I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4740 

To amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to provide 

protections for employees relating to the offshoring of jobs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 25, 2004 

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (for himself, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. OWENS, Mr. 

LANTOS, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. LEE, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. 

FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. FROST, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. 

DEFAZIO, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. WATSON, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. VISCLOSKY, 

Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Ms. DELAURO, and Mr. KANJORSKI) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to provide protections for employees relating 

to the offshoring of jobs. 

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 ‘‘Jobs for America Act 

5 of 2004’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE WORKER ADJUSTMENT AND 

2 RETRAINING NOTIFICATION ACT. 

3 (a) DEFINITION.—Section 2(a) of the Worker Ad4 justment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 

5 2101(a)) is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (3)(B), by striking ‘‘for—’’ 

7 and all that follows through ‘‘500 employees’’ in 

8 clause (ii), and inserting ‘‘for at least 50 employ9 ees’’; 

10 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

11 end; 

12 (3) in paragraph (8), by striking the period and 

13 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

14 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(9) the term ‘offshoring of jobs’ means any ac16 tion taken by an employer the effect of which is to 

17 create, shift, or transfer work or facilities outside 

18 the United States and which results in an employ19 ment loss during any 30 day period for 15 or more 

20 employees.’’. 

21 (b) DETERMINATIONS WITH RESPECT TO EMPLOY22 MENT LOSS.—Section 3(d) of the Worker Adjustment and 

23 Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2102(d)) is 

24 amended— 

25 (1) by striking ‘‘each of which’’ and inserting 

26 ‘‘1 or more of which’’; and 
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1 (2) by striking ‘‘within any 90-day period’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘within any 180-day period’’. 

3 (c) NOTICE.—Section 3 of the Worker Adjustment 

4 and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2102) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

8 by striking ‘‘60-day’’ and inserting ‘‘90-day’’; 

9 and 

10 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

11 the end; 

12 (C) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe13 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

14 (D) by inserting after paragraph (2), the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘(3) to the Secretary of Labor.’’; 

17 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘60-day’’ each 

18 place that such appears and inserting ‘‘90-day’’; and 

19 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(e) NOTICE FOR OFFSHORING OF JOBS.—In the 

21 case of a notice under subsection (a) regarding the 

22 offshoring of jobs, the notice shall include, in addition to 

23 the information otherwise required by the Secretary with 

24 respect to other notices under such subsection, informa25 tion concerning— 
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1 ‘‘(1) the number of jobs affected; 

2 ‘‘(2) the location to which work or facilities are 

3 being shifted or transferred; and 

4 ‘‘(3) the reasons that such shifting or transfer5 ring of work or facilities is occurring.’’. 

6 (d) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—The Worker Adjust7 ment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et 

8 seq.) is amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘plant closing or mass layoff’’ 

10 each place that such appears and inserting ‘‘plant 

11 closing, mass layoff, or offshoring of jobs’’; 

12 (2) by striking ‘‘closing or layoff’’ each place 

13 that such appears and inserting ‘‘closing, layoff, or 

14 offshoring’’; and 

15 (3) in section 3— 

16 (A) in the section heading by striking 

17 ‘‘PLANT CLOSINGS AND MASS LAYOFFS’’ 

18 and inserting ‘‘PLANT CLOSINGS, MASS LAY19 OFFS, AND OFFSHORING OF JOBS’’; 

20 (B) in subsection (b)(2)(A), by striking 

21 ‘‘closing or mass layoff’’ and inserting ‘‘closing, 

22 layoff, or offshoring’’; and 

23 (C) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘section 

24 2(a)(2) or (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (2), 

25 (3), or (9) of section 2(a)’’. 
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1 (e) CIVIL ACTIONS AGAINST EMPLOYERS.—Section 

2 5(a) of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifica3 tion Act (29 U.S.C. 2104(a)) is amended— 

4 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘60 days’’ and 

5 inserting ‘‘90 days’’; 

6 (2) in paragraph (1)(A)(ii), by striking ‘‘and’’; 

7 (3) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking the period 

8 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 

9 (4) in paragraph (1), by inserting after sub10 paragraph (B) the following: 

11 ‘‘(C) any other consequential damages incurred 

12 by the aggrieved employee as a result of the viola13 tion of section 3 of this Act.’’; 

14 (5) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘State or’’ 

15 after ‘‘with respect to a’’; 

16 (6) in paragraph (4), by adding at the end the 

17 following: ‘‘If the court determines that an employer 

18 acted in bad faith in an attempt to evade the re19 quirements of this Act, the court may, in its discre20 tion, award to persons seeking to enforce this Act, 

21 treble damages.’’; and 

22 (7) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘, a State,’’ 

23 after ‘‘a representative of employees’’. 

24 (f) POSTING OF EMPLOYEE RIGHTS.—The Worker 

25 Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 
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1 2101 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 11. POSTING OF NOTICE OF RIGHTS. 

4 ‘‘(a) DEVELOPMENT.—Not later than 60 days after 

5 the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary of 

6 Labor shall develop a notice of employee rights under this 

7 Act for posting by employers. 

8 ‘‘(b) POSTING.—Each employer shall post in a con9 spicuous place in places of employment the notice of the 

10 rights of employees as developed by the Secretary under 

11 subsection (a).’’. 

12 (g) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Worker Adjustment and 

13 Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.), as 

14 amended by subsection (d), is further amended by adding 

15 at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 12. CONTENTS OF ANNUAL REPORTS BY THE SEC17 RETARY OF LABOR. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor shall col19 lect and compile statistics based on the information sub20 mitted to the Secretary under subsections (a)(3) and (e) 

21 of section 3. 

22 ‘‘(b) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the 

23 date on which each regular session of Congress com24 mences, the Secretary of Labor shall prepare and submit 

25 to the President and the appropriate committees of Con-
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1 gress a report on the offshoring of jobs (as defined in sec2 tion 2(a)(9)). Each such report shall include information 

3 concerning— 

4 ‘‘(1) the number of jobs affected by offshoring; 

5 ‘‘(2) the locations to which work or facilities are 

6 being shifted or transferred; 

7 ‘‘(3) the reasons why such shifts and transfers 

8 are occurring; and 

9 ‘‘(4) any other relevant data compiled under 

10 subsection (a).’’. 

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