I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3584

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for

employers for certain costs incurred to combat violence against women.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 5, 1996

Mrs. LOWEY (for herself and Mrs. MORELLA) 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 provide

a credit for employers for certain costs incurred to combat violence against women.

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 ‘‘Workplace Violence

5 Prevention Tax Credit Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) there is an increasing awareness by the

9 business community and the country as a whole re-
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1 garding the serious problem of workplace violence

2 against women;

3 (2) there is an increased recognition that work4 place violence against women has severe implications

5 for the health, safety, and economic well-being of

6 women, as well as the efficiency and profitability of

7 American companies;

8 (3) recent crime statistics clearly show the seri9 ous threat of workplace violence against women;

10 (4) homicide is the leading cause of death for

11 women on the job, and husbands, boyfriends, and

12 ex-partners commit 15 percent of all workplace

13 homicides against women;

14 (5) an estimated 8 percent of all rapes occur

15 while victims are working or on duty, at an average

16 annual number of 13,000 workplace rapes each year;

17 (6) husbands and boyfriends commit 13,000

18 acts of violence against women in the workplace

19 every year;

20 (7) women are more likely than men to be at21 tacked at work by someone known to them, and 5

22 percent of women victimized at work are attacked by

23 a husband, boyfriend, or ex-partner;

24 (8) surveys of business executives and corporate

25 security directors also underscore the heavy toll that
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1 workplace violence takes on American women and

2 American businesses;

3 (9) 49 percent of senior executives recently sur4 veyed said domestic violence has a harmful effect on

5 their company’s productivity, 47 percent said spous6 al abuse negatively impacts attendance, and 44 per7 cent said domestic violence increases health care

8 costs;

9 (10) 94 percent of corporate security and safety

10 directors at companies nationwide rank domestic vio11 lence as a high-risk security problem;

12 (11) the public and private sectors—including

13 the legal, medical, social services, business, and reli14 gious communities—must come together to combat

15 violence against women in the workplace; and

16 (12) the Congress, too, must play a role in en17 couraging companies to promulgate workplace edu18 cation and safety programs to combat violence

19 against women.

20 SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR COSTS TO EMPLOYERS OF IMPLE21 MENTING WORKPLACE SAFETY PROGRAMS

22 TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub24 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of
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1 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new

2 section:

3 ‘‘SEC. 45C. WORKPLACE SAFETY PROGRAM CREDIT.

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, the

5 workplace safety program credit determined under this

6 section for the taxable year is, for any employer, an

7 amount equal to 40 percent of the violence against women

8 safety and education costs paid or incurred by such em9 ployer during the taxable year.

10 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

11 ‘‘(1) VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN SAFETY AND

12 EDUCATION COST.—

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘violence

14 against women safety and education cost’

15 means any cost certified by the Attorney Gen16 eral to the Secretary as being for the purpose

17 of—

18 ‘‘(i) ensuring the safety of employees

19 from violent crimes against women,

20 ‘‘(ii) providing counseling to employ21 ees with respect to violent crimes against

22 women,

23 ‘‘(iii) providing legal or medical serv24 ices to employees subjected to, or at risk

25 from, violent crimes against women,
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1 ‘‘(iv) educating employees about the

2 issue of violent crimes against women, or

3 ‘‘(v) implementing human resource or

4 personnel policies initiated to protect em5 ployees from violent crimes against women.

6 ‘‘(B) TYPES OF COSTS.—Such term in7 cludes costs certified by the Attorney General to

8 the Secretary as being for the purpose of—

9 ‘‘(i) the hiring of new security person10 nel in order to address violent crimes

11 against women,

12 ‘‘(ii) the creation of buddy systems or

13 escort systems for walking employees to

14 parking lots, parked cars, subway stations,

15 or bus stops, in order to address violent

16 crimes against women,

17 ‘‘(iii) the purchase or installation of

18 new security equipment, including surveil19 lance equipment, lighting fixtures, cardkey

20 access systems, and identification systems,

21 in order to address violent crimes against

22 women,

23 ‘‘(iv) the establishment of a hotline or

24 a counseling service about violent crimes
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1 against women, for the use of individual

2 employees,

3 ‘‘(v) the retention of an attorney to

4 provide legal services to employees seeking

5 restraining orders or other legal recourse

6 from violent crimes against women,

7 ‘‘(vi) the establishment of medical

8 services addressing the medical needs of

9 employees who are victims of violent crimes

10 against women,

11 ‘‘(vii) the retention of a financial ex12 pert or an accountant to provide financial

13 counseling to employees seeking to escape

14 from violent crimes against women,

15 ‘‘(viii) the establishment of an edu16 cation program for employees, consisting of

17 seminars or training sessions about violent

18 crimes against women,

19 ‘‘(ix) studies of the cost, impact, or

20 extent of violent crimes against women at

21 the employer’s place of business, if such

22 studies are made available to the public

23 and protect the identity of employees in24 cluded in the study,
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1 ‘‘(x) the publication of a regularly dis2 seminated newsletter or other regularly

