Taking a page straight from Barack Obama's playbook, the McCain/Palin ticket is now touting another kind of "change" as a central campaign theme in the hope of winning the White House. Depending on one's political affiliation and personal opinions, the "change" each candidate is championing is by all objective accounts vastly different. Perhaps the most striking difference between an Obama vs. McCain White House comes in the area of employment/labor law issues.
As the following summary of both candidates' stances on several key issues impacting the workplace provides, the upcoming Presidential election could result in monumental changes in employment/labor law.
THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT --- union majority card signing replaces secret ballot elections allowing unions to organize workers via the card signing process, and by-pass elections where the worker privately and anonymously votes for or against "going union."
Barack Obama supports the EFCA. "The current process for organizing a workplace denies too many workers the ability to exercise their right to do so. The Employee Free Choice Act will allow workers to form a union through majority sign-up and card-checks, and strengthens penalties for those employers who are in violation. The choice to organize should be left up to workers and workers alone. It should be their free choice." (Obama Senate Press Release 06/20/07)
John McCain opposes the EFCA and supports the current secret ballot process. "We must streamline our workforce, demand high standards of behavior, promote excellence at every level based on merit and accountability, and not let good workers be crippled by the fine print of the latest union contract . . . The civil service has strayed from its reformist roots and has mutated into a no-accountability zone, where employment is treated as an entitlement, good performance as an option, and accountability as someone else's problem." (McCain addressing the Oklahoma State Legislature 05/21/07)
LILLY LEDBETTER AMENDMENT TO TITLE VII --- reverses the U.S. Supreme Court's 2007 decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, and would allow employees to file charges of pay discrimination within 180 days of the last received paycheck (not from the date in which the pay determination was made).
Barack Obama supports the Ledbetter amendment. In reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, Senator Obama supports federal legislation that would reverse the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that ultimately dismissed a plaintiff's equal pay claim because the alleged discriminatory conduct occurred outside the statutory time period for filing the claim. The U.S. Supreme Court held that the issuance of each paycheck was not the discriminatory action that re-started the clock so to speak, but rather the decision to set the pay rate was the decision that had to be timely challenged but was not.
John McCain opposes the Ledbetter amendment. According to Senator McCain at a recent campaign stop, "if you eliminate the statutes of limitations, and you make it unending, you may be violating the rights of the individuals who are being sued, whether they're a man or a woman. I don't think you're doing anything to help the rights of women, except maybe help trial lawyers and others in that profession."
SOCIAL SECURITY PAYROLL TAX ADJUSTMENTS --- the debate over social security "reform" continues, and therefore the question remains... how do we pay for it?
Barack Obama supports general income tax increases to those earning $250,000.00 or more, while also advocating the elimination of the social security tax cap (currently set at the first $102,000.00 a wage earner receives). The employer contribution will likewise increase.
John McCain supports partial private accounts to supplement the social security system, and is open to the idea of small increases to the current cap.
Obviously, the foregoing summary is a mere glimpse into the issues at stake and the positions of these major party candidates. Politics have a substantial role in the employee/employer relationship. In the coming weeks, employers of all shapes and sizes should pay attention and take notice --- "changes" advocated by both sides could have a tremendous impact on the workplace.
