Washington Report: Vermont Closer to Examining and Regulating Swipe Fees

Congress is in recess and back home in their districts, but the administration is taking action on fuel efficiency and changes to labor laws are coming - be prepared.

April 02, 2010

Vermont Senate Passes Bill to Curb Unfair Credit Card Fees
Earlier this week the Vermont Senate unanimously voted to pass a bill that would discourage unfair practices employed by Visa and MasterCard. The bill contains the following provisions pertaining to what electronic payment systems cannot do in their relationship with merchants:

  • Impose any requirement or penalty in a contract relating to the display of pricing, including a display outlining discounts for other types of payments.
  • Prevent any merchant from setting minimums and maximums amounts that can be put on a card.
  • Inhibit merchants to decide not to accept the products of the electronic payment system at one of its locations.

The bill also calls for a study to be conducted on the possible economic impacts on Vermont banks, businesses and consumers if electronic payment systems were prohibited from setting required interchange rates.

NACS applauds the Vermont Senate for taking such notable action. The Merchants Payments Coalition said in a statement after the vote, "The unanimous passage of this legislation means Vermont is a large step closer to demanding fairness, competition, and transparency from the credit card companies. The senators who passed this bill stood up to an onslaught of lobbying by the big banks, who are spending millions of dollars trying to protect the cash grab of swipe fees. And it??s no wonder, since they make billions of dollars every year off merchants and our customers."

The bill faces another vote in the state Senate before heading to the state House. Stay tuned for further developments in Vermont and other states looking to take action on swipe fees.

NACS Staff Contact: Lyle Beckwith

Tougher Fuel Economy Standards Announced
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) jointly issued final rules regulating the emissions standard for vehicles. By 2016, automakers must have an average fleet wide fuel economy of 34.1 miles per gallon. The administration says this is aimed at increasing the production of clean energy cars, especially electric and hybrid cars.

Industry groups are taking issue with the involvement of the EPA. According to a statement released by the American Petroleum Institute, "Improving vehicle efficiency makes sense. It??s a vital part of energy conservation. However, EPA joining DOT in this rule sets the nation on the disastrous course of Clean Air Act regulation of stationary source greenhouse gas emissions. The rule is not just about vehicle efficiency. It??s about EPA overreaching to create an opportunity for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from virtually every firm and business in America, no matter how unwieldy, intrusive and burdensome such regulation might be. The Department of Transportation, which has been the agency issuing vehicle fuel economy standards, could have proceeded without EPA. EPA??s imposition of greenhouse gas emission standards duplicates DOT??s fuel economy standards, without achieving any significant environmental benefit."

NACS Staff Contact: John Eichberger

Weingarten Rights - Have You Heard of Them?
In 1975, the U.S. Supreme Court decided on a case (National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) vs. Weingarten Inc.) that gave employees the right to have union representation during investigatory interviews, now commonly known as Weingarten Rights. In July 2000, NLRB ruled that the Weingarten Rights applied to not only union employees, but also to nonunion employees. On June 15, 2004, NLRB ruled that employees who work in a nonunionized workplace are not entitled to have a coworker accompany them to an interview with their employer, even if the affected employee believes that the interview might result in discipline.

You might be wondering why these dates matter, or why you should care about an employee??s Weingarten Rights. Read on...

The NLRB is made up of a five people; three from the sitting president??s party and two from the opposing party. In 2000, President Clinton??s NLRB expanded the Weingarten Rights to nonunionized employees. In 2004, President George W. Bush??s NLRB had the ability to reverse the previous decision with three pro-business members on the NLRB. Unions spent more than $400 million to ensure President Barack Obama was elected; it is a fair assumption that NLRB will not be taking a pro-business stance when deciding on cases before them.

With the recess appointments of Craig Becker and labor attorney Mark Gaston Pearce to the NLRB, now is the time for employers to prepare for changes. Expanding the Weingarten Rights back to covering nonunionized employees is just one issue that the sitting NLRB will decide on.

Employees have Weingarten Rights when they believe that discipline, dismissal, or other adverse consequences may result from an investigatory interview. In layman terms, if a manager questions an employee about stealing, lying, or any other infraction of company policy; the employee has the right to have a union representative or co-worker present with them if requested. Management needs to know how to respond when this request is made to protect the interests of the business.

When the employee makes the request for a union representative or a co-worker to be present during questioning, management has three options:

  1. Stop questioning until the representative arrives
  2. Call off the interview
  3. Tell the employee that management will call off the interview unless the employee voluntarily gives up his/her rights to a union/non-union representative

Employers often assume that having an employee requested representative present with them during questioning is simply for observation purposes. However, the Supreme Court clearly acknowledges a representative??s right to assist and counsel the employee during the questioning. Although the representative cannot speak on behalf of the employee or tell the employee what to say, they have the right to advise them on how to answer questions.

So why do managers need to pay attention to the NLRB and Weingarten Rights? Businesses might soon be faced with unfair labor practice charges filed with the NLRB if they ignore an employee??s Weingarten Rights, resulting in reinstatement of an ex-employee, back pay for the ex-employee and monetary penalties on the business. The NLRB has more than 600 cases they will be ruling on in the coming months. Business need to prepare now for changes in labor law.

NACS Staff Contact: Corey Fitze

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