I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3471 

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require issuers to disclose 

to the Securities and Exchange Commission information regarding workforce management policies, practices, and performance, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 25, 2021 

Mrs. AXNE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require 

issuers to disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission information regarding workforce management 

policies, practices, and performance, 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 ‘‘Workforce Investment 

5 Disclosure Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) One of the keys to the 20th century post2 war economic success of the United States was the 

3 ability to prepare workers over the course of their 

4 lives for success through multiple sectors across soci5 ety. Unfortunately, during the several decades pre6 ceding the date of enactment of this Act, there has 

7 been a shift in business norms and in society. While 

8 Congress recognizes that the technology and job 

9 skills required for some jobs has changed dramati10 cally, the private and public partnership to hire 

11 workers at different education levels and invest in 

12 them for the long-term is broken. 

13 (2) Available data from the 10-year period pre14 ceding the date of enactment of this Act suggests 

15 that businesses are investing less in worker training 

16 during that time period, not more. 

17 (3) In the wake of the 2008 global financial cri18 sis, there was a well-documented decline in overall 

19 business investment. That decline coincides with the 

20 wage polarization of workers and an increase in 

21 spending on share buybacks and dividends, leading 

22 several researchers to conclude that companies are 

23 de-emphasizing investment at the expense of increas24 ing returns for shareholders. The onset of a global 


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1 pandemic may make that trend worse, especially 

2 with respect to investments in workers. 

3 (4) As part of the overall decline in investment 

4 described in paragraph (3), publicly traded compa5 nies are being provided with incentives to prioritize 

6 investments in physical assets over investments in 

7 their workforces, meaning that those companies are 

8 investing in robots instead of individuals. In fact, 

9 there are already signs that automation has in10 creased during the COVID–19 pandemic. 

11 (5) More than ever, the Federal Government, 

12 through company disclosure practices, needs to un13 derstand exactly how companies are investing in 

14 their workers. Over the several months preceding the 

15 date of enactment of this Act, companies across the 

16 United States have taken extreme actions to adapt 

17 and respond to evolving workforce challenges pre18 sented by COVID–19. 

19 (6) JUST Capital has been tracking the re20 sponses of the Standard and Poor’s 100 largest pub21 lic companies to their workers and has found wide 

22 variation in the policies implemented, as well as with 

23 respect to the disclosure of those policies. Through 

24 different responses to their workforces, from layoffs 

25 to workplace safety to paid leave, the COVID–19 


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1 pandemic is exposing the myriad ways that work2 force management practices of companies pose oper3 ational and reputational risks for short- and long4 term financial performance. 

5 (7) Even before the COVID–19 pandemic, there 

6 was a growing body of research establishing a rela7 tionship between measurable workforce management, 

8 which is the way that companies manage their em9 ployees, and firm performance. In a study of 2,000 

10 large companies, Harvard Law School’s Labor and 

11 Work Life Program found that forward-thinking 

12 workforce policies that prioritize workers, such as 

13 how companies train, retain, and pay their workers, 

14 are correlated with long-term financial performance. 

15 (8) Disclosure of workforce management poli16 cies should be part of a Government-wide economic 

17 recovery strategy. Just as a set of generally accepted 

18 accounting principles (commonly known as 

19 ‘‘GAAP’’) was urgently adopted after the Great De20 pression, standardized, comparable metrics of work21 force disclosure requirements in the context of the 

22 COVID–19 pandemic are critical for investors to ac23 curately measure and project company performance, 

24 both in the present and in the future. 


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1 (9) Because many companies already track 

2 workforce metrics internally, moving towards a 

3 transparent disclosure regime would allow investors 

4 to better judge whether companies are managing 

5 risks and making the investments in their 

6 workforces that are needed for long-term growth. 

7 (10) Businesses increasingly rely on workforce 

8 innovation and intellectual capital for competitive9 ness. Workplace benefits, particularly paid sick 

10 leave, medical leave, and flexible work arrangements, 

11 critically support employee mental and physical well12 being. 

13 (11) Race- and gender-based workplace dis14 crimination have been tied to negative health out15 comes, as well as lower productivity, trust, morale, 

16 and satisfaction and higher rates of absenteeism and 

17 turnover. Organizational reporting on practices to 

18 reduce discrimination can increase employee job sat19 isfaction, performance, and engagement. 

