I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3468

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to employment opportunities at the National Institutes of Health for women who are scientists,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 8, 1993

Ms. SLAUGHTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to

employment opportunities at the National Institutes of

Health for women who are scientists, 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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NIH Women Scientist

3 Employment Opportunity Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. WOMEN’S SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT.

5 Part A of title IV of the Public Health Service Act

6 (42 U.S.C. 281 et seq.), as amended by section 209 of

7 Public Law 103–43 (107 Stat. 149), is amended by add8 ing at the end the following section:

9 ‘‘WOMEN’S SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT

10 ‘‘SEC. 404F. (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of

11 NIH shall—

12 ‘‘(1) establish policies for the National Insti13 tutes of Health on matters relating to the employ14 ment by the National Institutes of Health of women

15 as scientists; and

16 ‘‘(2) monitor the extent of compliance with such

17 policies and take appropriate action in cases in

18 which the Director determines that the policies have

19 been violated.

20 ‘‘(b) CERTAIN FUNCTIONS.—In carrying out sub21 section (a), the Director of NIH shall provide for the fol22 lowing:

23 ‘‘(1) Implementing the recommendations of the

24 group known as the Task Force on the Status of

25 NIH Intramural Women Scientists.
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1 ‘‘(2) Determining the concerns of intramural

2 women scientists.

3 ‘‘(3) Developing a policy defining the standard

4 tenure process for employment at the National Insti5 tutes of Health.

6 ‘‘(4) Determining the reason for departure from

7 such Institutes by interviewing women and men sci8 entists as they leave.

9 ‘‘(5) Distributing yearly to all employees of

10 such Institutes the policy of such Institutes on flexi11 ble family leave.

12 ‘‘(6) Monitoring the number of women, includ13 ing minority women, included on the committees,

14 panels, and other working groups (and in meetings)

15 of such Institutes.

16 ‘‘(7) Making efforts to recruit minority women,

17 based on the small numbers of tenured minority

18 women scientists.

19 ‘‘(8) Developing additional goals related to

20 women and minority women scientists at such Insti21 tutes.

22 ‘‘(c) INCLUSION OF WOMEN ON INTRAMURAL AND

23 EXTRAMURAL CONFERENCES AND OTHER GROUPS.—

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of NIH shall

25 establish a policy at the National Institutes of
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1 Health of requiring inclusion of women scientists in

2 greater numbers on or in intramural and extramural

3 conferences, workshops, meetings, international con4 gresses, and other groups funded or sponsored by

5 such Institutes. Such policy shall provide for the in6 clusion of not less than one woman scientist in each

7 such group, except as provided in paragraph (2).

8 ‘‘(2) EXCLUSION; WRITTEN EXPLANATION.—

9 The policy established in paragraph (1) may provide

10 that no woman scientist will be included in a group

11 for purposes of such paragraph if the Director of

12 NIH provides a waiver of the requirement. The Di13 rector may grant such a waiver only if—

14 ‘‘(A) the individual with the chief respon15 sibility for the group involved submits to the

16 Director a written request for the waiver and

17 the request provides an explanation of the rea18 sons underlying the need for the waiver; and

19 ‘‘(B) the Director makes a determination

20 that extraordinary circumstances justify provid21 ing the waiver.

22 ‘‘(d) STUDY ON PAY EQUITY.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of NIH shall

24 provide for study to identify any pay differences

25 among men and women scientists employed by the
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1 National Institutes of Health, both tenured and

2 untenured. The study shall include recommendations

3 on measures to adjust any disparities or inequities,

4 and shall identify a program to communicate infor5 mation on salary ranges to all employees.

6 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 240 days after

7 the date of the enactment of the NIH Women Sci8 entist Employment Opportunity Act, the Director of

9 NIH shall complete the study required in paragraph

10 (1) and submit to the Committee on Energy and

11 Commerce of the House of Representatives, and to

12 the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of

13 the Senate, a report describing the findings made as

14 a result of the study.

15 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the

16 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized

17 to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for

18 each of the fiscal years 1994 through 1996.’’.

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