3 disseminated educational materials about

4 violent crimes against women,

5 ‘‘(xi) the implementation of leave poli6 cies for the purpose of allowing victims of

7 violent crimes against women to pursue

8 legal redress against assailants, including

9 leave from work to attend meetings with

10 attorneys, to give evidentiary statements or

11 depositions, and to attend hearings or

12 trials in court,

13 ‘‘(xii) the implementation of flexible

14 work policies for the purpose of allowing

15 employees who are victims of violent crimes

16 against women, or employees at risk with

17 respect to such crimes, to avoid assailants,

18 or

19 ‘‘(xiii) the implementation of transfer

20 policies for the purpose of allowing employ21 ees subjected to violent crimes against

22 women to change office locations within

23 the company in order to avoid assailants,

24 including payment of costs for the transfer

25 and relocation of an employee to another
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1 city, county, State, or country for the pur2 pose of maintaining the employee’s safety

3 from violent crimes against women.

4 ‘‘(C) NOTIFICATION OF POSSIBLE TAX

5 CONSEQUENCES.—In no event shall any cost for

6 goods or services which may be included in the

7 income of any employee receiving or benefiting

8 from such goods or services be treated as a vio9 lence against women safety and education cost

10 unless the employer notifies the employee in

11 writing of the possibility of such inclusion.

12 ‘‘(2) VIOLENT CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN.—

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘violent

14 crimes against women’ includes sexual assault

15 and domestic violence.

16 ‘‘(B) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—The term

17 ‘domestic violence’ includes felony or mis18 demeanor crimes of violence committed by—

19 ‘‘(i) a current or former spouse of the

20 victim,

21 ‘‘(ii) a person with whom the victim

22 shares a child in common,

23 ‘‘(iii) a person who is cohabitating

24 with or has cohabitated with the victim as

25 a spouse,
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1 ‘‘(iv) a person similarly situated to a

2 spouse of the victim under the domestic vi3 olence or family laws of the jurisdiction in

4 which the employee resides or the employer

5 is located, or

6 ‘‘(v) any other adult person against a

7 victim who is protected from the person’s

8 acts under the domestic or family violence

9 laws of the jurisdiction in which the em10 ployee resides or the employer is located.

11 ‘‘(3) EMPLOYEE AND EMPLOYER.—

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘employee’

13 includes any employee of the employer or of any

14 related person, and any spouse or dependent of

15 such an employee.

16 ‘‘(B) PARTNERS AND PARTNERSHIPS.—

17 The term ‘employee’ includes a partner and the

18 term ‘employer’ includes a partnership.

19 ‘‘(C) RELATED PERSONS.—Persons shall

20 be treated as related to each other if such per21 sons are treated as a single employer under

22 subsection (a) or (b) of section 52.

23 ‘‘(c) COORDINATION WITH OTHER PROVISIONS.—No

24 credit or deduction shall be allowed under any other provi-
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1 sion of this title for any amount for which a credit is al2 lowed under this section.’’

3 (b) CARRYFORWARD, CARRYBACK, AND DEDUCTION

4 FOR UNUSED CREDITS.—

5 (1) CARRYFORWARD AND CARRYBACK.—Sub6 section (a) of section 38 of such Code (relating to

7 general business credit) is amended by striking

8 ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (10), by striking the

9 period at the end of paragraph (11) and inserting ‘‘,

10 plus’’, and by adding at the end the following new

11 paragraph:

12 ‘‘(12) the workplace safety program credit de13 termined under section 45C.’’

14 (2) TRANSITIONAL RULE FOR CARRYBACKS.—

15 Subsection (d) of section 39 of such Code (relating

16 to transitional rules) is amended by adding at the

17 end the following new paragraph:

18 ‘‘(7) NO CARRYBACK OF SECTION 45C CREDIT

19 BEFORE EFFECTIVE DATE.—No portion of the un20 used business credit for any taxable year which is

21 attributable to the workplace safety program credit

22 determined under section 45C may be carried back

23 to a taxable year beginning on or before the date of

24 the enactment of section 45C.’’
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1 (3) DEDUCTION FOR UNUSED CREDITS.—Sub2 section (c) of section 196 of such Code (relating to

3 deduction for certain unused business credits) is

4 amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

5 (6), by striking the period at the end of paragraph

6 (7) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by adding at the end

7 the following new paragraph:

8 ‘‘(8) the workplace safety program credit deter9 mined under section 45C.’’

10 (c) CREDIT NOT A DEFENSE IN LEGAL ACTIONS.—

11 The allowance of a credit under section 45C of the Inter12 nal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by this Act) shall

13 not absolve employers of their responsibilities under any

14 other law and shall not be construed as a defense to any

15 legal action (other than legal action by the Secretary of

16 the Treasury under such Code).

17 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

18 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1

19 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the follow20 ing new item:

‘‘Sec. 45C. Workplace safety program credit.’’

21 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

22 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

23 the date of the enactment of this Act.

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