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103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4072

To amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to minimize the adverse effects of employment dislocation, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 17, 1994

Mr. FORD of Michigan introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and Labor

A BILL

To amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to minimize the adverse effects of employment

dislocation, 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 AND REFERENCE.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Amend6 ments Act’’.

7 (b) REFERENCE.—Except as specifically provided

8 otherwise, whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal

9 is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of,
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1 a section or other provision, the reference shall be consid2 ered to be made to a section or other provision of the

3 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29

4 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.).

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

6 (a) EMPLOYER, PLANT CLOSING, AND MASS LAY7 OFF.—Paragraphs (1) through (3) of section 2(a) (29

8 U.S.C. 2101(a)(1)–(3)) are amended to read as follows:

9 ‘‘(1) the term ‘employer’ means any business

10 enterprise that employs 50 or more employees;

11 ‘‘(2) the term ‘plant closing’ means—

12 ‘‘(A) the permanent or temporary shut13 down of a single site of employment, or of one

14 or more facilities or operating units within a

15 single site of employment, which results in an

16 employment loss at such site, during any 30-

17 day period, for 25 or more employees; or

18 ‘‘(B) the permanent or temporary shut19 down of one or more sites of employment, or of

20 one or more facilities or operating units within

21 such sites, which results in an employment loss,

22 during any 30-day period, for 100 or more

23 employees;

24 ‘‘(3) the term ‘mass layoff’ means—
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1 ‘‘(A) a reduction in force at a single site

2 of employment which results in an employment

3 loss at such site, during any 30-day period, for

4 25 or more employees; or

5 ‘‘(B) a reduction in force which results in

6 an employment loss, during any 30-day period,

7 for 100 or more employees.’’.

8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

9 (1) NOTICE.—Section 3(d) (29 U.S.C. 2102(d))

10 is amended by striking out ‘‘, each of which is less

11 than the minimum number of employees specified in

12 section 2(a) (2) or (3) but which in the aggregate

13 exceed that minimum number,’’ and inserting in lieu

14 thereof ‘‘which in the aggregate exceed the minimum

15 number of employees specified in section 2(a) (2) or

16 (3)’’.

17 (2) DEFINITIONS.—Section 2(b)(1) (29 U.S.C.

18 2101(b)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘(other than a

19 part-time employee)’’.

20 (c) SECRETARY OF LABOR.—

21 (1) DEFINITION.—Paragraph (8) of section

22 2(a) (29 U.S.C. 2101(a)(8)) is amended to read as

23 follows:
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1 ‘‘(8) the term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary

2 of Labor or a representative of the Secretary of

3 Labor.’’.

4 (2) REGULATIONS.—Section 8(a) (29 U.S.C.

5 2107(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘of Labor’’.

6 SEC. 3. NOTICE.

7 (a) PERIOD.—Section 3 (29 U.S.C. 2102) is amend8 ed—

9 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘a 60-day pe10 riod after’’ and inserting ‘‘the applicable notice pe11 riod required after’’;

12 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘60-day pe13 riod’’ each place such term appears and inserting

14 ‘‘notice period’’;

15 (3) by redesignating subsections (b) through (d)

16 as subsections (c) through (e), respectively; and

17 (4) by inserting after subsection (a), the follow18 ing new subsection:

19 ‘‘(b) NOTICE PERIOD.—As used in this section, the

20 term ‘notice period’ means—

21 ‘‘(1) in the case of a plant closing or mass lay22 off which results in an employment loss for at least

23 25 but not more than 49 employees, 30 days;
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1 ‘‘(2) in the case of a plant closing or mass lay2 off which results in an employment loss for at least

3 50 but not more than 99 employees, 60 days; and

4 ‘‘(3) in the case of a plant closing or mass lay5 off which results in an employment loss for at least

6 100 employees, 90 days.’’.

7 (b) RECIPIENT.—Section 3(a)(1) (29 U.S.C.

8 2102(a)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘or, if there is no such

9 representative at that time, to each affected employee’’

10 and inserting ‘‘and to each affected employee’’.

11 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT.

12 (a) AMOUNT.—Section 5(a)(1) (29 U.S.C.

13 2104(a)(1)) is amended—

14 (1) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking ‘‘and’’

15 at the end thereof;

16 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as sub17 paragraph (D); and

18 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol19 lowing new subparagraphs:

20 ‘‘(B) interest on the amount described in sub21 paragraph (A) calculated at the prevailing rate;

22 ‘‘(C) an additional amount as liquidated dam23 ages equal to the sum of the amount described in

24 subparagraph (A) and the interest described in sub25 paragraph (B); and’’.
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1 (b) LIABILITY PERIOD.—Section 5(a)(1) (29 U.S.C.

