I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3530

To provide for labor recruiter accountability, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 19, 2003

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. 

EVANS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. OWENS, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, 

Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. 

DELAURO, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. LINDA T. 

SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, 

Mr. FARR, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. TIERNEY, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. 

WOOLSEY, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. DELAHUNT, 

Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. BACA, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. GREEN of 

Texas, Mr. HOLT, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BERMAN, and Mr. LANTOS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To provide for labor recruiter accountability, and for other 

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Labor Recruiter Ac5 countability Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. PROTECTIONS FOR WORKERS RECRUITED ABROAD. 

2 (a) BASIC REQUIREMENTS.—(1) Each employer and 

3 foreign labor contractor who engages in foreign labor con4 tracting activity shall ascertain and disclose to each such 

5 worker who is recruited for employment the following in6 formation at the time of the worker’s recruitment: 

7 (A) The place of employment. 

8 (B) The compensation for the employment. 

9 (C) A description of employment activities. 

10 (D) The period of employment. 

11 (E) The transportation, housing, and any other 

12 employee benefit to be provided and any costs to be 

13 charged for each benefit. 

14 (F) The existence of any labor organizing ef15 fort, strike, lockout, or other labor dispute at the 

16 place of employment. 

17 (G) The existence of any arrangements with 

18 any owner or agent of any establishment in the area 

19 of employment under which the contractor or em20 ployer is to receive a commission or any other ben21 efit resulting from any sales (including the provision 

22 of services) by such establishment to the workers. 

23 (H) Whether and the extent to which workers 

24 will be compensated through workers’ compensation, 

25 private insurance, or otherwise for injuries or death, 

26 including work related injuries and death, during the 
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1 period of employment and, if so, the name of the 

2 State workers’ compensation insurance carrier or the 

3 name of the policyholder of the private insurance, 

4 the name and the telephone number of each person 

5 who must be notified of an injury or death, and the 

6 time period within which such notice must be given. 

7 (I) Any education or training to be provided or 

8 made available, including the nature and cost of 

9 such training, who will pay such costs, and whether 

10 the training is a condition of employment, continued 

11 employment, or future employment. 

12 (J) A statement, approved by the Secretary of 

13 Labor, describing the protections of this Act for 

14 workers recruited abroad. 

15 (2) No foreign labor contractor or employer shall 

16 knowingly provide false or misleading information to any 

17 worker concerning any matter required to be disclosed in 

18 paragraph (1). 

19 (3) The information required to be disclosed by para20 graph (1) to workers shall be provided in written form. 

21 Such information shall be provided in English or, as nec22 essary and reasonable, in the language of the worker being 

23 recruited. The Department of Labor shall make forms 

24 available in English, Spanish, and other languages, as nec-
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1 essary, which may be used in providing workers with infor2 mation required under this section. 

3 (4) No fees may be charged to a worker for recruit4 ment. 

5 (5) No employer or foreign labor contractor shall, 

6 without justification, violate the terms of any working ar7 rangement made by that contractor or employer. 

8 (6) The employer shall pay the transportation costs, 

9 including subsistence costs during the period of travel, for 

10 the worker from the place of recruitment to the place of 

11 employment and from the place of employment to such 

12 worker’s place of permanent residence. 

13 (b) OTHER WORKER PROTECTIONS.—(1) Each em14 ployer shall notify the Secretary of the identity of any for15 eign labor contractor involved in any foreign labor con16 tractor activity for or on behalf of the employer. The em17 ployer shall be subject to the civil remedies of this Act 

18 for violations committed by such foreign labor contractor 

19 to the same extent as if the employer had committed the 

20 violation. The employer shall notify the Secretary of the 

21 identity of such a foreign labor contractor whose activities 

22 do not comply with this Act. 

23 (2) The Secretary shall maintain a list of all foreign 

24 labor contractors whom the Secretary knows or believes 

25 have been involved in violations of this Act, and make that 
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1 list publicly available. The Secretary shall provide a proce2 dure by which an employer, a foreign labor contractor, or 

3 someone acting on behalf of such contractor may seek to 

4 have a foreign labor contractor’s name removed from such 

5 list by demonstrating to the Secretary’s satisfaction that 

6 the foreign labor contractor has not violated this Act in 

7 the previous five years. 

