Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act

Summary: Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act  This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a tax on large employers whose employees receive certain federal benefits during the year. A "large employer" is an employer who employed an average of at least 500 employees on business days during the preceding year.  The tax is equal to the benefits that the employees receive under:    the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program),   the school lunch and school breakfast programs administered under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966,   section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, and   Medicaid.   The bill also prohibits large employers from asking questions or seeking information about whether a job applicant receives federal benefits.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out 
Subsidies Act''.

SEC. 2. TAX ON EMPLOYERS WITH EMPLOYEES RECEIVING CERTAIN FEDERAL 
              BENEFITS.

    (a) In General.--The Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 
inserting after chapter 36 the following new chapter:

   ``CHAPTER 37--EMPLOYERS WITH EMPLOYEES RECEIVING CERTAIN FEDERAL 
                                BENEFITS

``SEC. 4501. EMPLOYERS WITH EMPLOYEES RECEIVING CERTAIN FEDERAL 
              BENEFITS.

    ``(a) Imposition of Corporate Welfare Tax.--There is hereby imposed 
on each large employer a tax equal to 100 percent of the qualified 
employee benefits with respect to such employer for the taxable year.
    ``(b) Large Employer.--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term 
        `large employer' means, with respect to a calendar year, an 
        employer who employed an average of at least 500 employees on 
        business days during the preceding calendar year.
            ``(2) Rules for determining employer size.--For purposes of 
        this subsection:
                    ``(A) Application of aggregation rule for 
                employers.--All persons treated as a single employer 
                under subsection (b), (c), (m), or (o) of section 414 
                of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall be treated 
                as 1 employer.
                    ``(B) Employers not in existence in preceding 
                year.--In the case of an employer which was not in 
                existence throughout the preceding calendar year, the 
                determination of whether such employer is a large 
                employer shall be based on the average number of 
                employees that it is reasonably expected such employer 
                will employ on business days in the current calendar 
                year.
                    ``(C) Predecessors.--Any reference in this 
                subsection to an employer shall include a reference to 
                any predecessor of such employer.
    ``(c) Qualified Employee Benefits.--For purposes of this section:
            ``(1) In general.--The term `qualified employee benefits' 
        means, with respect to a person for a taxable year, the sum of 
        the qualified Federal benefits received by individuals who are 
        employees of such person for such taxable year.
            ``(2) Qualified federal benefits.--The term `qualified 
        Federal benefits' means, with respect to an individual, the 
        following:
                    ``(A) The dollar value of supplemental nutrition 
                assistance for which the household (as defined in 
                section 3(m) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008) 
                that includes such individual is eligible.
                    ``(B) The dollar value of meals that such 
                individual or dependents of such individual are 
                eligible for under the school lunch program under the 
                Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the 
                school breakfast program under section 4 of the Child 
                Nutrition Act of 1966.
                    ``(C) The aggregate amount of the monthly 
                assistance payments for rental of a dwelling unit that 
                the household of such individual is a member of is 
                eligible to have made on its behalf pursuant to section 
                8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937.
                    ``(D) The amount of payments made under section 
                1903 of the Social Security Act with respect to 
                expenditures made by a State under a State Medicaid 
                plan under title XIX of such Act (or a waiver of such 
                plan) for medical assistance for such individual or for 
                dependents of such individual.
    ``(d) Employee.--For purposes of this section, the term `employee' 
means--
            ``(1) any full-time or part-time employee,
            ``(2) any individual who is a full-time or part-time 
        independent contractor (including any employee of such 
        independent contractor) and provides services to the employer, 
        unless--
                    ``(A) the individual is free from control and 
                direction in connection with the performance of the 
                service, both under the contract for the performance of 
                service and in fact,
                    ``(B) the service is performed outside the usual 
                course of the business of the employer, and
                    ``(C) the individual is customarily engaged in an 
                independently established trade, occupation, 
                profession, or business of the same nature as that 
                involved in the service performed, and
            ``(3) any individual who is a full-time or part-time joint 
        employee, provided that the employer possess, reserves, or 
        exercises sufficient direct or indirect control over the 
        essential terms and conditions of employment of such employee.
    ``(e) Regulations.--The Secretary, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
Development, and the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and 
Medicaid Services, shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary 
or appropriate to carry out this chapter.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendments.--The table of chapters for subtitle D of 
such Code is amended by inserting after the item relating to chapter 36 
the following new item:

   ``Chapter 37--Employers With Employees Receiving Certain Federal 
                              Benefits''.

    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this Act apply with 
respect to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2018.

SEC. 3. UNLAWFUL EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES RELATED TO FEDERAL BENEFITS OF 
              APPLICANTS.

    (a) In General.--It shall be an unlawful employment practice for 
any large employer (as defined in section 4501(b) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986) to make inquiries of an applicant for employment, 
or otherwise seek information about such an applicant (including 
through the use of any form or application), relating to whether such 
applicant receives Federal benefits.
    (b) Enforcement.--A violation of subsection (a) shall be treated 
as, and enforced by the Secretary of Labor in the same manner as, a 
violation of section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 
U.S.C. 206), except that for purposes of section 15(b) of such Act (29 
U.S.C. 215(b)), the employer shall be liable to the individual alleging 
the violation for any lost wages due the individual and an additional 
equal amount of liquidated damages.