20 (12) According to the Centers for Disease Con21 trol and Prevention, work-related stress is the lead22 ing occupational health risk and, per the American 

23 Institute of Stress, job stress costs United States in24 dustry more than $300,000,000,000 per year in acVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:27 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3471.IH H3471

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1 cidents, absenteeism, employee turnover, diminished 

2 productivity, and medical, legal, and insurance costs. 

3 (13) Employee health and well-being is a key 

4 asset to delivering long-term value, with 80 percent 

5 of public companies that took concrete actions on 

6 health and well-being having seen larger improve7 ments in financial performance. 

8 (14) Organizational well-being interventions can 

9 create cost savings of up to 10 dollars for every dol10 lar invested. Specifically, for every dollar that em11 ployers spend on workplace disease prevention and 

12 well-being programs, there is a $3.27 reduction in 

13 employee medical costs and a $2.73 reduction in ab14 senteeism costs. Employers that implement work15 place health promotion programs have seen reduc16 tions in sick leave, health plan costs, and workers’ 

17 compensation and disability insurance costs of ap18 proximately 25 percent. 

19 (15) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre20 vention has found that preventable chronic condi21 tions are a major contributor to insurance premium 

22 and employee medical claim costs, which are at an 

23 all-time high, and a Milken Institute study shows 

24 that employers paid $2,600,000,000,000 in 2016 for 

25 the indirect costs of employee chronic disease due to 


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1 work absences, lost wages, and reduced economic 

2 productivity. 

3 (16) The COVID–19 pandemic has severely im4 pacted employee physical, mental, and emotional 

5 well-being by increasing stress, depression, burnout, 

6 and mortality rates of chronic disease and by reduc7 ing work-life balance and financial security, with 

8 these challenges likely to persist due to uncertainty 

9 and instability even as employees return to work. 

10 Before the COVID–19 pandemic, but especially in 

11 the face of that pandemic, employers that advance 

12 policies and practices that support workforce health, 

13 safety, and well-being are likely to outperform com14 petitors and benefit from lower costs. 

15 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURES RELATING TO WORKFORCE MANAGE16 MENT. 

17 Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

18 (15 U.S.C. 78m) is amended by adding at the end the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(s) DISCLOSURES RELATING TO WORKFORCE MAN21 AGEMENT.— 

22 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

23 ‘contingent worker’ includes an individual per24 forming work on a temporary basis or as an inde25 pendent contractor. 


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1 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 2 years 

2 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 

3 Commission, in consultation with the Secretary of 

4 Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of 

5 Treasury, and the Attorney General, shall promul6 gate regulations that require each issuer required to 

7 file an annual report under subsection (a) or section 

8 15(d) to disclose in that report information regard9 ing workforce management policies, practices, and 

10 performance with respect to the issuer. 

11 ‘‘(3) RULES.—Consistent with the requirement 

12 under paragraph (4), each annual report filed with 

13 the Commission in accordance with the regulations 

14 promulgated under paragraph (2) shall include dis15 closure of the following with respect to the issuer fil16 ing the report for the year covered by the report: 

17 ‘‘(A) Workforce demographic information, 

18 including— 

19 ‘‘(i) the number of full-time employ20 ees, the number of part-time employees, 

21 and the number of contingent workers (in22 cluding temporary and contract workers) 

23 with respect to the issuer, which shall in24 clude demographic information with re25 spect to those categories of individuals, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:27 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3471.IH H3471

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1 cluding information regarding race, eth2 nicity, and gender; 

3 ‘‘(ii) any policies or practices of the 

4 issuer relating to subcontracting, outsourc5 ing, and insourcing individuals to perform 

6 work for the issuer, which shall include de7 mographic information with respect to 

8 those individuals, including information re9 garding race, ethnicity, and gender; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) whether the percentage of con11 tingent workers with respect to the issuer 

12 has changed, including temporary and con13 tract workers, as compared with the pre14 vious annual report filed by the issuer 

15 under this subsection. 

16 ‘‘(B) Workforce stability information, in17 cluding information about the voluntary turn18 over or retention rate, the involuntary turnover 

19 rate, the internal hiring rate, and the internal 

20 promotion rate, and the horizontal job change 

21 rate by quintile and demographic information. 

22 ‘‘(C) Workforce composition, including— 

23 ‘‘(i) data on diversity (including ra24 cial, ethnic, and gender composition) for 


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1 senior executives and other individuals in 

2 the workforce; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) any policies, audits, and pro4 gramming expenditures relating to diver5 sity. 

