Murray Joins Warren, Schakowsky, DeLauro, Lee, Pressley, and Porter in Reintroducing the Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) Chair of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) joined U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA-13), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-07), and Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-CA-45) in reintroducing the Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act. The legislation would strengthen protections for part-time workers and allow them to better balance their work schedules with personal and family needs. The legislation will address one of the primary issues that hourly workers face — work schedules that do not provide as many hours as they need to support their families — and provide additional protections and benefits for part-time workers.

“Every single worker deserves the protections and benefits they need to make ends meet and support their families—and that absolutely includes part-time workers,” said Senator Murray. “It’s past time we ensure part-time workers aren’t short-changed on hours and have access to critical benefits full-time workers already get, like family and medical leave and access to a retirement plan. I’m proud to join my colleagues to introduce the Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act to help ease the stress that so many part-time workers are dealing with and build back an economy that works for everyone.”

Corporations often use underemployment, giving part-time workers fewer hours than they want and spreading work among many part-time employees rather than hiring full-time employees, as an intentional strategy to avoid providing benefits and paying higher wages in order to boost short-term profits.

The Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act would:

• Require large employers to offer available hours to current, available, qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees or subcontractors. The legislation requires employers with more than 500 workers to compensate existing employees if they hire new employees instead of assigning new work to available, qualified, existing employees.
• Make more part-time employees eligible for family and medical leave. The legislation guarantees any employee who has worked for their employer for at least a year access to federal leave protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
• Allow part-time workers to participate in their employers' pension plans. The legislation amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to give part-time workers who have worked at least 500 hours for two consecutive years access to retirement plans if they are offered by their employers to full-time workers.  Sen. Murray has been fighting to expand access to retirement for part-time workers in her Women’s Retirement Protection Act.

The bill is cosponsored by Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

The Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act is supported by: 9to5, A Better Balance, Action for Children, AFL-CIO, African American Health Alliance, All-Options, American Association of University Women, Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, BreastfeedLA, Catch Fire Movement, CDF, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Center for Popular Democracy, CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers, Chicago Foundation for Women, Child Care Aware of America, Citizen Action of New York, Coalition for Social Justice, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Coalition on Human Needs, Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF), Economic Policy Institute, Equal Rights Advocates, Every Texan, Faith in Public Life, Family Values @ Work, Healthy Nourishment,  Jobs With Justice, Justice for Migrant Women, Kentucky Equal Justice Center, Legal Aid at Work, Legal Momentum, The Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund, MANA - A National Latina Organization, MomsRising, National Black Worker Center, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, National Center for Law and Economic Justice, National Council of Jewish Women, National Employment Law Project, National Employment Lawyers Association, National Organization for Women, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women's Law Center, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Network of Jewish Human, Service Agencies, North Carolina Justice Center, Oxfam America, Poligon Education Fund, Public Justice Center, ROC United, Service Employees International Union, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, Start Early, Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice, TakeAction Minnesota, The National Domestic Violence Hotline, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, United for Respect, We All Rise, Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest PA, Women Employed, Women's Fund of Rhode Island, Women's Law Project, Women's Media Center, Workplace Fairness, YWCA of the University of Illinois, YWCA USA, ZERO TO THREE.

A one-pager on the bill is available HERE.

The bill text is available HERE.

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