I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4998 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

Act to protect disaster assistance employee reservists when activated 

by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for work at a specific 

disaster site from termination or demotion in their places of employment. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 16, 2006 

Ms. SCHWARTZ of Pennsylvania (for herself, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. JEFFERSON, 

Mr. HONDA, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. BISHOP

of New York, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. FATTAH, 

Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. FARR, Mr. WU, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. 

KUCINICH, Mr. STARK, Mrs. MCCARTHY, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of 

California, and Mr. MEEHAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to protect disaster assistance employee reservists when activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for work at a specific disaster 

site from termination or demotion in their places of 

employment. 

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 ‘‘Disaster Assistance 

3 Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 2006’’. 

4 SEC. 2. EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIONS FOR DISASTER AS5 SISTANCE EMPLOYEE RESERVISTS. 

6 Section 306 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

7 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5149) is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(c) EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIONS FOR DISASTER AS10 SISTANCE EMPLOYEE RESERVISTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) TERMINATION PROHIBITED.—No person 

12 may be terminated, demoted, or in any other manner 

13 discriminated against in the terms and conditions of 

14 employment because the employee, when activated 

15 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 

16 work at a specific disaster site as a disaster assist17 ance employee reservist, is absent from or late to his 

18 or her employment. 

19 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

20 apply if such person is absent from his or her em21 ployment for the purposes described in paragraph 

22 (1) for a period of more than 90 days per calendar 

23 year. 

24 ‘‘(3) WITHHOLDING OF PAY.—An employer 

25 may charge, against the employee’s regular pay, any 

26 time that an employee loses from employment beVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:16 Mar 18, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4998.IH H4998

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•HR 4998 IH 

1 cause of the employee’s activation as a disaster as2 sistance employee reservist. 

3 ‘‘(4) CERTIFICATION.—The employer may re4 quest the employee to provide the employer with a 

5 written verification from the Federal Emergency 

6 Management Agency that the employee was acti7 vated as a disaster assistance employee reservist and 

8 stating the time and dates of such activation. 

9 ‘‘(5) REASONABLE NOTICE REQUIRED.—An em10 ployee who may be absent from or late to his or her 

11 employment due to activation as a disaster assist12 ance employee reservist shall make a reasonable ef13 fort to notify his or her employer that he or she may 

14 be absent or late and shall continue to provide such 

15 reasonable notifications over the course of his or her 

16 absence. 

17 ‘‘(6) RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

18 ‘‘(A) RIGHT OF ACTION.—A person who 

19 has been terminated, demoted, or in any other 

20 manner discriminated against in the terms and 

21 conditions of employment in violation of this 

22 subsection may bring, in a district court of the 

23 United States of appropriate jurisdiction, a civil 

24 action against his or her employer who violated 

25 this subsection. 


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1 ‘‘(B) DAMAGES.—The employee may seek 

2 reinstatement to his or her former position, 

3 payment of back wages, reinstatement of fringe 

4 benefits, and, where seniority rights are grant5 ed, reinstatement of seniority rights. 

6 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—The employee must 

7 commence such an action within 1 year after 

8 the date of the violation of this subsection. 

9 ‘‘(7) DISASTER ASSISTANCE EMPLOYEE RE10 SERVIST DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term 

11 ‘disaster assistance employee reservist’ means a per12 son appointed by the Federal Emergency Manage13 ment Agency under subsection (b)(1) to serve as a 

14 reservist. Reservists are carried on the personnel 

15 rolls of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 

16 for a specified period and may be activated to per17 form disaster assistance program work when the 

18 need arises.’’. 

Æ 


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