Earlier this week Connecticut State Representative Brenda Kupchick introduced Bill 5236, AN ACT CREATING AN EMPLOYERS’ BILL OF RIGHTS. It consists of 3 very cryptic – yet easily decoded – sentences.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

That the general statutes be amended to require the Labor Department to develop and promulgate an Employers’ Bill of Rights.

Statement of Purpose:

To create an Employers’ Bill of Rights that would serve to protect employers from frivolous complaints and claims brought by employees.

What is an Employers’ Bill of Rights?

Last Fall Fox Business featured a story about a union rally that wanted a second bill of rights to protect workers. One of their reporters, Kennedy, was filmed undercover petitioning for an Employers Bill of Rights. “The right to hire and fire. The right to relocate my business from anywhere to anywhere The right to determine wage levels…”

John Stossel’s on camera banter included terms like union “thug bosses” and comments like: “at the rally many workers acted like they own their jobs.”  At the end of the video a union demonstrator asks Kennedy, “who is the determiner of my wage?”  Kennedy quickly responds that it’s your boss. “No, no, no, no, no,” the demonstrator says ending the video clip and to the delight of Stossel’s studio audience.  Kennedy tells Stossel that the concept of collective bargaining is condescending because it tells workers they can not think for themselves. And, with that the rest of the television show wanders through the looking glass.

The Book – An Employers’ Bill of Rights: A Manager’s Guide to Workplace Law

This past November the book, An Employers’ Bill of Rights: A Manager’s Guide to Workplace Law was released. The book’s Table of Contents says it all:

Table of Contents

1. The Right to Hire on Qualifications and Fire on Performance

2. The Right to Criticize to Improve Performance

3. The Right to Control Operations

4. The Right to Set Sane Work Rules

5. The Right to Be Told When There Is a Problem

6. The Right to Receive an Honest Day’s Work

7. The Right to Have Our Say Before You Form a Union

8. The Right to Reasonable Notice for Special Requests

9. The Right to Confidentiality

10. The Right to Be Treated With Respect

11. Sample Forms

Related articles

• California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights (lawprofessors.typepad.com)