6 ‘‘(D) Workforce skills and capabilities, in7 cluding— 

8 ‘‘(i) information about training and 

9 cross-training of employees and contingent 

10 workers by quintile and demographic infor11 mation, distinguishing between compliance 

12 training, career development training, job 

13 performance or technical training, and 

14 training tied to recognized postsecondary 

15 credentials; 

16 ‘‘(ii) average number of hours of 

17 training for each employee and contingent 

18 worker; 

19 ‘‘(iii) total spending on training for all 

20 employees and contingent workers; 

21 ‘‘(iv) average spending per employee 

22 or contingent worker; 

23 ‘‘(v) training utilization rates; and 

24 ‘‘(vi) whether completion of training 

25 opportunities translates into value added 


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1 benefit for workers, as determined by wage 

2 increases or internal promotions. 

3 ‘‘(E) Workforce health, safety, and well4 being, including information regarding— 

5 ‘‘(i) the frequency, severity, and lost 

6 time due to injuries, physical and mental 

7 illness, and fatalities; 

8 ‘‘(ii) the scope, frequency, and total 

9 expenditure on workplace health, safety, 

10 and well-being programs; 

11 ‘‘(iii) the total dollar value of assessed 

12 fines under the Occupational Safety and 

13 Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 et 

14 seq.); 

15 ‘‘(iv) the total number of actions 

16 brought under section 13 of the Occupa17 tional Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 

18 U.S.C. 662) to prevent imminent dangers; 

19 ‘‘(v) the total number of actions 

20 brought against the issuer under section 

21 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and 

22 Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 660(c)); 

23 ‘‘(vi) any findings of workplace har24 assment or workplace discrimination dur25 ing the 5 fiscal year period of the issuer 


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1 preceding the fiscal year in which the re2 port is filed; and 

3 ‘‘(vii) communication channels and 

4 grievance mechanisms in place for employ5 ees and contingent workers. 

6 ‘‘(F) Workforce compensation and incen7 tives, including information regarding— 

8 ‘‘(i) total workforce costs, including 

9 salaries and wages, health benefits, other 

10 ancillary benefit costs, and pension costs; 

11 ‘‘(ii) workforce benefits, including 

12 paid leave, health care, child care, and re13 tirement, including information regarding 

14 benefits that are provided— 

15 ‘‘(I) to full-time employees and 

16 not to part-time employees; or 

17 ‘‘(II) to employees and not to 

18 contingent workers; 

19 ‘‘(iii) total contributions made to un20 employment insurance by the issuer, how 

21 many employees to whom those contribu22 tions apply, and the total amount paid in 

23 unemployment compensation to individuals 

24 who were laid off by the issuer; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) policies and practices regarding 

2 how performance, productivity, equity, and 

3 sustainability are considered when setting 

4 pay and making promotion decisions; and 

5 ‘‘(v) policies and practices relating to 

6 any incentives and bonuses provided to em7 ployees and any policies or practices de8 signed to counter any risks created by such 

9 incentives and bonuses. 

10 ‘‘(G) Workforce recruiting and needs, in11 cluding— 

12 ‘‘(i) the number of new jobs created, 

13 seeking to be filled, and filled, 

14 disaggregated based on classification sta15 tus; 

16 ‘‘(ii) the share of new jobs that re17 quire a bachelor’s degree or higher; 

18 ‘‘(iii) information regarding the qual19 ity of hire for jobs described in clause (i); 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(iv) the retention rate for individuals 

22 hired to fill the jobs described in clause (i). 

23 ‘‘(H) Workforce engagement and produc24 tivity, including information regarding policies 

25 and practices of the issuer relating to— 


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1 ‘‘(i) engagement, productivity, and 

2 mental well-being of employees and contin3 gent workers, as determined in consulta4 tion with the Department of Labor; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) freedom of association and work6 life balance initiatives, including flexibility 

7 and the ability of the workforce to work re8 motely, as determined in consultation with 

9 the Department of Labor. 

