I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2188

To allow certain individuals seeking part-time employment to be eligible to

receive unemployment compensation, to require the Secretary of Labor

to establish and carry out an annual survey relating to temporary workers, and to protect part-time and temporary workers relating to pension

and group health plans.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 19, 1993

Mrs. SCHROEDER introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to

the Committees on Ways and Means and Education and Labor.

A BILL

To allow certain individuals seeking part-time employment

to be eligible to receive unemployment compensation, to

require the Secretary of Labor to establish and carry

out an annual survey relating to temporary workers,

and to protect part-time and temporary workers relating

to pension and group health plans.

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 ‘‘Part-Time and Tem5 porary Workers Protection Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

2 OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS SEEKING PART3 TIME EMPLOYMENT.

4 (a) GENERAL RULE.—Subsection (a) of section 3304

5 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to require6 ments for approval of State unemployment compensation

7 laws) is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para8 graph (17), by redesignating paragraph (18) as paragraph

9 (19), and by inserting after paragraph (17) the following

10 new paragraph:

11 ‘‘(18) in applying the State law provisions relat12 ing to availability for work, active search for work,

13 or refusal to accept work, the term ‘suitable work’

14 shall not include any work where the individual

15 would normally perform services for more hours per

16 week than the number of hours per week for which

17 the individual normally performed services in the in18 dividual’s last job in the base period, and’’.

19 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

20 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact21 ment of this Act.

22 SEC. 3. ANNUAL BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS SURVEY

23 RELATING TO TEMPORARY WORKERS.

24 The Secretary of Labor, acting through the Commis25 sioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shall establish

26 and carry out an annual survey identifying—
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1 (1) the characteristics of temporary workers in

2 the United States;

3 (2) the relationship between such workers and

4 the establishments at which such workers are tempo5 rarily employed; and

6 (3) where appropriate, the relationship between

7 such workers and their permanent employers.

8 SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF PART-TIME AND TEMPORARY

9 WORKERS.

10 (a) TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES WORKING AT LESS

11 THAN FULL-TIME UNDER PARTICIPATION, VESTING, AND

12 ACCRUAL RULES GOVERNING PENSION PLANS.—

13 (1) PARTICIPATION RULES.—

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(a)(3) of

15 the Employee Retirement Income Security Act

16 of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1052(a)(3)) is amended by

17 adding at the end the following new subpara18 graph:

19 ‘‘(E)(i) For purposes of this paragraph, in the case

20 of any employee who, as of the beginning of the 12-month

21 period referred to in subparagraph (A)—

22 ‘‘(I) has customarily completed 500 or more

23 hours of service per year but less than 1,000 hours

24 of service per year, or
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1 ‘‘(II) is employed in a type of position in which

2 employment customarily constitutes 500 or more

3 hours of service per year but less than 1,000 hours

4 of service per year,

5 completion of 500 hours of service within such 12-month

6 period shall be treated as completion of 1,000 hours of

7 service.

8 ‘‘(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph, the extent

9 to which employment in any type of position customarily

10 constitutes less than 1,000 hours of service per year shall

11 be determined with respect to each pension plan in accord12 ance with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe

13 providing for consideration of facts and circumstances pe14 culiar to the work-force constituting the participants in

15 such plan.’’.

16 (B) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

17 204(b)(1)(E) of such Act (29 U.S.C.

18 1054(b)(1)(E)) is amended by striking ‘‘section

19 202(a)(3)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraphs

20 (A) and (E) of section 202(a)(3)’’.

21 (2) VESTING RULES.—

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 203(b)(2) of

23 such Act (29 U.S.C. 1053(b)(2)) is amended by

24 adding at the end the following new subpara25 graph:
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1 ‘‘(E)(i) For purposes of this paragraph, in the case

2 of any employee who, as of the beginning of the period

3 designated by the plan pursuant to subparagraph (A)—

4 ‘‘(I) has customarily completed 500 or more

5 hours of service per year but less than 1,000 hours

6 of service per year, or

7 ‘‘(II) is employed in a type of position in which

8 employment customarily constitutes 500 or more

9 hours of service per year but less than 1,000 hours

10 of service per year,

11 completion of 500 hours of service within such period shall

12 be treated as completion of 1,000 hours of service.

