Bill Would Protect Employee Privacy

U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL) has made a pre-emptive strike against a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) representation election rule by introducing a bill to prohibit the Board from requiring employers to give employee contact information to the union or Board.

The bill, titled Keeping Employees' E-mails and Phones (KEEP) Secure Act (H.R. 3991), would add a provision to the National Labor Relations Act that states, “In no circumstances shall the Board require an employer to provide to the Board or to a labor organization the telephone number or e-mail address of any employee.”

Last year, the NLRB proposed changes to representation election procedures that would require employers to provide a final voter or “Excelsior” list that includes the employees’ names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses to the union within two days after the election is scheduled. An expedited Excelsior list to unions would facilitate union organizing, but also raises employee privacy issues.

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