2 2104(a)(1) (as amended by subsection (a)) is amended—

3 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(1)’’,

4 (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through

5 (D) as clauses (i) through (iv), respectively, by strik6 ing ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’ in clauses (ii) and (iii) and

7 inserting ‘‘clause (i)’’, and by striking ‘‘subpara8 graph (B)’’ in clause (iii) and inserting ‘‘clause (ii)’’,

9 (3) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as

10 subclauses (I) and (II), and

11 (4) by amending the last sentence to read as

12 follows:

13 ‘‘(B) Liability under subparagraph (A) shall be cal14 culated for the period of the violation up to—

15 ‘‘(i) 30 days, in the case of a plant closing or

16 mass layoff which results in an employment loss for

17 at least 25 but not more than 49 employees,

18 ‘‘(ii) 60 days, in the case of a plant closing or

19 mass layoff which results in an employment loss for

20 at least 50 but not more than 99 employees, and

21 ‘‘(iii) 90 days, in the case of a plant closing or

22 mass layoff which results in an employment loss for

23 at least 100 employees,

24 but in no event for more than one-half the number of days

25 the employee was employed by the employer.’’.
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1 (c) EXEMPTION.—Section 5(a)(4) (29 U.S.C.

2 2104(a)(4)) is amended by striking ‘‘reduce the amount

3 of the liability or penalty provided for in this section’’ and

4 inserting ‘‘reduce the amount of the liability under clause

5 (iii) of paragraph (1)(A) and reduce the amount of the

6 penalty provided for in paragraph (3)’’.

7 (d) ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLAINT.—Section 5(a)(5)

8 (29 U.S.C. 2104(a)(5)) is amended—

9 (1) by striking ‘‘may sue,’’ and inserting

10 ‘‘may,’’;

11 (2) by inserting after ‘‘both,’’ the following:

12 ‘‘(A) file a complaint with the Secretary alleging a

13 violation of section 3, or (B) bring suit’’; and

14 (3) by adding at the end thereof the following

15 new sentence: ‘‘A person seeking to enforce such li16 ability may use one or both of the enforcement

17 mechanisms described in clauses (A) and (B).’’.

18 (e) ACTION BY THE SECRETARY.—Section 5 (29

19 U.S.C. 2104) is amended—

20 (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub21 section (d); and

22 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the follow23 ing new subsections:

24 ‘‘(b) ACTION BY THE SECRETARY.—
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1 ‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION.—The Secretary

2 shall receive, investigate, and attempt to resolve

3 complaints of violations of section 3 by an employer

4 in the same manner that the Secretary receives, in5 vestigates, and attempts to resolve complaints of vio6 lations of sections 6 and 7 of the Fair Labor Stand7 ards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206 and 207).

8 ‘‘(2) SUBPOENA POWERS.—For the purposes of

9 any investigation provided for in this section, the

10 Secretary shall have the subpoena authority provided

11 for under section 9 of the Fair Labor Standards Act

12 of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 209).

13 ‘‘(3) CIVIL ACTION.—The Secretary may bring

14 an action in any court of competent jurisdiction to

15 recover on behalf of an employee the back pay, inter16 est, benefits, and liquidated damages described in

17 subsection (a)(1).

18 ‘‘(4) SUMS RECOVERED.—Any sums recovered

19 by the Secretary on behalf of an employee shall be

20 held in a special deposit account and shall be paid,

21 on order of the Secretary, directly to each employee

22 affected. Any such sums not paid to an employee be23 cause of inability to do so within a period of 3 years

24 shall be credited as an offsetting collection to the ap25 propriations account of the Secretary of Labor for
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1 expenses for the administration of this Act and shall

2 remain available to the Secretary until expended.

3 ‘‘(5) ACTION TO COMPEL RELIEF BY SEC4 RETARY.—The district courts of the United States

5 shall have jurisdiction, for cause shown, over an ac6 tion brought by the Secretary to restrain the with7 holding of payment of back pay, interest, benefits, or

8 other compensation, plus interest, found by the court

9 to be due to employees under this Act.

10 ‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS PERIOD.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An action may be brought

12 under this section not later than 2 years after the

13 date of the last event constituting the alleged viola14 tion for which the action is brought.

15 ‘‘(2) COMMENCEMENT.—In determining when

16 an action is commenced under this section for the

17 purposes of paragraph (1), it shall be considered to

18 be commenced on the date on which the complaint

19 is filed.’’.

20 SEC. 5. POSTING OF NOTICES; PENALTIES.

21 Section 11 (29 U.S.C. 2101 note) is amended to read

22 as follows:

23 ‘‘SEC. 11. POSTING OF NOTICES; PENALTIES.

24 ‘‘(a) POSTING OF NOTICES.—Each employer shall

25 post and keep posted in conspicuous places upon its prem-
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1 ises where notices to employees are customarily posted a

2 notice to be prepared or approved by the Secretary setting

3 forth excerpts from, or summaries of, the pertinent provi4 sions of this Act and information pertinent to the filing

5 of a complaint under section 5(a)(5).

6 ‘‘(b) PENALTIES.—A willful violation of subsection

7 (a) shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $100

8 for each separate offense.’’.

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