13 ‘‘(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph, the extent

14 to which employment in any type of position customarily

15 constitutes less than 1,000 hours of service per year shall

16 be determined with respect to each pension plan in accord17 ance with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe

18 providing for consideration of facts and circumstances pe19 culiar to the work-force constituting the participants in

20 such plan.’’.

21 (B) 1-YEAR BREAKS IN SERVICE.—Section

22 203(b)(3) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 1053(b)(3))

23 is amended by adding at the end the following

24 new subparagraph:
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1 ‘‘(F)(i) For purposes of this paragraph, in the case

2 of any employee who, as of the beginning of the period

3 designated by the plan pursuant to subparagraph (A)—

4 ‘‘(I) has customarily completed 500 or more

5 hours of service per year but less than 1,000 hours

6 of service per year, or

7 ‘‘(II) is employed in a type of position in which

8 employment customarily constitutes 500 or more

9 hours of service per year but less than 1,000 hours

10 of service per year,

11 completion of 250 hours of service within such period shall

12 be treated as completion of 500 hours of service.

13 ‘‘(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph, the extent

14 to which employment in any type of position customarily

15 constitutes less than 1,000 hours of service per year shall

16 be determined with respect to each pension plan in accord17 ance with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe

18 providing for consideration of facts and circumstances pe19 culiar to the work-force constituting the participants in

20 such plan.’’.

21 (3) ACCRUAL RULES.—Section 204(b)(4)(C) of

22 such Act (29 U.S.C. 1054(b)(4)(C)) is amended—

23 (A) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘(C)’’; and

24 (B) by adding at the end the following new

25 clauses:
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1 ‘‘(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph, in the case

2 of any employee who, as of the beginning of the period

3 designated by the plan pursuant to clause (i)—

4 ‘‘(I) has customarily completed 500 or more

5 hours of service per year but less than 1,000 hours

6 of service per year, or

7 ‘‘(II) is employed in a type of position in which

8 employment customarily constitutes 500 or more

9 hours of service per year but less than 1,000 hours

10 of service per year,

11 completion of 500 hours of service within such period shall

12 be treated as completion of 1,000 hours of service.

13 ‘‘(iii) For purposes of clause (ii), the extent to which

14 employment in any type of position customarily constitutes

15 less than 1,000 hours of service per year shall be deter16 mined with respect to each pension plan in accordance

17 with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe pro18 viding for consideration of facts and circumstances pecu19 liar to the work-force constituting the participants in such

20 plan.’’.

21 (b) TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES WORKING AT LESS

22 THAN FULL-TIME UNDER GROUP HEALTH PLANS.

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Part 2 of subtitle B of title

24 I of such Act is amended—
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1 (A) by redesignating section 211 (29

2 U.S.C. 1061) as section 212; and

3 (B) by inserting after section 210 (29

4 U.S.C. 1060) the following new section:

5 ‘‘TREATMENT OF PART-TIME WORKERS UNDER GROUP

6 HEALTH PLANS

7 ‘‘SEC. 211. (a) IN GENERAL.—A reduction in the em8 ployer-provided premium under a group health plan with

9 respect to any employee for any period of coverage solely

10 because the employee’s customary employment is less than

11 full-time may be provided under such plan only if the em12 ployee is described in subsection (b) and only to the extent

13 permitted under subsection (c).

14 ‘‘(b) REDUCTIONS APPLICABLE TO EMPLOYEES

15 WORKING LESS THAN FULL-TIME.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An employee is described in

17 this subsection if such employee, as of the beginning

18 of the period of coverage referred to in subsection

19 (a)—

20 ‘‘(A) has customarily completed less than

21 30 hours of service per week, or

22 ‘‘(B) is employed in a type of position in

23 which employment customarily constitutes less

24 than 30 hours of service per week.

25 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—For purposes of para26 graph (1), whether employment in any type of posi-
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1 tion customarily constitutes less than 30 hours of

2 service per week shall be determined with respect to

3 each group health plan in accordance with such reg4 ulations as the Secretary may prescribe providing

5 for consideration of facts and circumstances peculiar

6 to the work-force constituting the participants in

7 such plan.