10 ‘‘(4) DISAGGREGATION OF INFORMATION.—To 

11 the maximum extent feasible, the information de12 scribed in paragraph (3) shall be disaggregated by— 

13 ‘‘(A) the workforce composition described 

14 in subparagraph (C) of that paragraph; 

15 ‘‘(B) wage quintiles of the employees of the 

16 issuer for the year covered by the applicable an17 nual report; and 

18 ‘‘(C) the employment status of individuals 

19 performing services for the issuer, including 

20 whether those individuals are full-time employ21 ees, part-time employees, or contingent workers. 

22 ‘‘(5) TREATMENT OF EMERGING GROWTH COM23 PANIES.—The Commission may exempt emerging 

24 growth companies from any disclosure required 

25 under subparagraph (D), (E), (F), (G), or (H) of 


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1 paragraph (3) if the Commission determines that 

2 such an exemption is necessary or appropriate in the 

3 public interest. 

4 ‘‘(6) FALSE OR MISLEADING STATEMENTS.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

6 subparagraph (B), it shall be unlawful for any 

7 person, in any report or document filed under 

8 this subsection, to make or cause to be made 

9 any untrue statement of a material fact or omit 

10 to state a material fact required to be stated in 

11 the report or document or necessary to make 

12 the statement made, in the light of the cir13 cumstances under which it is made, not mis14 leading. 

15 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—A person shall not be 

16 liable under subparagraph (A) if the person 

17 shows that the person had, after reasonable in18 vestigation, reasonable ground to believe, and 

19 did believe, at the time the applicable statement 

20 was made, that the statement was true and that 

21 there was no omission to state a material fact 

22 necessary to make the statement made, in the 

23 light of the circumstances under which it is 

24 made, not misleading. 


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1 ‘‘(C) NO PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

2 Nothing in this paragraph may be construed as 

3 creating a private right of action. 

4 ‘‘(7) EXEMPTION.—This subsection shall not 

5 apply to an investment company registered under 

6 section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 

7 (15 U.S.C. 80a–8).’’. 

8 SEC. 4. BACKSTOP. 

9 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

10 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Securi11 ties and Exchange Commission; 

12 (2) the term ‘‘covered issuer’’ means an issuer 

13 that is required to file an annual report under sec14 tion 13(a) or section 15(d) of the Securities Ex15 change Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m(a), 78o(d)); and 

16 (3) the term ‘‘issuer’’ has the meaning given 

17 the term in section 3(a) of the Securities Exchange 

18 Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)). 

19 (b) COMPLIANCE.—If, as of the date that is 2 years 

20 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission 

21 has not promulgated the regulations required under sub22 section (s) of section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act 

23 of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m), as added by section 3 of this 

24 Act, a covered issuer, during the period beginning on that 

25 date and ending on the date on which the Commission proVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:27 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3471.IH H3471

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1 mulgates those regulations, shall be deemed to be in com2 pliance with such subsection (s) if disclosures set forth in 

3 the annual report of the covered issuer satisfy the public 

4 disclosure standards of the International Organization for 

5 Standardization’s ISO 30414, or any successor standards 

6 for external workforce reporting, as supplemented or ad7 justed by rules, guidance, or other comments from the 

8 Commission. 

9 SEC. 5. SEC STUDY. 

10 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘Com11 mission’’ and ‘‘issuer’’ have the meanings given those 

12 terms in section 4(a). 

13 (b) STUDY.—The Commission shall conduct a study 

14 about the value to investors of— 

15 (1) information about the human rights com16 mitments of issuers required to file annual reports 

17 under section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act 

18 of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m(a)), including information 

19 about any principles used to evaluate risk, constitu20 ency consultation processes, and supplier due dili21 gence; and 

22 (2) with respect to issuers required to file an23 nual reports under section 13(a) of the Securities 

24 Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m(a)), informa25 tion about— 


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1 (A) violations of the Fair Labor Standards 

2 Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) by those 

3 issuers; 

4 (B) violations of worker misclassification 

5 by those issuers; 

6 (C) surveys regarding employee satisfac7 tion, well-being, and engagement; 

8 (D) the number and overall percentage of 

9 quality jobs, as determined by compensation 

10 above median wage and comprehensive em11 ployer-provided benefits; and 

12 (E) information about workforce invest13 ment trends, as determined by at least a 3-year 

14 time period. 

15 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

16 of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall submit to 

17 Congress a report that contains the results of the study 

18 required to be conducted under subsection (b), with rec19 ommendations for additional disclosure regulations based 

20 on the findings, and any actions the Commission plans to 

21 take to enhance disclosures based on the findings. 

Æ 


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