I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2298

To provide for labor recruiter accountability, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 11, 2005

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. OWENS, Ms. WOOLSEY, 

Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. HOLT, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. 

VAN HOLLEN, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. DAVIS

of Illinois, Mr. EVANS, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. 

BROWN of Ohio, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. WATSON, Mr. WEINER, Mr. BERMAN, 

Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. STARK, and Mr. TIERNEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To provide for labor recruiter accountability, 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 ‘‘Indentured Servitude 

5 Abolition Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROTECTIONS FOR WORKERS RECRUITED ABROAD. 

7 (a) BASIC REQUIREMENTS.—(1) Each employer and 

8 foreign labor contractor who engages in foreign labor con-
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1 tracting activity shall ascertain and disclose to each such 

2 worker who is recruited for employment the following in3 formation at the time of the worker’s recruitment: 

4 (A) The place of employment. 

5 (B) The compensation for the employment. 

6 (C) A description of employment activities. 

7 (D) The period of employment. 

8 (E) The transportation, housing, and any other 

9 employee benefit to be provided and any costs to be 

10 charged for each benefit. 

11 (F) The existence of any labor organizing ef12 fort, strike, lockout, or other labor dispute at the 

13 place of employment. 

14 (G) The existence of any arrangements with 

15 any owner or agent of any establishment in the area 

16 of employment under which the contractor or em17 ployer is to receive a commission or any other ben18 efit resulting from any sales (including the provision 

19 of services) by such establishment to the workers. 

20 (H) Whether and the extent to which workers 

21 will be compensated through workers’ compensation, 

22 private insurance, or otherwise for injuries or death, 

23 including work related injuries and death, during the 

24 period of employment and, if so, the name of the 

25 State workers’ compensation insurance carrier or the 
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1 name of the policyholder of the private insurance, 

2 the name and the telephone number of each person 

3 who must be notified of an injury or death, and the 

4 time period within which such notice must be given. 

5 (I) Any education or training to be provided or 

6 made available, including the nature and cost of 

7 such training, who will pay such costs, and whether 

8 the training is a condition of employment, continued 

9 employment, or future employment. 

10 (J) A statement, approved by the Secretary of 

11 Labor, describing the protections of this Act for 

12 workers recruited abroad. 

13 (2) No foreign labor contractor or employer shall 

14 knowingly provide false or misleading information to any 

15 worker concerning any matter required to be disclosed in 

16 paragraph (1). 

17 (3) The information required to be disclosed by para18 graph (1) to workers shall be provided in written form. 

19 Such information shall be provided in English or, as nec20 essary and reasonable, in the language of the worker being 

21 recruited. The Department of Labor shall make forms 

22 available in English, Spanish, and other languages, as nec23 essary, which may be used in providing workers with infor24 mation required under this section. 
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1 (4) No fees may be charged to a worker for recruit2 ment. 

3 (5) No employer or foreign labor contractor shall, 

4 without justification, violate the terms of any working ar5 rangement made by that contractor or employer. 

6 (6) The employer shall pay the transportation costs, 

7 including subsistence costs during the period of travel, for 

8 the worker from the place of recruitment to the place of 

9 employment and from the place of employment to such 

10 worker’s place of permanent residence. 

11 (7)(A) It shall be unlawful for an employer or a for12 eign labor contractor to fail or refuse to hire or to dis13 charge any individual, or otherwise discriminate against 

14 an individual with respect to compensation, terms, condi15 tions, or privileges of employment because such individ16 ual’s race, color, creed, sex, national origin, religion, age, 

17 or disability. 

18 (B) For the purposes of determining the existence of 

19 unlawful discrimination under subclause (A)—

20 (i) in the case of a claim of discrimination 

21 based on race, color, creed, sex, national origin, or 

22 religion, the same legal standards shall apply as are 

23 applicable under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 

24 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.); 
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1 (ii) in the case of a claim of discrimination 

2 based on unlawful discrimination based on age, the 

3 same legal standards shall apply as are applicable 

4 under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 

5 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.); and 

6 (iii) in the case of a claim of discrimination 

7 based on disability, the same legal standards shall 

8 apply as are applicable under title I of the Ameri9 cans With Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. 12101 et 

10 seq.). 

11 (b) OTHER WORKER PROTECTIONS.—(1) Each em12 ployer shall notify the Secretary of the identity of any for13 eign labor contractor involved in any foreign labor con14 tractor activity for or on behalf of the employer. The em15 ployer shall be subject to the civil remedies of this Act 

16 for violations committed by such foreign labor contractor 

17 to the same extent as if the employer had committed the 

18 violation. The employer shall notify the Secretary of the 

19 identity of such a foreign labor contractor whose activities 

20 do not comply with this Act. 

