specialized facial judicial
review; direct appeal
1711
INCLUDED
Draft Two PRA/CRA and executive-review
timing protections
1712
INCLUDED
Draft Two Express technical delegations;
Loper Bright response
1713
INCLUDED
Draft Two Parallel enforcement,
preclusion, no duplicate
compensatory recovery
1714
INCLUDED
Draft Two Full FAA and Federal-law
conforming amendments
1207, 1709
INCLUDED
Draft Three Ministerial-exception rule of construction
107(j)
INCLUDED
Draft Three Appointments Clause supervision and vacancy safeguards
1601(a), 1710(e)
INCLUDED
Draft Three Later-accruing facial-challenge safety valve
1711(b)
INCLUDED
Output Loophole analysis, 30+ Part VI (36 INCLUDED
strategies strategies)
Output Parts I–VIII This document INCLUDED
Part IX — Draft Three Revision Ledger
This Part is nonoperative. It identifies the cumulative changes from Draft One through Draft Three so reviewers can verify that prior material was preserved unless superseded by an affirmative improvement.
A. PRESERVED WITHOUT POLICY RETREAT.—All substantive Draft One rights in Titles
II through XV; the Federal-floor rule; private and State enforcement; anti-retaliation; whistleblower awards; class and collective actions; uncapped punitive damages subject to constitutional review; noncompete and no-poach prohibitions; dependent-vendor coverage; applicant-work protections; data and surveillance rights; just cause; scheduling; digital replica consent; and all Draft One anti-evasion provisions remain.
B. PART VI FIXES ADOPTED.—The amendments described in Part VI items 3, 5, 8, 11,
13, 16, 20, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34, and 35 are integrated into sections 101, 102, 405, 603, 607, 701, 802, 1006, 1103, 1405, 1501, and 1505.
Three preserves Draft Two, which strengthens Commerce Clause findings; makes the FAA override express; expands functional examples for AEDS coverage; adds factual-commercial-disclosure findings; preserves retroactive unenforceability of prohibited restraints; creates a special facial- challenge forum; permits intervention; and imposes fee shifting only for frivolous, bad-faith constitutional challenges. Draft Three does not purport by ordinary statute to overrule a constitutional Supreme Court holding, declare courts without Article III authority, compel Supreme Court certiorari, require a national referendum, entrench the Act against later Congresses, or make agency interpretations conclusive on constitutional questions.
D. 2026 ARTICLE II RESPONSE.—The Office remains an executive office under
Presidential supervision in light of Trump v. Slaughter. Resilience comes instead from self-executing rights, State enforcement, private actions, automatic statutory continuity, and funding and review provisions that do not depend on a particular Director.
E. DRAFT THREE TARGETED FIXES.—Section 107(j) now supplies the previously missing
ministerial-exception rule. Sections 1601(a) and 1710(e) make the Director's inferior-officer status and acting succession depend on actual supervision, review, constitutionally valid appointment, and time-limited service. Section 1711(b) now gives a genuinely later-injured challenger a limited filing window rather than attempting to bar a claim before Article III standing could exist. The placeholder byline has been removed and the circulation copy is reformatted with structured headings and preserved tabular blocks.
F. INTRODUCTION-READY WORK STILL REQUIRED.—Bracketed empirical numbers remain
for calibration. Legislative counsel should verify codification instructions (including tax-code placement under section 1702(e)), appropriations scoring, committee jurisdiction, and all case citations immediately before introduction.