8 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT OF PERMISSIBLE REDUCTION.—The

9 employer-provided premium under a group health plan

10 with respect to any employee for any period of coverage,

11 after the reduction permitted under subsection (a), shall

12 not be less than a ratable portion of the employer-provided

13 premium which would be provided under such plan for

14 such period of coverage with respect to an employee who

15 completes 30 hours of service per week.

16 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

17 ‘‘(1) GROUP HEALTH PLAN.—The term ‘group

18 health plan’ has the meaning provided such term in

19 section 607(1).

20 ‘‘(2) EMPLOYER-PROVIDED PREMIUM.—

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘employer22 provided premium’ under a plan for any period

23 of coverage means the portion of the applicable

24 premium under the plan for such period of cov-
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1 erage which is attributable under the plan to

2 employer contributions.

3 ‘‘(B) APPLICABLE PREMIUM.—For pur4 poses of subparagraph (A), in determining the

5 applicable premium of a group health plan,

6 principles similar to the principles applicable

7 under section 604 shall apply.’’.

8 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

9 (A) Section 201(1) of such Act (29 U.S.C.

10 1051(1)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, except with

11 respect to section 211’’ before the semicolon.

12 (B) The table of contents in section 1 of

13 such Act is amended by striking the item relat14 ing to section 211 and inserting the following

15 new items:

‘‘Sec. 211. Treatment of part-time workers under group health plans.

‘‘Sec. 212. Effective date.’’.

16 (c) EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF EMPLOYEE TO

17 INCLUDE CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS WHOSE SERVICES ARE

18 LEASED OR CONTRACTED FOR.—Paragraph (6) of section

19 3 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 1002(6)) is amended—

20 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(6)’’; and

21 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub22 paragraph:

23 ‘‘(B) Such term includes, with respect to any em24 ployer, any person who is not an employee (within the
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1 meaning of subparagraph (A)) of such employer and who

2 provides services to such employer, if—

3 ‘‘(i) such person has (pursuant to an agreement

4 with such employer or any other person) performed

5 such services for such employer (or for such em6 ployer and related persons (within the meaning of

7 section 144(a)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of

8 1986)) for a period of at least 1 year (6 months in

9 the case of core health benefits) at the rate of at

10 least 500 hours of service per year, and

11 ‘‘(ii) such services are of a type historically per12 formed, in the business field of the employer, by em13 ployees (within the meaning of subparagraph (A)).’’.

14 (d) EFFECTIVE DATES.

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para16 graph (2), the amendments made by this section

17 shall apply with respect to plan years beginning on

18 or after January 1, 1994.

19 (2) SPECIAL RULE FOR COLLECTIVELY BAR20 GAINED PLANS.—In the case of a plan maintained

21 pursuant to 1 or more collective bargaining agree22 ments between employee representatives and 1 or

23 more employers ratified on or before the date of the

24 enactment of this Act, paragraph (1) shall be ap25 plied to benefits pursuant to, and individuals covered
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1 by, any such agreement by substituting for ‘‘Janu2 ary 1, 1994’’ the date of the commencement of the

3 first plan year beginning on or after the earlier of—

4 (A) the later of—

5 (i) January 1, 1994, or

6 (ii) the date on which the last of such

7 collective bargaining agreements termi8 nates (determined without regard to any

9 extension thereof after the date of the en10 actment of this Act), or

11 (B) January 1, 1996.

12 (3) PLAN AMENDMENTS.—If any amendment

13 made by this section requires an amendment to any

14 plan, such plan amendment shall not be required to

15 be made before the first plan year beginning on or

16 after January 1, 1995, if—

17 (A) during the period after such amend18 ment made by this section takes effect and be19 fore such first plan year, the plan is operated

20 in accordance with the requirements of such

21 amendment made by this section, and

22 (B) such plan amendment applies retro23 actively to the period after such amendment

24 made by this section takes effect and such first

25 plan year.
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1 A plan shall not be treated as failing to provide defi2 nitely determinable benefits or contributions, or to

3 be operated in accordance with the provisions of the

4 plan, merely because it operates in accordance with

5 this paragraph.

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