II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2909 

To provide State programs to encourage employee ownership and participation 

in business decisionmaking throughout the United States, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 18, 2009 

Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. BROWN, and Mr. MENENDEZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To provide State programs to encourage employee ownership 

and participation in business decisionmaking throughout 

the United States, 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 ‘‘Worker Ownership, 

5 Readiness and Knowledge Act’’ or the ‘‘WORK Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 (a) In this Act: 


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1 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

2 the Director of Employee Ownership and Participa3 tion. 

4 (2) EXISTING PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘existing 

5 program’’ means a program, designed to promote 

6 employee ownership and employee participation in 

7 business decisionmaking, that exists on the date the 

8 Director is carrying out a responsibility authorized 

9 by this Act. 

10 (3) NEW PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘new program’’ 

11 means a program, designed to promote employee 

12 ownership and employee participation in business de13 cisionmaking, that does not exist on the date the Di14 rector is carrying out a responsibility authorized by 

15 this Act. 

16 (4) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of17 fice of Employee Ownership and Participation estab18 lished under section 3. 

19 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

20 the Secretary of Labor. 

21 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 

22 the 50 States within the United States of America. 


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1 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP AND PARTICI2 PATION. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 

4 within the Department of Labor an Office of Employee 

5 Ownership and Participation to promote employee owner6 ship and employee participation in business decision7 making. 

8 (b) DIRECTOR.—The Secretary shall appoint a Direc9 tor of Employee Ownership and Participation to head the 

10 Office. 

11 (c) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the Director are 

12 to— 

13 (1) support within the States existing programs 

14 designed to promote employee ownership and em15 ployee participation in business decisionmaking; and 

16 (2) facilitate within the States the formation of 

17 new programs designed to promote employee owner18 ship and employee participation in business decision19 making. 

20 (d) DUTIES.—To carry out the functions enumerated 

21 in subsection (c), the Director shall— 

22 (1) support new programs and existing pro23 grams by— 

24 (A) making Federal grants authorized 

25 under section 5; and 


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1 (B)(i) acting as a clearinghouse on tech2 niques employed by new programs and existing 

3 programs within the States, and disseminating 

4 information relating to those techniques to the 

5 programs; or 

6 (ii) funding projects for information gath7 ering on those techniques, and dissemination of 

8 that information to the programs, by groups 

9 outside the Office; and 

10 (2) facilitate the formation of new programs, in 

11 ways that include holding or funding an annual con12 ference of representatives from States with existing 

13 programs, representatives from States developing 

14 new programs, and representatives from States with15 out existing programs. 

16 SEC. 4. PROGRAMS REGARDING EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP 

17 AND PARTICIPATION. 

18 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—Not later than 

19 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec20 retary shall establish a program, administered by the Di21 rector, to encourage new and existing programs within the 

22 States, designed to foster employee ownership and em23 ployee participation in business decisionmaking through24 out the United States. 


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1 (b) PURPOSE OF PROGRAM.—The purpose of the pro2 gram established under subsection (a) is to encourage new 

3 and existing programs within the States that focus on— 

4 (1) providing education and outreach to inform 

5 employees and employers about the possibilities and 

6 benefits of employee ownership, business ownership 

7 succession planning, and employee participation in 

8 business decisionmaking, including providing infor9 mation about financial education, employee teams, 

10 open-book management, and other tools that enable 

11 employees to share ideas and information about how 

12 their businesses can succeed; 

13 (2) providing technical assistance to assist em14 ployee efforts to become business owners, to enable 

15 employers and employees to explore and assess the 

16 feasibility of transferring full or partial ownership to 

17 employees, and to encourage employees and employ18 ers to start new employee-owned businesses; 

19 (3) training employees and employers with re20 spect to methods of employee participation in open21 book management, work teams, committees, and 

22 other approaches for seeking greater employee input; 

23 and 


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1 (4) training other entities to apply for funding 

2 under this section, to establish new programs, and 

3 to carry out program activities. 

4 (c) PROGRAM DETAILS.—The Secretary may include, 

5 in the program established under subsection (a), provi6 sions that— 

7 (1) in the case of activities under subsection 

8 (b)(1)— 

9 (A) target key groups such as retiring 

10 business owners, senior managers, unions, trade 

11 associations, community organizations, and eco12 nomic development organizations; 

13 (B) encourage cooperation in the organiza14 tion of workshops and conferences; and 

15 (C) prepare and distribute materials con16 cerning employee ownership and participation, 

17 and business ownership succession planning; 

18 (2) in the case of activities under subsection 

19 (b)(2)— 

20 (A) provide preliminary technical assist21 ance to employee groups, managers, and retir22 ing owners exploring the possibility of employee 

23 ownership; 

24 (B) provide for the performance of prelimi25 nary feasibility assessments; 


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1 (C) assist in the funding of objective third2 party feasibility studies and preliminary busi3 ness valuations, and in selecting and monitoring 

4 professionals qualified to conduct such studies; 

5 and 

6 (D) provide a data bank to help employees 

7 find legal, financial, and technical advice in con8 nection with business ownership; 

9 (3) in the case of activities under subsection 

10 (b)(3)— 

11 (A) provide for courses on employee par12 ticipation; and 

13 (B) provide for the development and fos14 tering of networks of employee-owned compa15 nies to spread the use of successful participa16 tion techniques; and 

17 (4) in the case of training under subsection 

18 (b)(4)— 

19 (A) provide for visits to existing programs 

20 by staff from new programs receiving funding 

21 under this Act; and 

22 (B) provide materials to be used for such 

23 training. 