8 (3) No foreign labor contractor shall violate, without 

9 justification, the terms of any written agreements made 

10 with an employer pertaining to any contracting activity or 

11 worker protection under this Act. 

12 (c) DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED.—No person shall 

13 intimidate, threaten, restrain, coerce, blacklist, discharge, 

14 or in any manner discriminate against any worker because 

15 such worker has, with just cause, filed any complaint or 

16 instituted, or caused to be instituted, any proceeding 

17 under or related to this Act, or has testified or is about 

18 to testify in any such proceedings, or because of the exer19 cise, with just cause, by such worker on behalf of himself 

20 or others of any right or protection afforded by this Act. 

21 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS. 

22 (a) CRIMINAL SANCTIONS.—Whoever knowingly vio23 lates this Act shall be fined under title 18, United States 

24 Code, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. 

25 Upon conviction, after a first conviction under this section, 
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1 for a second or subsequent violation of this Act, the de2 fendant shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, 

3 or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. 

4 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS.—(1)(A) Subject to 

5 subparagraph (B), the Secretary may assess a civil money 

6 penalty of not more than $5,000 on any person who vio7 lates this Act. 

8 (B) In determining the amount of any penalty to be 

9 assessed under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall take 

10 into account (i) the previous record of the person in terms 

11 of compliance with this Act and with comparable require12 ments of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, and with 

13 regulations promulgated under such Acts, and (ii) the 

14 gravity of the violation. 

15 (2) Any employer who uses the services of a foreign 

16 labor contractor who is on the list maintained by the Sec17 retary pursuant to section 2(b)(2), shall, if the actions of 

18 such foreign labor contractor have contributed to a viola19 tion of this Act by the employer, be fined $10,000 per 

20 violation in addition to any other fines or penalties for 

21 which the employer may be liable for the violation. 

22 (c) ACTIONS BY SECRETARY.—The Secretary may 

23 take such actions, including seeking appropriate injunctive 

24 relief and specific performance of contractual obligations, 

25 as may be necessary to assure employer compliance with 
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1 terms and conditions of employment under this Act and 

2 with this Act. 

3 (d) WAIVER OF RIGHTS.—Agreements by employees 

4 purporting to waive or to modify their rights under this 

5 Act shall be void as contrary to public policy. 

6 (e) REPRESENTATION IN COURT.—Except as pro7 vided in section 518(a) of title 28, United States Code, 

8 relating to litigation before the Supreme Court, the Solic9 itor of Labor may appear for and represent the Secretary 

10 in any civil litigation brought under this Act, but all such 

11 litigation shall be subject to the direction and control of 

12 the Attorney General. 

13 SEC. 4. PROCEDURES IN ADDITION TO OTHER RIGHTS OF 

14 EMPLOYEES. 

15 The rights and remedies provided to workers by this 

16 Act are in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other con17 tractual or statutory rights and remedies of the workers, 

18 and are not intended to alter or affect such rights and 

19 remedies. 

20 SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO PRESCRIBE REGULATIONS. 

21 The Secretary of Labor shall prescribe such regula22 tions as may be necessary to carry out this Act. 

23 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided by 

25 this Act, for purposes of this Act the terms used in this 
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1 Act shall have the same meanings, respectively, as are 

2 given those terms in section 3 of the Fair Labor Stand3 ards Act of 1938. 

4 (b) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act: 

5 (1) The term ‘‘United States’’ means any with6 in any State. 

7 (2) The term ‘‘State’’ means any State of the 

8 United States and includes the District of Columbia, 

9 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Common10 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the 

11 Virgin Islands of the United States. 

12 (3) The term ‘‘foreign labor contractor’’ means 

13 any person who for any money or other valuable 

14 consideration paid or promised to be paid, performs 

15 any foreign labor contracting activity. 

16 (4) The term ‘‘foreign labor contracting activ17 ity’’ means recruiting, soliciting, hiring, employing, 

18 or furnishing, an individual who resides outside of 

19 the United States to be employed in the United 

20 States. 

21 (5) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

22 of Labor. 
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1 (6) The term ‘‘worker’’ means an individual 

2 who is the subject of foreign labor contracting activ3 ity.

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