Rep. Sandy Adams Takes on NLRB, Seeks to Safeguard Employees’ Privacy
Alison Meyer /
U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL) is taking aim at a possible rule from the National Labor Relations Board that she believes infringes on the constitutional freedoms of American workers.
Speaking at Heritage’s Bloggers Briefing, Adams explained why she introduced the Keeping Employees Emails and Phones Secure Act. She said the legislation would protect employees from the NLRB’s overreach.
Labor unions have already waged a high-profile campaign to secure NLRB approval to make changes to the union election process. Now, Adams said, the NLRB is moving forward with a plan that would breach employees’ privacy by forcing employers to hand over telephone numbers and email addresses.
The NLRB initially created an Excelsior list in 1966, which included names and addresses. NLRB Chairman Mark Pearce recently said he wants to move forward with the Excelsior list expansion to include “both telephone numbers and, where available, e-mail addresses be included … on the eligibility list.”
The NLRB appears undeterred in its effort to appease labor unions, even in the wake of President Obama’s unconstitutional appointments in January, Adams said.
“I felt like expanding that was a violation of privacy to the employees,” she said. “These were private employers and private employees. Our first step has to be to stop expansion of this list. You the employee have a right to say if I choose to give them this, I can, but being forced to give them private information, that is not what this country is about. This is just continuing to put the government in the middle of the private sector.”
This is not the only example of where Adams sees an intrusion of government in the lives of Americans. On the issue of Obamacare’s anti-conscience mandate, she called it an attack on religious liberty.
“It is a violation of the First Amendment,” Adams said. “It has nothing to do with women’s health care; it has everything to do with an attack on our religious freedoms.”