24 (d) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall promulgate 

25 regulations pursuant to this Act that require new and exVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:56 Dec 22, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2909.IS S2909

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1 isting programs established or funded under this Act to 

2 be— 

3 (1) proactive in encouraging actions and activi4 ties that promote employee ownership of, and par5 ticipation in, businesses; and 

6 (2) comprehensive in emphasizing both em7 ployee ownership of, and participation in, businesses 

8 so as to increase productivity and broaden capital 

9 ownership. 

10 SEC. 5. GRANTS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program es12 tablished under section 4, the Director may make grants 

13 for use in connection with new programs and existing pro14 grams within a State for any of the following activities: 

15 (1) Education and outreach as provided in sec16 tion 4(b)(1). 

17 (2) Technical assistance as provided in section 

18 4(b)(2). 

19 (3) Training activities for employees and em20 ployers as provided in section 4(b)(3). 

21 (4) Activities facilitating cooperation among 

22 employee-owned firms. 

23 (5) Training as provided in section 4(b)(4) for 

24 new programs provided by participants in existing 

25 programs dedicated to the objectives of this Act, exVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:56 Dec 22, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2909.IS S2909

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1 cept that, for each fiscal year, the amount of the 

2 grants made for such training shall not exceed 10 

3 percent of the total amount of the grants made 

4 under this Act. 

5 (b) AMOUNTS AND CONDITIONS.—The Director shall 

6 determine the amount and any conditions for a grant 

7 made under this section. The amount of the grant shall 

8 be subject to subsection (f), and shall reflect the capacity 

9 of the applicant for the grant. 

10 (c) APPLICATIONS.—Each entity desiring a grant 

11 under this section shall submit an application to the Direc12 tor at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by 

13 such information as the Director may reasonably require. 

14 (d) STATE APPLICATIONS.—Each State may sponsor 

15 and submit an application under subsection (c) on behalf 

16 of any local entity consisting of a unit of State or local 

17 government, State-supported institution of higher edu18 cation, or nonprofit organization, meeting the require19 ments of this Act. 

20 (e) APPLICATIONS BY ENTITIES.— 

21 (1) ENTITY APPLICATIONS.—If a State fails to 

22 support or establish a program pursuant to this Act 

23 during any fiscal year, the Director shall, in the sub24 sequent fiscal years, allow local entities described in 

25 subsection (d) from that State to make applications 


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1 for grants under subsection (c) on their own initia2 tive. 

3 (2) APPLICATION SCREENING.—Any State fail4 ing to support or establish a program pursuant to 

5 this Act during any fiscal year may submit applica6 tions under subsection (c) in the subsequent fiscal 

7 years but may not screen applications by local enti8 ties described in subsection (d) before submitting the 

9 applications to the Director. 

10 (f) LIMITATIONS.—A recipient of a grant made under 

11 this section shall not receive, during a fiscal year, in the 

12 aggregate, more than the following amounts: 

13 (1) For fiscal year 2010, $300,000. 

14 (2) For fiscal year 2011, $330,000. 

15 (3) For fiscal year 2012, $363,000. 

16 (4) For fiscal year 2013, $399,300. 

17 (5) For fiscal year 2014, $439,200. 

18 (g) ANNUAL REPORT.—For each year, each recipient 

19 of a grant under this section shall submit to the Director 

20 a report describing how grant funds allocated pursuant 

21 to this section were expended during the 12-month period 

22 preceding the date of the submission of the report. 


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1 SEC. 6. OFFICE REPORTING. 

2 Not later than the expiration of the 36-month period 

3 following the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 

4 shall prepare and submit to Congress a report— 

5 (1) on progress related to employee ownership 

6 and participation in businesses in the United States; 

7 and 

8 (2) containing an analysis of critical costs and 

9 benefits of activities carried out under this Act. 

10 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro12 priated for the purpose of making grants pursuant to sec13 tion 5 the following: 

14 (1) For fiscal year 2010, $3,500,000. 

15 (2) For fiscal year 2011, $5,500,000. 

16 (3) For fiscal year 2012, $8,000,000. 

17 (4) For fiscal year 2013, $10,500,000. 

18 (5) For fiscal year 2014, $13,500,000. 

19 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—There are author20 ized to be appropriated for the purpose of funding the Of21 fice, for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014, an 

22 amount not in excess of— 

23 (1) $350,000; or 

24 (2) 5.0 percent of the maximum amount avail25 able under subsection (a) for that fiscal year. 

Æ 


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