Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

April 23, 2007
How the Employee Free Choice Act Takes Away Workers' Rights
By James Sherk and Paul Kersey
(Backgrounder #2027)
The Employee Free Choice Act would strip American workers of their right to a private-ballot vote, require companies to submit to binding arbitration, and increase ...

March 5, 2007
Binding Arbitration: A Bad Deal for Workers
By Paul Kersey and James Sherk
(WebMemo #1383)
Under proposed legislation, workers would not get the chance to vote to approve some work contracts and would have to wait at least two years ...

March 5, 2007
Binding Arbitration for Unions Endangers Competitiveness and Innovation
By Paul Kersey and James Sherk
(WebMemo #1384)
Proposed legislation would give government officials unprecedented power to set wages and employment conditions throughout the economy and would reduce business innovation and competitiveness.

March 1, 2007
Interest Arbitration: Risky for Unions and Employers
By Paul Kersey and James Sherk
(WebMemo #1378)
Interest arbitration would shift employers' and unions' right to negotiate contracts to unaccountable government officials, increasing the risk of bad contracts.

December 21, 2004
Medical Leave Regulations Should Reflect Intent Behind FMLA
By Paul Kersey
(WebMemo #626)
DOL's FMLA regulations allow abuse and should be fixed.

December 3, 2004
After Overtime, Now What?
By Paul Kersey
(WebMemo #617)
One of the most important stories lost in the last-minute rush to pass a budget last month was what Congress did not do: In spite ...

November 12, 2004
Congress Should Protect Secret-Ballot Union Representation Elections
By Paul Kersey
(Executive Memorandum #948)
A union should have majority support among a group of workers before it may represent them, and the best way to prove this support is ...

August 16, 2004
Modernizing Overtime Regulations to Benefit Employers and Employees
By Paul Kersey
(Backgrounder #1789)
With the exception of some piecemeal revisions, the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations have not been updated for 50 years. New regulations, promulgated by the ...

July 14, 2004
New Overtime Regulations: Modernizing Outdated Rules or Eroding Worker Protections?
By Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D., and Paul Kersey
(WebMemo #535)
Contrary to the Economic Policy Institute's analysis, the new overtime regulation will improve protections for employees.

July 14, 2004
Closer Examination, Fewer Changes: A Rebuttal of EPI's White Collar Exemption Analysis
By Paul Kersey
(WebMemo #536)
The Economic Policy Institute says the new overtime regulation threatens the overtime protection of millions of workers. EPI's analysis is flawed.

July 6, 2004
In the Dark on Job Training: Federal Job-Training Programs Have a Record of Failure
By David Muhlhausen, Ph.D., and Paul Kersey
(Backgrounder #1774)
The history of federally funded job-training programs strongly suggests that reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) will not substantially raise participants' incomes. There is little ...

May 5, 2004
Ready to Compete: The Link Between Productivity, Jobs, and Wages
By Paul Kersey
(WebMemo #498)
Americans workers are producing more goods per hour of work and boosting their own incomes in the process.

May 4, 2004
More Trade, Less Assistance: Why TAA Should Not Be Expanded
By Sara Fitzgerald, Paul Kersey, and Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #495)
Expanding TAA would be expensive and could cost American jobs.

May 4, 2004
The Wrong Time to Extend Unemployment Insurance
By Paul Kersey and Tim Kane, Ph.D.,
(Backgrounder #1754)
The labor market's perceived weakness has led to calls for another extension of temporary unemployment insurance benefits, but this would increase spending by roughly $1 ...

May 3, 2004
The Economic Effects of the Minimum Wage
By Paul Kersey
(Testimony )
I have good news and bad news for you. The bad news is that increasing the minimum wage will do little to improve conditions for ...

April 21, 2004
Extending Unemployment Insurance: Three Simple Charts Against
By Paul Kersey and Tim Kane, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #487)
Although the perception of weakness in the labor market has led to calls for another extension of temporary unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, this is a ...

April 20, 2004
The New Overtime Regulations: Clearer Rules, Fewer Conflicts
By Paul Kersey
(WebMemo #485)
The new regulations appear to provide much-needed updates and clarifications to exemptions from the Fair Labor Standards Act.

March 23, 2004
Domestic Violence Amendment Is Unnecessary and Burdensome
By Paul Kersey
(WebMemo #454)
An amendment has been proposed to the Unborn Victims of Violence Bill (HR 1997) to provide employment protections to victims of domestic violence. However, current ...

March 18, 2004
Extending Unemployment Benefits: Wrong Solution to the Wrong Problem
By Paul Kersey
(WebMemo #450)
Extending unemployment benefits would not address the underlying causes of sluggish job growth and, at worst, could make the problem of unemployment worse.

February 13, 2004
Emergency Unemployment Benefits Not Needed as Economy Recovers
By Paul Kersey
(Executive Memorandum #914)
Economic indicators suggest that a recovery is underway, and that recovery is beginning to affect the job market. With jobs becoming more and more available, ...

September 6, 2004
Don't Worry Over Overtime Changes
By Paul Kersey

This Labor Day finds many workers in a state of anxiety over the overtime rules that became law on Aug. 23.

July 22, 2004
A Minimum-Wage Hike Wouldn't Add Up
By Paul Kersey

Sen. John Kerry counts himself among those who have concluded that millions of low-wage, mostly young or unskilled workers deserve a raise. A pretty hefty ...

February 16, 2004
Overdue on Overtime
By Paul Kersey

irtually everything about the American workplace has changed since the 1930s. We use computers instead of typewriters, send e-mail rather than use the post office, ...