21 (2) The Secretary shall maintain a list of all foreign 

22 labor contractors whom the Secretary knows or believes 

23 have been involved in violations of this Act, and make that 

24 list publicly available. The Secretary shall provide a proce25 dure by which an employer, a foreign labor contractor, or 
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1 someone acting on behalf of such contractor may seek to 

2 have a foreign labor contractor’s name removed from such 

3 list by demonstrating to the Secretary’s satisfaction that 

4 the foreign labor contractor has not violated this Act in 

5 the previous five years. 

6 (3) No foreign labor contractor shall violate, without 

7 justification, the terms of any written agreements made 

8 with an employer pertaining to any contracting activity or 

9 worker protection under this Act. 

10 (c) DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED AGAINST WORK11 ERS SEEKING RELIEF UNDER THIS ACT.—No person 

12 shall intimidate, threaten, restrain, coerce, blacklist, dis13 charge, or in any manner discriminate against any worker 

14 because such worker has, with just cause, filed any com15 plaint or instituted, or caused to be instituted, any pro16 ceeding under or related to this Act, or has testified or 

17 is about to testify in any such proceedings, or because of 

18 the exercise, with just cause, by such worker on behalf 

19 of himself or others of any right or protection afforded 

20 by this Act. 

21 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS. 

22 (a) CRIMINAL SANCTIONS.—Whoever knowingly vio23 lates this Act shall be fined under title 18, United States 

24 Code, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. 

25 Upon conviction, after a first conviction under this section, 
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1 for a second or subsequent violation of this Act, the de2 fendant shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, 

3 or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. 

4 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS.—(1)(A) Subject to 

5 subparagraph (B), the Secretary may assess a civil money 

6 penalty of not more than $5,000 on any person who vio7 lates this Act. 

8 (B) In determining the amount of any penalty to be 

9 assessed under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall take 

10 into account (i) the previous record of the person in terms 

11 of compliance with this Act and with comparable require12 ments of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, and with 

13 regulations promulgated under such Acts, and (ii) the 

14 gravity of the violation. 

15 (2) Any employer who uses the services of a foreign 

16 labor contractor who is on the list maintained by the Sec17 retary pursuant to section 2(b)(2), shall, if the actions of 

18 such foreign labor contractor have contributed to a viola19 tion of this Act by the employer, be fined $10,000 per 

20 violation in addition to any other fines or penalties for 

21 which the employer may be liable for the violation. 

22 (c) ACTIONS BY SECRETARY.—The Secretary may 

23 take such actions, including seeking appropriate injunctive 

24 relief and specific performance of contractual obligations, 

25 as may be necessary to assure employer compliance with 
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1 terms and conditions of employment under this Act and 

2 with this Act. 

3 (d) WAIVER OF RIGHTS.—Agreements by employees 

4 purporting to waive or to modify their rights under this 

5 Act shall be void as contrary to public policy. 

6 (e) REPRESENTATION IN COURT.—Except as pro7 vided in section 518(a) of title 28, United States Code, 

8 relating to litigation before the Supreme Court, the Solic9 itor of Labor may appear for and represent the Secretary 

10 in any civil litigation brought under this Act, but all such 

11 litigation shall be subject to the direction and control of 

12 the Attorney General. 

13 SEC. 4. PROCEDURES IN ADDITION TO OTHER RIGHTS OF 

14 EMPLOYEES. 

15 The rights and remedies provided to workers by this 

16 Act are in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other con17 tractual or statutory rights and remedies of the workers, 

18 and are not intended to alter or affect such rights and 

19 remedies. 

20 SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO PRESCRIBE REGULATIONS. 

21 The Secretary of Labor shall prescribe such regula22 tions as may be necessary to carry out this Act. 

23 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided by 

25 this Act, for purposes of this Act the terms used in this 
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1 Act shall have the same meanings, respectively, as are 

2 given those terms in section 3 of the Fair Labor Stand3 ards Act of 1938. 

4 (b) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act: 

5 (1) The term ‘‘United States’’ means any with6 in any State. 

7 (2) The term ‘‘State’’ means any State of the 

8 United States and includes the District of Columbia, 

9 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Common10 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the 

11 Virgin Islands of the United States. 

12 (3) The term ‘‘foreign labor contractor’’ means 

13 any person who for any money or other valuable 

14 consideration paid or promised to be paid, performs 

15 any foreign labor contracting activity. 

16 (4) The term ‘‘foreign labor contracting activ17 ity’’ means recruiting, soliciting, hiring, employing, 

18 or furnishing, an individual who resides outside of 

19 the United States to be employed in the United 

20 States. 

21 (5) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

22 of Labor. 
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1 (6) The term ‘‘worker’’ means an individual 

2 who is the subject of foreign labor contracting activ3 ity.

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