I 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3972 
To prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of an individual’s 
status or history of unemployment. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 29, 2014 
Ms. DELAURO (for herself and Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce 
A BILL 
To prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of 
an individual’s status or history of unemployment. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Employment Op-
portunity Act of 2014’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that denial of em-
ployment opportunities to individuals because they are or 
have been unemployed is discriminatory and burdens com-
merce by— 
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(1) reducing personal consumption and under-
mining economic stability and growth; 
(2) squandering human capital essential to the 
Nation’s economic vibrancy and growth; 
(3) increasing demands for State and Federal 
unemployment insurance benefits, reducing trust 
fund assets, and leading to higher payroll taxes for 
employers, cuts in benefits for jobless workers, or 
both; 
(4) imposing additional burdens on publicly 
funded health and welfare programs; and 
(5) depressing income, property, and other tax 
revenues that States, localities and the Federal Gov-
ernment rely on to support operations and institu-
tions essential to commerce. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to prohibit 
consideration of an individual’s status as unemployed in 
screening for or filling positions except where a require-
ment related to employment status is a bona fide occupa-
tional qualification reasonably necessary to successful per-
formance in the job and to eliminate the burdens imposed 
on commerce by excluding such individuals from employ-
ment. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act— 
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(1) the term ‘‘employer’’ means any person en-
gaged in commerce or any industry or activity af-
fecting commerce who has 15 or more employees for 
each working day in each of 20 or more calendar 
weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and 
includes— 
(A) any person who acts, directly or indi-
rectly, in the interest of an employer with re-
spect to employing individuals to work for the 
employer; and 
(B) any successor in interest of an em-
ployer; 
(2) the term ‘‘employment agency’’ means any 
person regularly undertaking with or without com-
pensation to procure employees for an employer or 
to procure for individuals opportunities to work for 
an employer and includes an agent of such a person, 
and includes any person who maintains an Internet 
website that publishes advertisements or announce-
ments of job openings; 
(3) the term ‘‘affected individual’’ means any 
person who was refused consideration for employ-
ment or was not hired by an employer because of the 
person’s current employment status, or any person 
who was not considered, screened, or referred for 
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employment opportunities by an employment agency 
because of the person’s current employment status; 
(4) the term ‘‘status as unemployed’’ means an 
individual’s present or past unemployment regard-
less of the length of time such individual was unem-
ployed; and 
(5) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of Labor. 
SEC. 4. PROHIBITED ACTS. 
(a) EMPLOYERS.—It shall be an unlawful practice for 
an employer to— 
(1) refuse to consider for employment or refuse 
to offer employment to an individual because of the 
individual’s status as unemployed; 
(2) publish in print, on the Internet, or in any 
other medium, an advertisement or announcement 
for any job that includes— 
(A) any provision stating or indicating that 
an individual’s status as unemployed disquali-
fies the individual for a job; and 
(B) any provision stating or indicating that 
an employer will not consider an applicant for 
employment based on that individual’s status as 
unemployed; and 
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(3) direct or request that an employment agen-
cy take an individual’s status as unemployed into ac-
count in screening or referring applicants for em-
ployment. 
(b) EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES.—It shall be an unlaw-
ful practice for an employment agency to— 
(1) refuse to consider or refer an individual for 
employment based on the individual’s status as un-
employed; 
(2) limit, segregate, or classify individuals in 
any manner that may limit their access to informa-
tion about jobs or referral for consideration of jobs 
because of their status as unemployed; or 
(3) publish, in print or on the Internet or in 
any other medium, an advertisement or announce-
ment for any job vacancy that includes— 
(A) any provision stating or indicating that 
an individual’s status as unemployed disquali-
fies the individual for a job; and 
(B) any provision stating or indicating that 
an employer will not consider individuals for 
employment based on that individual’s status as 
unemployed. 
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(c) INTERFERENCE WITH RIGHTS, PROCEEDINGS OR 
INQUIRIES.—It shall be unlawful for any employer or em-
ployment agency to— 
(1) interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise 
of or the attempt to exercise, any right provided 
under this Act; or 
(2) refuse to hire, to discharge, or in any other 
manner to discriminate against any individual be-
cause such individual— 
(A) opposed any practice made unlawful by 
this Act; 
(B) has filed any charge, or has instituted 
or caused to be instituted any proceeding, 
under or related to this Act; 
(C) has given, or is about to give, any in-
formation in connection with any inquiry or 
proceeding relating to any right provided under 
this Act; or 
(D) has testified, or is about to testify, in 
any inquiry or proceeding relating to any right 
provided under this Act. 
(d) BONA FIDE OCCUPATIONAL QUALIFICATION.— 
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, consider-
ation by an employer or employment agency of an individ-
ual’s status as unemployed shall not be an unlawful em-
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ployment practice where an individual’s employment in a 
similar or related job for a period of time reasonably proxi-
mate to the hiring of such individual is a bona fide occupa-
tional qualification reasonably necessary to successful per-
formance of the job that is being filled. 
SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) CIVIL ACTION BY INDIVIDUAL.— 
(1) LIABILITY FOR EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOY-
MENT
AGENCIES.—Any employer or employment 
agency that violates sections 4(a) and (b) shall be 
liable to any affected individual— 
(A) for actual damages equal to— 
(i) the amount of— 
(I) any wages, salary, employ-
ment benefits, or other compensation 
denied or lost to such individual by 
reason of the violation; or 
(II) in a case in which wages, 
salary, employment benefits, or other 
compensation have not been denied or 
lost to the individual, any actual mon-
etary losses sustained by the indi-
vidual as a direct result of the viola-
tion or a civil penalty of $1,000 per 
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violation per day, whichever is great-
er; 
(ii) the interest on the amount de-
scribed in clause (i) calculated at the pre-
vailing rate; and 
(iii) an additional amount as liq-
uidated damages equal to the sum of the 
amount described in clause (i) and the in-
terest described in clause (ii), except that 
if an employer or employment agency that 
has violated section 4 proves to the satis-
faction of the court that the act or omis-
sion that violated section 4 was in good 
faith and that the employer had reasonable 
grounds for believing that the act or omis-
sion was not a violation of section 4, such 
court may, in its discretion, reduce the 
amount of the liability to the amount and 
interest determined under clauses (i) and 
(ii), respectively; and 
(B) for such equitable relief as may be ap-
propriate, including employment and compen-
satory and punitive damages. 
(2) RIGHT OF ACTION.—An action to recover 
the damages or equitable relief prescribed in para-
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graph (1) of this subsection may be maintained 
against any employer or employment agency in any 
Federal or State court of competent jurisdiction by 
any one or more persons for and in behalf of— 
(A) the affected individual; or 
(B) the affected individual and other indi-
viduals similarly situated. 
(3) FEES AND COSTS.—The court in such an 
action shall, in addition to any judgment awarded to 
the plaintiff, allow a reasonable attorney’s fee, rea-
sonable expert witness fees, and other costs of the 
action to be paid by the defendant. 
(4) LIMITATIONS.—The right provided by para-
graph (2) of this subsection to bring an action by or 
on behalf of any affected individual shall termi-
nate— 
(A) on the filing of a complaint by the Sec-
retary in an action under subsection (d) in 
which restraint is sought of any violation of sec-
tion 4; or 
(B) on the filing of a complaint by the Sec-
retary in an action under subsection (b) in 
which a recovery is sought of the damages de-
scribed in paragraph (1)(A) owing to an af-
fected individual by an employer or employment 
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agency liable under paragraph (1), unless the 
action described in subparagraph (A) or (B) is 
dismissed without prejudice on motion of the 
Secretary. 
(b) ACTION BY THE SECRETARY.— 
(1) ADMINISTRATIVE
ACTION.—The Secretary 
shall receive, investigate, and attempt to resolve 
complaints of violations of section 4 in the same 
manner that the Secretary receives, investigates, and 
attempts to resolve complaints of violations of sec-
tions 6 and 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 
1938 (29 U.S.C. 206 and 207). 
(2) CIVIL ACTION.—The Secretary may bring 
an action in any court of competent jurisdiction— 
(A) to enjoin violations of this title and 
seek other relief going forward necessary to pre-
vent future violations; and 
(B) to recover— 
(i) the damages described in sub-
section (a)(1)(A); 
(ii) in the case of a violation of section 
4(c), a civil penalty of not less than $250 
per violation; or 
(iii) such other equitable relief the 
Court deems appropriate. 
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(3) SUMS RECOVERED.—Any sums recovered by 
the Secretary pursuant to paragraph (2)(A) shall be 
held in a special deposit account and shall be paid, 
on order of the Secretary, directly to each affected 
individual. Any such sums recovered pursuant to 
paragraph (2)(A) that are not paid to an affected in-
dividual because of inability to do so within a period 
of 3 years and any sums recovered pursuant to para-
graph (2)(B) shall be deposited into the Treasury of 
the United States as miscellaneous receipts. 
(c) LIMITATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), an action under subsection (a) may be 
brought not later than 2 years after the date of the 
last event constituting the alleged violation for which 
the action is brought, provided that the limitations 
for filing an action shall be tolled during the period 
that the Secretary is considering a complaint against 
any defendant named in a complaint filed with the 
Secretary under subsection (b)(1) above. 
(2) WILLFUL VIOLATION.—In the case of such 
action brought for a willful violation of section 4, 
such action may be brought within 3 years of the 
date of the last event constituting the alleged viola-
tion for which such action is brought, provided that 
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the limitations for filing an action by an individual 
shall be tolled during the period that the Secretary 
is considering a complaint pursuant to subsection 
(b)(1). 
(3) COMMENCEMENT.—In determining when an 
action is commenced by the Secretary under this 
section for the purposes of this subsection, it shall 
be considered to be commenced on the date when the 
Secretary files a complaint in a court of competent 
jurisdiction. 
(d) ACTION FOR INJUNCTION BY SECRETARY.—The 
district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction, 
for cause shown, in an action brought by the Secretary— 
(1) to restrain violations of section 4; and 
(2) to award such other equitable relief as may 
be appropriate, including employment and monetary 
damages. 
(e) SOLICITOR OF LABOR.—The Solicitor of Labor 
may appear for and represent the Secretary on any litiga-
tion brought under this section. 
Æ 
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