I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1859

To require employers to post, and to provide to employees individually, information relating to sexual harassment that violates title VII of the Civil

Rights Act of 1964; and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 15, 1995

Mr. MILLER of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to

the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities

A BILL

To require employers to post, and to provide to employees

individually, information relating to sexual harassment

that violates title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;

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 ‘‘Sexual Harassment

5 Prevention Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Sexual harassment in employment persists

2 widely in the workplace, although it violates title VII

3 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and adversely affects

4 employees.

5 (2) According to guidelines issued by the Equal

6 Employment Opportunity Commission in 1980, the

7 most effective tool for eliminating sexual harassment

8 is prevention.

9 (3) The United States Merit Systems Protec10 tion Board found in 1981 and 1988 surveys of Fed11 eral Government employees that 42 percent of fe12 male employees and 14 percent of male employees

13 questioned had experienced some kind of harassment

14 in employment. The American Psychological Association estimates that at least 1 15 ⁄2 of all working women

16 have been sexually harassed at the workplace during

17 their careers.

18 (4) The vast majority of sexual harassment epi19 sodes go unreported to a supervisory employee or

20 other individual designated by the employer. Only 5

21 percent of the Federal Government employees who

22 indicated in the 1988 Merit Systems Protection

23 Board survey that they had been harassed filed a

24 formal complaint or requested an investigation of

25 the harassment.
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1 (5) Sexual harassment has a significant cost for

2 employees and employers. A 1988 study by Working

3 Woman Magazine shows that sexual harassment

4 costs a typical ‘‘Fortune 500’’ private employer

5 $6,000,000, or $292.53 per employee, each year.

6 The same study estimates that it is 34 times more

7 expensive for such an employer to ignore the prob8 lem than it is to establish effective programs and

9 policies to address the problem.

10 (6) Most job growth over the next decade is ex11 pected to occur in employment by small employers.

12 Sixty-six percent of the individuals who will enter

13 the work force during this period are expected to be

14 female. The establishment of programs and policies

15 in small-business environments, at a low cost to em16 ployers, will be a key prevention priority to reduce

17 sexual harassment in employment.

18 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

19 (1) to establish workplace requirements that

20 will reduce the incidence of sexual harassment in

21 employment,

22 (2) to provide a low-cost system to assist em23 ployers to establish programs and policies to prevent

24 sexual harassment in employment,
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1 (3) to raise the awareness of employees of the

2 definition of sexual harassment and of available ave3 nues of redress, and

4 (4) to increase the authority and capacity of the

5 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to as6 sist in preventing sexual harassment in employment.

7 SEC. 3. EMPLOYER REQUIREMENTS.

8 (a) POSTING OF NOTICE IN THE WORKPLACE.—

9 Each employer shall post and keep posted in conspicuous

10 places upon its premises where notices to employees and

11 applicants for employment are customarily posted, a no12 tice that shall be prepared or approved by the Commission

13 and shall set forth—

14 (1) the definition of sexual harassment found in

15 section 1604.11(a) of title 29 of the Code of Federal

16 Regulations (July 1, 1992),

17 (2) the fact that sexual harassment in employ18 ment is a violation of title VII of the Civil Rights

19 Act of 1964,

20 (3) information describing how to file a claim

21 alleging such harassment, including information on

22 the time periods within which an alleged victim of

23 discrimination (including sexual harassment) must

24 file a claim in order to satisfy the applicable statute

25 of limitations applicable to such claim,
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1 (4) an address, and the toll-free telephone num2 ber, to be used to contact the Commission regarding

3 such harassment or compliance with the require4 ments of this Act, and

5 (5) such other information as the Commission

6 may require.

7 (b) SEPARATE NOTICE TO INDIVIDUAL EMPLOY8 EES.—Each employer shall provide annually to each em9 ployee separately a written notice that includes—

10 (1) the matters specified in paragraphs (1)

11 through (4) of subsection (a),

12 (2) a description of the procedures established

13 by such employer to resolve allegations of sexual

14 harassment in employment, and

15 (3) such other information as the Commission

16 may require.

17 Such notice shall be provided in a manner that ensures

18 that such employee actually receives such notice.

19 (c) MANAGEMENT INFORMATION FOR SUPERVISORY

20 EMPLOYEES.—Not later than 60 days after an employer

21 places an individual in a supervisory employment position

22 or 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act,

23 whichever occurs later, such employer shall provide to the

24 supervisory employee information specifying the respon25 sibilities of, and the methods to be used by, such employee
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1 to ensure that immediate and corrective action is taken

2 to address allegations of sexual harassment in employ3 ment.

4 (d) CIVIL PENALTY.—A willful violation of this sec5 tion shall be punishable by a civil penalty of not more than

6 $1,000 for each separate violation.

7 SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.

8 (a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE MATERIALS.—Not later

9 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,

10 the Commission shall prepare, revise from time to time

11 as needed, and make available to employers at no cost (by

12 publication in the Federal Register or other means)—

13 (1) a model notice of the kind required by sec14 tion 3(a) to be posted,

15 (2) a model notice of the kind required by sec16 tion 3(b) to be provided to employees, and

17 (3) voluntary guidelines for the establishment of

18 policies and procedures by employers to address alle19 gations of discrimination (including sexual harass20 ment) in employment.

21 (b) TOLL-FREE TELEPHONE NUMBER.—Not later

22 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,

23 the Commission shall provide a toll-free telephone number

24 for use by employees and employers in the United States

25 to obtain—
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1 (1) information regarding compliance with this

2 Act, and

3 (2) the model notices and guidelines prepared

4 under subsection (a).

5 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT.

6 Section 3 shall be enforced—

7 (1) by the Commission with respect to viola8 tions alleged by employees as defined in subpara9 graphs (A), (B), and (C) of section 6(2), and

10 (2) the Board of the Office of Compliance with

11 respect to violations alleged by employees as defined

12 in subparagraph (D) of section 6(2).

13 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

14 For purposes of this Act—

15 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Equal

16 Employment Opportunity Commission,

17 (2) the term ‘‘employee’’ means—

18 (A) an employee as defined in section

19 701(f) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42

20 U.S.C. 2000e(f)),

21 (B) an employee referred to in section

22 717(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000e–16(a)),

23 (C) an individual with respect to whom

24 section 302(a)(1) of the Government Employee
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1 Rights Act of 1991 (2 U.S.C. 1202(a)(1)) ap2 plies, or

3 (D) a covered employee as defined in sec4 tion 101 of the Congressional Accountability

5 Act of 1995 (Public Law 104–1; 109 Stat. 3),

6 (3) the term ‘‘employer’’ means—

7 (A) an employer as defined in section

8 701(b) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42

9 U.S.C. 2000e(b)),

10 (B) a Federal entity to which section

11 717(a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42

12 U.S.C. 2000e–716(a)) applies,

13 (C) an employing authority to which sec14 tion 302(a)(1) of the Government Employee

15 Rights Act of 1991 (2 U.S.C. 1202(a)(1)) ap16 plies, or

17 (D) an employing authority to which sec18 tion 201(a) of the Congressional Accountability

19 Act of 1995 (Public Law 104–1; 109 Stat. 3)

20 applies, and

21 (4) the term ‘‘sexual harassment’’ has the same

22 meaning as such term has for purposes of title VII

23 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e–

24 2000e–17).
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1 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATES.

2 (a) GENERAL EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as pro3 vided in subsection (b), this Act shall take effect on the

4 date of the enactment of this Act.

5 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE OF SECTION 3.—Section 3

6 shall take effect 1 year after the date of the enactment

7 of this Act.

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