ICYMI: "Workers' Winning Week," Brought to You By the Biden-Harris Administration

Last week, the Biden-Harris Administration took several new actions to protect workers and consumers. From banning noncompete agreements that leave workers stuck in jobs, to raising the threshold for overtime, to requiring airlines to provide passengers with cash refunds and cracking down on junk fees, the Administration is delivering on President Biden's and Vice President Harris's agenda to empower workers, lower costs, and build the economy from the middle out and bottom up.

See more below:

Axios: Workers' winning week
[4/27/24]

It was a huge week for U.S. workers, who notched some big wins that could lead to higher wages for millions.

• The big picture: New rules from federal agencies intent on implementing the White House's pro worker agenda plus a big union victory in the South are keeping the deck stacked in labor's favor — for now, Axios' Emily Peck writes.

State of play: The Labor Department this week expanded its rule on when employees are owed overtime.

• Also this week, the Federal Trade Commission [released] a rule that bans nearly all noncompete agreements.
• The FTC estimates that 30 million Americans are subject to these agreements and that its ban will lead to $524 in increased wages per year, per worker, on average.

Outside of Washington, auto workers in the South scored a breakthrough victory last week when employees at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing, Axios' Nathan Bomey reports.

• The vote gives unions a major inroad into organizing the South, historically hostile to organizing.

Another worker win: Late last night, Daimler truck workers in North Carolina reached a deal that gives them 25% raises and avoids a strike that would have started today, The New York Times reports.

Business Insider: A flurry of new rules from the Biden administration attempt to ban noncompetes, boost overtime pay, and increase refunds for delayed flights
[Juliana Kaplan, 4/27/24]

The Biden administration this week pushed out a slate of rules it says are meant to boost competitiveness and put more money into workers' pockets.

There are already challenges to at least one of the rules — but together they could land overtime pay for millions more workers, ban noncompetes that prevent workers from moving into jobs in similar industries, and help people get automatic refunds for delayed or canceled flights.

"By increasing competition, these rules give workers their fairly earned wages and gives consumers more power to purchase the best option," Lael Brainard, the director of the National Economic Council, told Business Insider.
[…]
Brainard argued that "a lot of Republicans and some of the businesses and special interests that they're supporting will try to challenge these actions because it means that they have to pass on savings to consumers," adding, "They have to lower prices; they have to give working families a break."

Investopedia: Biden Administration Expands Push to Shift Workplace Rules in Favor of Workers
[Diccon Hyatt, 4/28/24]

President Joe Biden's administration released major regulations last week aimed at tilting workplace rules in favor of workers, the latest in a series of actions by Biden to use the power of federal regulatory agencies to advance policy goals.

Federal regulators finalized rules expanding required overtime pay for workers making less than $58,656 and banning non-compete agreements on Tuesday. And in a move affecting employer-sponsored retirement plans, they finalized a rule requiring retirement advisors to act as fiduciaries, in the best interest of their clients rather than being paid to promote certain financial products.

Taken together, the policies could alter the balance of power in the workplace, giving employees more leverage to switch jobs, potentially raising their bargaining power and ultimately their wages.

"It appears that the Biden administration is taking a number of steps to benefit workers, potentially at the expense of their employers, and is trying to tilt the playing field more in favor of workers," said Leonard Samuels, a labor and employment expert and partner at Berger Singerman law firm. "What the Biden administration is doing all at once is fairly breathtaking."

The new rules are an attempt to "get American workers a better deal," Biden said in a post on social media platform X.1 "Workers ought to have the right to choose who they want to work for," Biden wrote of the non-compete ban. And regarding the overtime rule: "If you work extra hours, you deserve extra pay."

Associated Press: How US Changes to 'noncompete' agreements and overtime pay could affect workers
[Cathy Bussewitz and Mae Anderson, 4/24/24]

For millions of American workers, the federal government took two actions this week that could bestow potentially far-reaching benefits.

In one move, the Federal Trade Commission voted to ban noncompete agreements, which bar millions of workers from leaving their employers to join a competitor or start a rival business for a specific period of time. The FTC's move, which is already being challenged in court, would mean that such employees could apply for jobs they weren't previously eligible to seek.

In a second move, the Biden administration finalized a rule that will make millions more salaried workers eligible for overtime pay. The rule significantly raises the salary level that workers could earn and still qualify for overtime.