Congressman Patrick J. Murphy

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Labor

As the son of a lifelong union member, Congressman Murphy has been a tireless advocate for hardworking Pennsylvania families. He believes that this bill is necessary to ensure workers’ rights to bargain for better wages and benefits, giving them the opportunity to enter the middle class.
This bill (H.R. 1409) would ensure workers have a clear path to join unions. It requires employers to recognize a union if a majority of workers supports its creation, provides for stiffer penalties for employers who violate labor laws, and helps employees negotiate a contract in a reasonable period of time.

Congressman Murphy believes that workers who dedicated their lives to public service should not lose the retirement benefits that they or their spouses earned throughout their careers.
This bill (H.R. 235) would repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), both of which unfairly reduce or eliminate benefits that public employees or their surviving spouses have earned and were expecting to receive in retirement.

As the first bill (H.R. 11) that President Obama signed into law, this legislation reversed the Supreme Court decision that held that victims of pay discrimination had 180 days from their first discriminatory paycheck to file suit, making it exceedingly difficult for victims of to seek redress in court.
In restoring the longstanding interpretation of civil rights law prior to the court’s decision, workers are now allowed to file these claims within 180 days of each discriminatory compensation.
The law recognizes the reality of the workplace, where few employees know within six months of beginning work what they earn relative to their coworkers.

This bill (H.R. 12) discourages pay discrimination by prohibiting retaliation against employees for discussing their salary and allowing victims to seek compensatory and punitive damages.

Congressman Patrick Murphy believes that federally-funded infrastructure projects should utilize domestic materials, ensuring that the U.S. economy incurs the benefits of these investments.
These “Buy American” provisions are vital to ensuring that our steel and iron manufacturing sector receive the jump-start necessary to generate new, high-paying jobs here at home.

Free trade is not free if it costs American workers their jobs. Congressman Murphy opposes and will continue to oppose trade deals that harm American working men and women.

Congressman Murphy believes that we need to improve workplace safety and protect our employees from becoming injured, sick, or even getting killed on the job.
This bill expands OSHA protections to state, county, and municipal employees as well as airline and railroad workers who were not previously covered. It also provides for stiffer penalties when a worker is killed or seriously injured because of a willful violation of the law and improves protections for whistleblower who put their job security at risk by alerting authorities to unsafe or illegal working conditions.