I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2298

To provide certain temporary employees with the same benefits as permanent

employees.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 22, 1999

Mr. EVANS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To provide certain temporary employees with the same

benefits as permanent employees.

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 ‘‘Equity for Temporary

5 Workers Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. TEMPORARY WORKER RIGHTS.

7 (a) DISCRIMINATION.— No employer shall discrimi8 nate with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and

9 conditions of employment against any temporary em10 ployee.
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1 (b) BENEFITS.—After a temporary employee works

2 for an employer for 1,000 hours during a 12-month pe3 riod, whether placed in the employ of such employer by

4 the employer, by a temporary help agency or staffing firm,

5 or under a leasing arrangement by a third party, such

6 temporary employee shall be eligible to receive any benefit

7 offered by the employer to other permanent employees.

8 SEC. 3. EQUAL PAY FOR TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES.

9 (a) GENERAL RULE.—An employer having employees

10 subject to section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of

11 1938 shall not discriminate, within any establishment in

12 which such employees are employed, between employees on

13 the basis of employment status by paying wages to tem14 porary employees in such establishment at a rate less than

15 the rate at which the employer pays wages to full-time

16 employees in such establishment for equal work on jobs

17 the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and

18 responsibility, and which are performed under similar

19 working conditions, except where such payment is made

20 pursuant to—

21 (1) a seniority system;

22 (2) a merit system;

23 (3) a system that measures earning by quantity

24 or quality of production; or
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1 (4) a differential based on any other factor

2 other than employment status.

3 (b) WAGE REDUCTION.—An employer who is paying

4 a wage rate differential in violation of this section shall

5 not, in order to comply with the provisions of this section,

6 reduce the wage rate of any employee.

7 (c) LABOR ORGANIZATION.—No labor organization,

8 or its agents, representing the employees of an employer

9 having employees subject to section 6 of the Fair Labor

10 Standards Act of 1938 shall cause or attempt to cause

11 such an employer to discriminate against an employee in

12 violation of this section.

13 (d) UNPAID WAGES.—For purposes of administra14 tion and enforcement, any amounts owing to any employee

15 that have been withheld in violation of this section shall

16 be deemed to be unpaid minimum wages or unpaid over17 time compensation under section 5.

18 (e) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term

19 ‘‘labor organization’’ means any organization of any kind,

20 or any agency or employee representation committee or

21 plan, in which employers participate and which exists for

22 the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers

23 concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay,

24 hours of employment, or conditions of work.
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1 SEC. 4. LIABILITY TO ALL PERSONS ON WORKSITE.

2 Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and

3 Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 654(a)(1)) is amended to

4 read as follows:

5 ‘‘(1) shall, at the place of employment of the

6 employer, furnish to each person at such place a

7 place which is free from recognized hazards that are

8 causing or are likely to cause death or serious phys9 ical harm to such persons; and’’.

10 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT.

11 (a) CIVIL ACTION BY EMPLOYEES.—

12 (1) LIABILITY.—Any employer who violates sec13 tion 2 or 3 shall be liable to any eligible employee

14 affected—

15 (A) for damages equal to—

16 (i) the amount of any wages, salary,

17 employment benefits, or other compensa18 tion denied or lost to such employee by

19 reason of the violation;

20 (ii) the interest on the amount de21 scribed in clause (i) calculated at the pre22 vailing rate; and

23 (iii) an additional amount as liq24 uidated damages equal to the sum of the

25 amount described in clause (i) and the in26 terest described in clause (ii), except that
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1 if an employer who has violated section 2

2 or 3 proves to the satisfaction of the court

3 that the act or omission which violated

4 such section was in good faith and that the

5 employer had reasonable grounds for be6 lieving that the act or omission was not a

7 violation of such section, such court may,

8 in the discretion of the court, reduce the

9 amount of the liability to the amount and

10 interest determined under clauses (i) and

11 (ii), respectively; and

12 (B) for such equitable relief as may be ap13 propriate, including employment, reinstatement,

14 and promotion.

15 (2) RIGHT OF ACTION.—An action to recover

16 the damages or equitable relief prescribed in para17 graph (1) may be maintained against any employer

18 (including a public agency) in any Federal or State

19 court of competent jurisdiction by any one or more

20 employees for and in behalf of—

21 (A) the employees; or

22 (B) the employees and other employees

23 similarly situated.

