I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1071
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for
employers for certain costs incurred to combat violence against women.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 13, 1997
Mrs. LOWEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide
a credit for employers for certain costs incurred to com-
bat violence against women.
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 ‘‘Workplace Violence
Prevention Tax Credit Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) there is an increasing awareness by the
business community and the country as a whole re-
garding the serious problem of workplace violence
against women;
(2) there is an increased recognition that work-
place violence against women has severe implications
for the health, safety, and economic well-being of
women, as well as the efficiency and profitability of
American companies;
(3) recent crime statistics clearly show the seri-
ous threat of workplace violence against women;
(4) homicide is the leading cause of death for
women on the job, and husbands, boyfriends, and
ex-partners commit 15 percent of all workplace
homicides against women;
(5) an estimated 8 percent of all rapes occur
while victims are working or on duty, at an average
annual number of 13,000 workplace rapes each year;
(6) husbands and boyfriends commit 13,000
acts of violence against women in the workplace
every year;
(7) women are more likely than men to be at-
tacked at work by someone known to them, and 5
percent of women victimized at work are attacked by
a husband, boyfriend, or ex-partner;
(8) surveys of business executives and corporate
security directors also underscore the heavy toll that
workplace violence takes on American women and
American businesses;
(9) 49 percent of senior executives recently sur-
veyed said domestic violence has a harmful effect on
their company’s productivity, 47 percent said spous-
al abuse negatively impacts attendance, and 44 per-
cent said domestic violence increases health care
costs;
(10) 94 percent of corporate security and safety
directors at companies nationwide rank domestic vio-
lence as a high-risk security problem;
(11) the public and private sectors—including
the legal, medical, social services, business, and reli-
gious communities—must come together to combat
violence against women in the workplace; and
(12) the Congress, too, must play a role in en-
couraging companies to promulgate workplace edu-
cation and safety programs to combat violence
against women.
SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR COSTS TO EMPLOYERS OF IMPLE-
MENTING WORKPLACE SAFETY PROGRAMS
TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new
section:
‘‘SEC. 45D. WORKPLACE SAFETY PROGRAM CREDIT.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, the
workplace safety program credit determined under this
section for the taxable year is, for any employer, an
amount equal to 40 percent of the violence against women
safety and education costs paid or incurred by such em-
ployer during the taxable year.
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—
‘‘(1) VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN SAFETY AND
EDUCATION COST.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘violence
against women safety and education cost’
means any cost certified by the Attorney Gen-
eral to the Secretary as being for the purpose
of—
‘‘(i) ensuring the safety of employees
from violent crimes against women,
‘‘(ii) providing counseling to employ-
ees with respect to violent crimes against
women,
‘‘(iii) providing legal or medical serv-
ices to employees subjected to, or at risk
from, violent crimes against women,
‘‘(iv) educating employees about the
issue of violent crimes against women, or
‘‘(v) implementing human resource or
personnel policies initiated to protect em-
ployees from violent crimes against women.
‘‘(B) TYPES
OF
COSTS.—Such term in-
cludes costs certified by the Attorney General to
the Secretary as being for the purpose of—
‘‘(i) the hiring of new security person-
nel in order to address violent crimes
against women,
‘‘(ii) the creation of buddy systems or
escort systems for walking employees to
parking lots, parked cars, subway stations,
or bus stops, in order to address violent
crimes against women,
‘‘(iii) the purchase or installation of
new security equipment, including surveil-
lance equipment, lighting fixtures, cardkey
access systems, and identification systems,
in order to address violent crimes against
women,
‘‘(iv) the establishment of a hotline or
a counseling service about violent crimes
against women, for the use of individual
employees,
‘‘(v) the retention of an attorney to
provide legal services to employees seeking
restraining orders or other legal recourse
from violent crimes against women,
‘‘(vi) the establishment of medical
services addressing the medical needs of
employees who are victims of violent crimes
against women,
‘‘(vii) the retention of a financial ex-
pert or an accountant to provide financial
counseling to employees seeking to escape
from violent crimes against women,
‘‘(viii) the establishment of an edu-
cation program for employees, consisting of
seminars or training sessions about violent
crimes against women,
‘‘(ix) studies of the cost, impact, or
extent of violent crimes against women at
the employer’s place of business, if such
studies are made available to the public
and protect the identity of employees in-
cluded in the study,
‘‘(x) the publication of a regularly dis-
seminated newsletter or other regularly
disseminated educational materials about
violent crimes against women,
‘‘(xi) the implementation of leave poli-
cies for the purpose of allowing victims of
violent crimes against women to pursue
legal redress against assailants, including
leave from work to attend meetings with
attorneys, to give evidentiary statements or
depositions, and to attend hearings or
trials in court,
‘‘(xii) the implementation of flexible
work policies for the purpose of allowing
employees who are victims of violent crimes
against women, or employees at risk with
respect to such crimes, to avoid assailants,
or
‘‘(xiii) the implementation of transfer
policies for the purpose of allowing employ-
ees subjected to violent crimes against
women to change office locations within
the company in order to avoid assailants,
including payment of costs for the transfer
and relocation of an employee to another
city, county, State, or country for the pur-
pose of maintaining the employee’s safety
from violent crimes against women.
‘‘(C) NOTIFICATION
OF
POSSIBLE
TAX
CONSEQUENCES.—In no event shall any cost for
goods or services which may be included in the
income of any employee receiving or benefiting
from such goods or services be treated as a vio-
lence against women safety and education cost
unless the employer notifies the employee in
writing of the possibility of such inclusion.
‘‘(2) VIOLENT CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘violent
crimes against women’ includes sexual assault
and domestic violence.
‘‘(B) DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE.—The term
‘domestic violence’ includes felony or mis-
demeanor crimes of violence committed by—
‘‘(i) a current or former spouse of the
victim,
‘‘(ii) a person with whom the victim
shares a child in common,
‘‘(iii) a person who is cohabitating
with or has cohabitated with the victim as
a spouse,
‘‘(iv) a person similarly situated to a
spouse of the victim under the domestic vi-
olence or family laws of the jurisdiction in
which the employee resides or the employer
is located, or
‘‘(v) any other adult person against a
victim who is protected from the person’s
acts under the domestic or family violence
laws of the jurisdiction in which the em-
ployee resides or the employer is located.
‘‘(3) EMPLOYEE AND EMPLOYER.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘employee’
includes any employee of the employer or of any
related person, and any spouse or dependent of
such an employee.
‘‘(B) PARTNERS
AND
PARTNERSHIPS.—
The term ‘employee’ includes a partner and the
term ‘employer’ includes a partnership.
‘‘(C) RELATED
PERSONS.—Persons shall
be treated as related to each other if such per-
sons are treated as a single employer under
subsection (a) or (b) of section 52.
‘‘(c) COORDINATION WITH OTHER PROVISIONS.—No
credit or deduction shall be allowed under any other provi-