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104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3791

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to employment opportunities in the Department of Health and Human Services for women

who are scientists, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 11, 1996

Ms. SLAUGHTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to

employment opportunities in the Department of Health

and Human Services for women who are scientists, 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 ‘‘HHS Women Scientist

5 Employment Opportunity Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. WOMEN’S SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT.

7 The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 281 et

8 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following title:
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1 ‘‘TITLE XXVII—WOMEN’S SCIENTIFIC EMPLOY2 MENT WITH DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

3 AND HUMAN SERVICES

4 ‘‘SEC. 2701. WOMEN’S SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT.

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For each agency specified

7 in paragraph (2), the Secretary, in collaboration

8 with the head of the agency, shall—

9 ‘‘(A) establish policies for the agency on

10 matters relating to the employment by the

11 agency of women as scientists, and periodically

12 review and as appropriate revise such policies;

13 and

14 ‘‘(B) monitor the extent of compliance with

15 such policies and take appropriate action in

16 cases in which the Secretary determines that

17 the policies have been violated.

18 ‘‘(2) SPECIFIED AGENCIES.—The agencies re19 ferred to in paragraph (1) are the National Insti20 tutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and

21 Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and

22 such other agencies or offices of the Department of

23 Health and Human Services as the Secretary deter24 mines to be appropriate.

25 ‘‘(b) CERTAIN FUNCTIONS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out subsection

2 (a) with respect to a specified agency, the Secretary

3 shall provide for the following:

4 ‘‘(A) Determining the concerns of women

5 scientists employed at the agency.

6 ‘‘(B) Developing a policy defining the

7 standard tenure process for employment at the

8 agency.

9 ‘‘(C) Determining the reason for departure

10 from the agency by interviewing women and

11 men scientists as they leave.

12 ‘‘(D) Distributing yearly to all employees

13 of the agency of the policy of the agency on

14 flexible family leave.

15 ‘‘(E) Monitoring the number of women, in16 cluding minority women, included on the com17 mittees, panels, and other working groups (and

18 in meetings) of the agency.

19 ‘‘(F) Making efforts to recruit minority

20 women, based on the small numbers of tenured

21 minority women scientists.

22 ‘‘(G) Developing additional goals related to

23 women and minority women scientists at the

24 agency.
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1 ‘‘(2) AGENCY-SPECIFIC PROVISIONS.—With re2 spect to the National Institutes of Health, in carry3 ing out subsection (a), the Secretary shall (in addi4 tion to activities under paragraph (1)) provide for

5 the implementation of the recommendations of the

6 group known as the Task Force on the Status of

7 NIH Intramural Women Scientists.

8 ‘‘(c) INCLUSION OF WOMEN ON INTRAMURAL AND

9 EXTRAMURAL CONFERENCES AND OTHER GROUPS.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab11 lish a policy at each specified agency of requiring in12 clusion of women scientists in greater numbers on or

13 in conferences, workshops, meetings, international

14 congresses, and other groups funded or sponsored by

15 the agency. Such policy shall provide for the inclu16 sion of not less than one woman scientist in each

17 such group, except as provided in paragraph (2).

18 This paragraph applies whether such groups are

19 held for employees of the agency headquarters, for

20 employees of field offices, or both.

21 ‘‘(2) EXCLUSION; WRITTEN EXPLANATION.—

22 The policy established in paragraph (1) may provide

23 that no woman scientist will be included in a group

24 for purposes of such paragraph if the Secretary pro-
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1 vides a waiver of the requirement. The Secretary

2 may grant such a waiver only if—

3 ‘‘(A) the individual with the chief respon4 sibility for the group involved submits to the

5 Secretary a written request for the waiver and

6 the request provides an explanation of the rea7 sons underlying the need for the waiver; and

8 ‘‘(B) the Secretary makes a determination

9 that extraordinary circumstances justify provid10 ing the waiver.

11 ‘‘(d) STUDY ON PAY EQUITY.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For each specified agency,

13 the Secretary shall provide for a study to identify

14 any pay differences among men and women sci15 entists employed by the agency, both tenured and

16 untenured. The study shall include recommendations

17 on measures to adjust any disparities or inequities,

18 and shall identify a program to communicate infor19 mation on salary ranges to all employees.

20 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 240 days after

21 the date of the enactment of the HHS Women Sci22 entist Employment Opportunity Act of 1996, the

23 Secretary shall complete the study required in para24 graph (1) and submit to the Committee on Com25 merce of the House of Representatives, and to the
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1 Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the

2 Senate, a report describing the findings made as a

3 result of the study.

4 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the

5 term ‘specified agency’ means an agency specified in sub6 section (a)(2).

7 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the

8 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized

9 to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for

10 each of the fiscal years 1997 through 1999.’’.

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