I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1099 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

Act to protect disaster assistance employee reservists when activated 

by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for work at a specific 

disaster site from termination or demotion in their places of employment. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2007 

Ms. SCHWARTZ (for herself, Mr. MURTHA, and Ms. BORDALLO) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 

and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to protect disaster assistance employee reservists when activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for work at a specific disaster 

site from termination or demotion in their places of 

employment. 

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 ‘‘Disaster Assistance 

5 Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 2007’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIONS FOR DISASTER AS2 SISTANCE EMPLOYEE RESERVISTS. 

3 Section 306 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

4 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5149) is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(c) EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIONS FOR DISASTER AS7 SISTANCE EMPLOYEE RESERVISTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) TERMINATION PROHIBITED.—No person 

9 may be terminated, demoted, or in any other manner 

10 discriminated against in the terms and conditions of 

11 employment because the employee, when activated 

12 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 

13 work at a specific disaster site as a disaster assist14 ance employee reservist, is absent from or late to his 

15 or her employment. 

16 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

17 apply if such person is absent from his or her em18 ployment for the purposes described in paragraph 

19 (1) for a period of more than 90 days in a calendar 

20 year, except that the Secretary of Homeland Secu21 rity may extend such period for a major disaster if 

22 the Secretary determines that an extension is appro23 priate due to a national emergency and the Sec24 retary publishes notice of the determination in the 

25 Federal Register. 

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1 ‘‘(3) WITHHOLDING OF PAY.—An employer 

2 may charge, against the employee’s regular pay, any 

3 time that an employee loses from employment be4 cause of the employee’s activation as a disaster as5 sistance employee reservist. 

6 ‘‘(4) CERTIFICATION.—The employer may re7 quest the employee to provide the employer with a 

8 written verification from the Federal Emergency 

9 Management Agency that the employee was acti10 vated as a disaster assistance employee reservist and 

11 stating the time and dates of such activation. 

12 ‘‘(5) REASONABLE NOTICE REQUIRED.—An em13 ployee who may be absent from or late to his or her 

14 employment due to activation as a disaster assist15 ance employee reservist shall make a reasonable ef16 fort to notify his or her employer that he or she may 

17 be absent or late and shall continue to provide such 

18 reasonable notifications over the course of his or her 

19 absence. 

20 ‘‘(6) RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

21 ‘‘(A) RIGHT OF ACTION.—A person who 

22 has been terminated, demoted, or in any other 

23 manner discriminated against in the terms and 

24 conditions of employment in violation of this 

25 subsection may bring, in a district court of the 

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1 United States of appropriate jurisdiction, a civil 

2 action against his or her employer who violated 

3 this subsection. 

4 ‘‘(B) DAMAGES.—The employee may seek 

5 reinstatement to his or her former position, 

6 payment of back wages, reinstatement of fringe 

7 benefits, and, where seniority rights are grant8 ed, reinstatement of seniority rights. 

9 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—The employee must 

10 commence such an action within 1 year after 

11 the date of the violation of this subsection. 

12 ‘‘(7) DISASTER ASSISTANCE EMPLOYEE RE13 SERVIST DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term 

14 ‘disaster assistance employee reservist’ means a per15 son— 

16 ‘‘(A) appointed by the Federal Emergency 

17 Management Agency under subsection (b)(1) to 

18 serve as a reservist; and 

19 ‘‘(B) who is carried on the personnel rolls 

20 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 

21 for a specified period and may be activated to 

22 perform disaster assistance program work when 

23 the need arises.’’. 

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