II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3480 

To address Federal employees and contractors who commit sexual misconduct. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 13, 2023 

Ms. ERNST introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To address Federal employees and contractors who commit 

sexual misconduct. 

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 ‘‘Compulsory Require5 ment to Eliminate Employees who are Perpetrators of 

6 Sexual misconduct Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘CREEPS Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. SEXUAL MISCONDUCT BY FEDERAL EMPLOYEES 

8 AND CONTRACTORS. 

9 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

10 (1) the term ‘‘becomes final’’ means— 

11 (A) that— 

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1 (i) there is a final agency action; and 

2 (ii)(I) the time for seeking judicial re3 view of the final agency action has lapsed 

4 and judicial review has not been sought; or 

5 (II) judicial review of the final agency 

6 action was sought and final judgment has 

7 been entered upholding the agency action; 

8 or 

9 (B) that final judgment has been entered 

10 in a civil action; 

11 (2) the term ‘‘bonus’’— 

12 (A) means any bonus or cash award; and 

13 (B) with respect to a Federal employee, in14 cludes— 

15 (i) an award under chapter 45 of title 

16 5, United States Code; 

17 (ii) an award under section 5384 of 

18 title 5, United States Code; and 

19 (iii) a retention bonus under section 

20 5754 of title 5, United States Code; 

21 (3) the term ‘‘civil service’’ has the meaning 

22 given that term in section 2101 of title 5, United 

23 States Code; 

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1 (4) the term ‘‘contractor’’ includes a subcon2 tractor, at any tier, of an individual or entity enter3 ing into a contract with the Federal Government; 

4 (5) the term ‘‘Federal employee’’ has the mean5 ing given the term ‘‘employee’’ in section 2105 of 

6 title 5, United States Code, without regard to 

7 whether the employee is exempted from the applica8 tion of some or all of such title 5; 

9 (6) the term ‘‘sexual assault offense’’ means a 

10 criminal offense under Federal law or the law of a 

11 State that includes as an element of the offense that 

12 the defendant engaged in a nonconsensual sexual act 

13 upon another person; 

14 (7) the term ‘‘sustained complaint involving 

15 sexual assault’’ means an administrative or judicial 

16 determination that an employer engaged in an un17 lawful employment practice under title VII of the 

18 Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) 

19 which included, as part of the course of conduct con20 stituting the unlawful employment practice, that an 

21 employee of the employer engaged in a nonconsen22 sual sexual act upon another person; and 

23 (8) the term ‘‘sustained complaint involving 

24 sexual misconduct’’, with respect to an employee, 

25 means an administrative or judicial determination 

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1 that the employee engaged in conduct that involved 

2 unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual fa3 vors, and deliberate or repeated offensive comments 

4 or gestures of a sexual nature, if— 

5 (A)(i) submission to the conduct by a per6 son was explicitly a term or condition of the 

7 person’s job, pay, or career advancement pros8 pects; 

9 (ii) submission to or rejection of the con10 duct by a person was represented to have an 

11 impact on the person’s job, pay, or career ad12 vancement prospects; or 

13 (iii) the conduct had the purpose or effect 

14 of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive 

15 working environment; and 

16 (B) the conduct was so severe or pervasive 

17 that a reasonable person would perceive the 

18 conduct as hostile, offensive, and of a sexual 

19 nature. 

20 (b) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.— 

21 (1) CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS.—The head of the 

22 agency, office, or other entity employing a Federal 

23 employee who is convicted of a sexual assault offense 

24 committed while a Federal employee shall, after noVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:16 Dec 28, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3480.IS S3480
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1 tice and an opportunity for a hearing, remove the 

2 Federal employee from the civil service. 

3 (2) UNLAWFUL EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES.— 

4 (A) SEXUAL ASSAULT.—During the 5-year 

5 period beginning on the date on which a sus6 tained complaint involving sexual assault with 

7 respect to an agency, office, or other entity em8 ploying Federal employees becomes final, the 

9 head of the agency, office, or other entity may 

10 not increase the rate of basic pay (including 

11 any increase in grade and any within-grade step 

12 increase) of a Federal employee who engaged in 

13 a nonconsensual sexual act upon another person 

14 that was part of the course of conduct consti15 tuting the applicable unlawful employment 

16 practice, award such a Federal employee a 

17 bonus, or promote such a Federal employee. 

18 (B) SEXUAL MISCONDUCT.—During the 5- 

19 year period beginning on the date on which a 

20 sustained complaint involving sexual misconduct 

21 with respect to a Federal employee becomes 

22 final, the head of the agency, office, or other 

23 entity employing the Federal employee may not 

24 increase the rate of basic pay (including any in25 crease in grade and any within-grade step inVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:16 Dec 28, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3480.IS S3480
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1 crease) of the Federal employee, award the 

2 Federal employee a bonus, or promote the Fed3 eral employee. 

4 (3) INTERACTION WITH OTHER LAWS.—The au5 thority under this subsection is in addition to any 

6 authority provided to the head of an agency, office, 

7 or other entity employing Federal employees. 

8 (c) CONTRACTORS.—Any contract to procure prop9 erty or services entered into or modified by the Federal 

10 Government on or after the date of enactment of this Act 

11 shall require that the contractor have in effect policies that 

12 provide that— 

13 (1) the contractor shall, after notice and an op14 portunity for a hearing, terminate an employee of 

15 the contractor who is convicted of a sexual assault 

16 offense committed while an employee of the con17 tractor; and 

18 (2) during the 5-year period beginning on the 

19 date on which— 

20 (A) a sustained complaint involving sexual 

21 assault with respect to the contractor becomes 

22 final, the contractor may not increase the rate 

23 of basic pay of an employee of the contractor 

24 who engaged in a nonconsensual sexual act 

25 upon another person that was part of the 

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1 course of conduct constituting the applicable 

2 unlawful employment practice, award such an 

3 employee a bonus, or promote such an em4 ployee; or 

5 (B) a sustained complaint involving sexual 

6 misconduct with respect to an employee of the 

7 contractor becomes final, the contractor may 

8 not increase the rate of basic pay of the em9 ployee, award the employee a bonus, or promote 

10 the employee. 

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