24 (3) FEES AND COSTS.—The court in such an

25 action shall, in addition to any judgment awarded to
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1 the plaintiff, allow a reasonable attorney’s fee, rea2 sonable expert witness fees, and other costs of the

3 action to be paid by the defendant.

4 (4) LIMITATIONS.—The right provided by para5 graph (2) to bring an action by or on behalf of any

6 employee shall terminate—

7 (A) on the filing of a complaint by the Sec8 retary in an action under subsection (d) in

9 which restraint is sought of any further delay

10 in the payment of the amount described in

11 paragraph (1)(A) to such employee by an em12 ployer responsible under paragraph (1) for the

13 payment; or

14 (B) on the filing of a complaint by the Sec15 retary in an action under subsection (b) in

16 which a recovery is sought of the damages de17 scribed in paragraph (1)(A) owing to an eligible

18 employee by an employer liable under para19 graph (1),

20 unless the action described in subparagraph (A) or

21 (B) is dismissed without prejudice on motion of the

22 Secretary.

23 (b) ACTION BY THE SECRETARY.—

24 (1) ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION.—The Secretary

25 shall receive, investigate, and attempt to resolve
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1 complaints of violations of section 2 or 3 in the same

2 manner that the Secretary receives, investigates, and

3 attempts to resolve complaints of violations of sec4 tions 6 and 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of

5 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206 and 207).

6 (2) CIVIL ACTION.—The Secretary may bring

7 an action in any court of competent jurisdiction to

8 recover the damages described in subsection

9 (a)(1)(A).

10 (3) SUMS RECOVERED.—Any sums recovered by

11 the Secretary pursuant to paragraph (2) shall be

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

13 on order of the Secretary, directly to each employee

14 affected. Any such sums not paid to an employee be15 cause of inability to do so within a period of 3 years

16 shall be deposited into the Treasury of the United

17 States as miscellaneous receipts.

18 (c) LIMITATION.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para20 graph (2), an action may be brought under this sec21 tion not later than 2 years after the date of the last

22 event constituting the alleged violation for which the

23 action is brought.

24 (2) WILLFUL VIOLATION.—In the case of such

25 action brought for a willful violation of section 2 or
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1 3, such action may be brought within 3 years of the

2 date of the last event constituting the alleged viola3 tion for which such action is brought.

4 (3) COMMENCEMENT.—In determining when an

5 action is commenced by the Secretary under this

6 section for the purposes of this subsection, it shall

7 be considered to be commenced on the date when the

8 complaint is filed.

9 (d) ACTION FOR INJUNCTION BY SECRETARY.—The

10 district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction,

11 for cause shown, in an action brought by the Secretary—

12 (1) to restrain violations of section 2 or 3, in13 cluding the restraint of any withholding of payment

14 of wages, salary, employment benefits, or other com15 pensation, plus interest, found by the court to be

16 due to eligible employees; or

17 (2) to award such other equitable relief as may

18 be appropriate, including employment, reinstate19 ment, and promotion.

20 (e) SOLICITOR OF LABOR.—The Solicitor of Labor

21 may appear for and represent the Secretary on any litiga22 tion brought under this section.

23 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

24 For purposes of this Act:
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1 (1) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means

2 any individual who performs services for wages, sal3 ary, or other reimbursement under any contract of

4 hire, written or oral, express or implied with an em5 ployer. This individual also works for an employer at

6 least 1,000 hours per year.

7 (2) EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘employer’’ means

8 any person engaged in commerce or in any industry

9 or activity affecting commerce who employs 100 or

10 more employees for each working day during each of

11 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or

12 preceding calendar year.

13 (3) PERMANENT EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘per14 manent employee’’ means any individual who is

15 hired for an indefinite period of time as an employee

16 and is accorded benefits.

17 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

18 the Secretary of Labor.

19 (5) TEMPORARY AGENCY.—The term ‘‘tem20 porary agency’’ means any person regularly under21 taking with or without compensation to procure em22 ployees for an employer temporarily or to procure

23 for employees opportunities to work for an employer

24 and includes an agent of such a person.
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1 (6) TEMPORARY EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘tem2 porary employee’’ means any employee who is not

3 permanent.

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