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Policy Week in Review – June 12, 2026
At a Glance
The Policy Week in Review, prepared by Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute (WPI), sets forth WPI’s updates on federal legislation, regulations, and congressional activity affecting the workplace.
House Passes Union-Backed Faster Labor Contracts Act
As expected, the House passed the Faster Labor Contracts Act (FLCA), H.R. 5408, on Tuesday. The vote was 230-193, with 20 Republicans joining Democrats to pass the bill. See the roll call vote here. The bill now moves over to the Senate where it will be referred to the Senate HELP Committee for consideration. Although Committee Chair Cassidy (R-LA) is not expected to prioritize advancing the bill out of his committee, it is important to note that Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), the lead sponsor of the Senate companion bill, as well as co-sponsor Roger Marshall (R-KS), are members of the Committee.
Senate Holds Confirmation Hearing on NLRB Nominees
The Senate HELP Committee held a hearing on Wednesday to consider the nominations of James Macy and David Prouty (whose term expires in August) to be members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). To ensure a quorum at the NLRB, the Committee is expected to hold a markup on the nominees soon to advance them to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote. Importantly, if Macy is confirmed, the Board will achieve its long-held tradition of three votes in the affirmative to overturn precedent.
President Trump Signs ICE and CBP Reconciliation Bill
President Trump signed the Republican-led budget reconciliation bill that provides nearly $70 billion in funding for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to carry out immigration enforcement operations through 2029 (the end of President Trump’s term).
OSHA Announces Public Hearings on Proposed Rules
OSHA has scheduled a series of informal public hearings for over 20 proposed rules, most of which involve respiratory protection requirements, as part of its continuing deregulatory efforts. These public hearings will be held virtually, beginning on August 19, 2026. For a list of the upcoming hearings and Littler’s analysis, read here.
DOL Endorses “Bonus Pool” Approach to Calculating Percentage Bonuses
Employers that award “percentage of total earnings” bonuses to nonexempt employees are not required to calculate supplemental overtime amounts owed due to the bonus because the bonus is deemed to already include overtime. While convenient, this approach can lead to budgetary uncertainty as the employer will not know the total amount of bonus payments until after the performance period is complete. In Opinion Letter FLSA2026-6, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) endorsed an alternative approach to the “percentage of total earnings” bonus, allowing employers to determine the total bonus pool amount after the incentive period is complete and then “reverse engineer” the percentage amount after the fact.
