I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4419 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure that workers and 

communities that are responsible for record corporate profits benefit 

from the wealth that those workers and communities help to create, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 

Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure 

that workers and communities that are responsible for 

record corporate profits benefit from the wealth that 

those workers and communities help to create, 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 ‘‘Worker Dividend Act 

5 of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FAILURE OF EMPLOYER TO PAY WORKER DIVI2 DENDS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Internal Rev4 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after chapter 

5 36 the following new chapter: 

6 ‘‘CHAPTER 37—PROVISIONS RELATING TO 

7 WORKER DIVIDENDS 

‘‘Sec. 4501. Failure of employer to pay worker dividends. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 4501. FAILURE OF EMPLOYER TO PAY WORKER DIVI9 DENDS. 

10 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—If, for a taxable year in which 

11 a covered employer repurchases any securities of the em12 ployer on the open market, the covered employer fails to 

13 pay to its employees a worker dividend meeting the re14 quirements of subsection (b), then there is hereby imposed 

15 on the covered employer a tax equal to the lesser of the 

16 amounts determined under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 

17 subsection (b)(1). 

18 ‘‘(b) WORKER DIVIDEND.—For purposes of this sec19 tion— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘worker dividend’ 

21 means a payment made by a covered employer to 

22 employees of the employer at locations in the United 

23 States, if the total of all such payments made during 

24 the taxable year is not less than the lesser of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the amount paid by the employer to 

2 repurchase securities of the employer on the 

3 open market during the taxable year, and 

4 ‘‘(B) 50 percent of the amount by which 

5 the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, 

6 and amortization of the employer during the 

7 taxable year in the United States exceed 

8 $250,000,000. 

9 ‘‘(2) PAYMENTS TO BE IN ADDITION TO COM10 PENSATION.—Such term shall not include any pay11 ment unless such payment is in addition to, and (in12 cluding by election of the employee) is not included 

13 in (except as provided in paragraph (5)) or sub14 stituted for, any cash or other compensation ordi15 narily paid to the employee by the employer. 

16 ‘‘(3) PAYMENTS TO BE EQUAL.—Such term 

17 shall not include any payment unless the amount of 

18 the payment made to each employee of the employer 

19 in the United States is of an equal amount. Notwith20 standing the preceding sentence, in the case of an 

21 employee employed at less than full time, the pay22 ment to such employee may be in a pro rata amount 

23 based on the hours worked by the employee per 

24 week. 


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1 ‘‘(4) TIMING OF PAYMENT.—Such term shall 

2 not include any payment which is not made within 

3 60 days of the close of the taxable year to which it 

4 relates. 

5 ‘‘(5) OPTION TO INCREASE COMPENSATION.—A 

6 covered employer may, by providing such docu7 mentation as the Secretary may require, elect to 

8 have the worker dividend paid to employees in the 

9 form of an increase in regular compensation. In the 

10 case of a covered employer making such election— 

11 ‘‘(A) paragraph (4) shall not apply, and 

12 ‘‘(B) the term ‘worker dividend’ includes 

13 only increases in compensation which are so 

14 documented and which are paid within 1 cal15 endar year of the date the increase goes into ef16 fect. 

17 ‘‘(c) COVERED EMPLOYER.—For purposes of this 

18 section, the term ‘covered employer’ means, for any tax19 able year, any entity the stock of which is publicly traded. 

20 ‘‘(d) AGGREGATION RULE.—All persons treated as a 

21 single employer under subsection (a) or (b) of section 52 

22 shall be treated as a single employer for purposes of deter23 mining whether an individual is an employee of a covered 

24 employer. 


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1 ‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary, in consultation 

2 with the Secretary of Labor, shall promulgate regulations 

3 or other guidance to ensure compliance with this section, 

4 including the determination of full time status and rules 

5 to prevent avoidance of the purposes of subsection (b)(2). 

6 ‘‘(f) REPORTING.—With respect to any taxable year 

7 in which a covered employer repurchases any securities of 

8 the employer on the open market, not later than the due 

9 date for the return of tax for such taxable year such em10 ployer shall report to the Secretary and the Chairman of 

11 the Securities and Exchange Commission, in such manner 

12 as the Secretary shall determine, the amount of any work13 er dividend paid during such taxable year and any other 

14 information as the Secretary shall require.’’. 

15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 

16 for subtitle D of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

17 amended by inserting after the item relating to chapter 

18 36 the following new item: 

‘‘CHAPTER 37—PROVISIONS RELATING TO WORKER DIVIDENDS’’. 

19 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

20 this section shall apply to repurchases of employer securi21 ties in taxable years beginning after the date of the enact22 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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