S. 1301 — Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act of 2025

This section revises the definition of employer under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to exclude any Indian Tribe or any enterprise or institution owned and operated by an Indian Tribe and located on its Indian lands (previously excluded only the United States, wholly owned government corporations, Federal Reserve Banks, states or political subdivisions thereof, persons subject to the Railway Labor Act, and labor organizations other than when acting as employers). (Thus, employees of such tribes and tribal enterprises are not covered by NLRA protections for collective bargaining and unfair labor practices.) It also adds definitions of (15) Indian Tribe (i.e., any federally recognized Indian tribe, band, nation, pueblo, or other organized group or community eligible for federal programs and services provided to Indians); (16) Indian (i.e., any member of an Indian Tribe); and (17) Indian lands (i.e., reservation lands, lands held in trust by the United States or by tribes/Indians subject to alienation restrictions, and lands in Oklahoma within former reservation boundaries as defined by the Secretary of the Interior).