Coronavirus Frontline Workers Fair Pay Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3020 To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a coronavirus fund to provide hazard payments to high-risk health care workers and essential workers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 7, 2021 Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. LIEU, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. RUSH, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SEWELL, and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a coronavirus fund to provide hazard payments to high- risk health care workers and essential workers, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Coronavirus Frontline 4 Workers Fair Pay Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3020 IH SEC. 2. HAZARD PAYMENTS FOR HIGH-RISK HEALTH CARE 1 WORKERS AND ESSENTIAL WORKERS. 2 (a) GENERAL RULE.—The Secretary shall make haz- 3 ard payments in accordance with this section for high-risk 4 health care workers and essential workers. 5 (b) FUND.— 6 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—For the purpose of 7 making payments under this section, not later than 8 45 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 9 the Secretary of the Treasury shall establish an ac- 10 count in the Treasury to be known as the 11 ‘‘Coronavirus Essential and High-Risk Health Care 12 Workers Hazard Payment Fund’’ (hereafter in this 13 section referred to as the ‘‘Fund’’). 14 (2) APPROPRIATIONS TO FUND.—There is ap- 15 propriated, out of amounts in the Treasury not oth- 16 erwise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending Sep- 17 tember 30, 2021, such sums as may be necessary to 18 carry out this Act. 19 (c) HAZARD PAYMENTS.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 21 hazard payments from the Fund each coronavirus 22 hazard payment quarter in accordance with this sub- 23 section. 24 (2) ENTITLEMENT TO HAZARD PAYMENT.—In- 25 dividuals who are high-risk health care workers and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3020 IH essential workers as determined pursuant to this Act 1 are entitled to hazard payments under this Act. 2 (3) HIGH-RISK HEALTH CARE WORKER.—For 3 purposes of this section— 4 (A) DETERMINATION OF PAYMENT.—In 5 the case of a high-risk health care worker, the 6 hazard payment for such worker shall be the 7 aggregate of $18.50 for each hour in which the 8 worker provided high-risk health care services 9 (excluding hours provided as telework hours). 10 (B) LIMITATIONS.— 11 (i) AGGREGATE AMOUNT.—The aggre- 12 gate amount allowed for all payments to a 13 high-risk health care worker pursuant to 14 paragraph (1) shall not exceed— 15 (I) $35,000 in the case of a 16 worker whose annual earned income 17 for calendar year 2020 is $200,000 or 18 less; and 19 (II) $15,000 in the case of a 20 worker whose estimated annual 21 earned income for calendar year 2020 22 is greater than $200,000. 23 (ii) WEEKLY LIMIT.—The aggregate 24 number of hours taken into account for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3020 IH purposes of subparagraph (A) shall not ex- 1 ceed 40 hours per week. 2 (C) HIGH-RISK HEALTH CARE WORKER 3 DEFINED.— 4 (i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘high- 5 risk health care worker’’ means— 6 (I) an individual working in a 7 health care occupation, including— 8 (aa) physicians; 9 (bb) physician assistants; 10 (cc) podiatrists; 11 (dd) respiratory therapists; 12 (ee) registered nurses; 13 (ff) nurse anesthetists; 14 (gg) nurse midwives; 15 (hh) nurse practitioners; 16 (ii) anesthesiologists; 17 (jj) dermatologists; 18 (kk) emergency medicine 19 physicians; 20 (ll) family medicine physi- 21 cians; 22 (mm) general internal medi- 23 cine physicians; 24 (nn) neurologists; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3020 IH (oo) obstetricians and gyne- 1 cologists; 2 (pp) pediatricians, general; 3 (qq) physicians, pathologists; 4 (rr) psychiatrists; 5 (ss) radiologists; 6 (tt) physicians, all other; 7 (uu) ophthalmologists, ex- 8 cept pediatric; 9 (vv) orthopedic surgeons, ex- 10 cept pediatric; 11 (ww) pediatric surgeons; 12 (xx) surgeons, all other; 13 (yy) medical and clinical lab- 14 oratory technologists; 15 (zz) medical and clinical lab- 16 oratory technicians; 17 (aaa) cardiovascular tech- 18 nologists and technicians; 19 (bbb) diagnostic medical 20 sonographers; 21 (ccc) nuclear medicine tech- 22 nologists; 23 (ddd) radiologic tech- 24 nologists and technicians; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3020 IH (eee) magnetic resonance 1 imaging technologists; 2 (fff) medical dosimetrists; 3 (ggg) emergency medical 4 technicians; 5 (hhh) paramedics; 6 (iii) pharmacy technicians; 7 (jjj) psychiatric technicians; 8 (kkk) surgical technologists; 9 (lll) licensed practical and li- 10 censed vocational nurses; 11 (mmm) surgical assistants; 12 (nnn) home health aides; 13 (ooo) personal care aides; 14 (ppp) nursing assistants; 15 (qqq) orderlies; and 16 (rrr) psychiatric aides; and 17 (II) an individual who is pro- 18 viding or supporting the provision of 19 health care services for the treatment 20 of COVID–19, as determined by the 21 Secretary. 22 (4) ESSENTIAL WORKER.—For purposes of this 23 section— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3020 IH (A) DETERMINATION OF PAYMENT.—In 1 the case of an essential worker who is not a 2 high-risk health care worker under subsection 3 (c)(3), the hazard payment for such individual 4 shall be the aggregate of $13.00 for each hour 5 in which the essential worker provided essential 6 services (excluding hours provided as telework 7 hours). 8 (B) LIMITATIONS.— 9 (i) AGGREGATE AMOUNT.—The aggre- 10 gate amount allowed for all payments to 11 an essential worker under subparagraph 12 (A) shall not exceed— 13 (I) $25,000 in the case of an es- 14 sential worker whose annual earned 15 income from providing essential serv- 16 ices for calendar year 2020 is 17 $200,000 or less; and 18 (II) $5,000 in the case of an es- 19 sential worker whose annual earned 20 income from providing essential serv- 21 ices for calendar year 2020 is greater 22 than $200,000. 23 (ii) WEEKLY LIMIT.—The aggregate 24 number of hours taken into account for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3020 IH purposes of subparagraph (A) shall not ex- 1 ceed 40 hours per week. 2 (C) ESSENTIAL WORKER.—Not later than 3 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 4 Act, the Director of the Cybersecurity and In- 5 frastructure Security Agency shall issue a defi- 6 nition of essential worker for the purposes of 7 making payments to essential workers under 8 this section. In defining the term essential 9 worker, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure 10 Security Agency shall take into consideration 11 its April 17th ‘‘Advisory Memorandum on Iden- 12 tification of Essential Critical Infrastructure 13 Workers During COVID–19 Response’’ and 14 shall solicit public input. 15 (D) CORONAVIRUS HAZARD PAYMENT 16 QUARTER.— 17 (i) IN GENERAL.—The term 18 ‘‘coronavirus hazard payment quarter’’ 19 means 90-day periods in calendar years 20 2020 and 2021 beginning on or after Jan- 21 uary 27, 2020, except for the last 90-day 22 period (which will end on the last day a 23 COVID–19 Public Health Emergency is in 24 effect in the location of employment (as de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3020 IH termined by the Secretary of the Treasury 1 in consultation with the Secretary of 2 Health and Human Services) or on Sep- 3 tember 30, 2021, whichever occurs first). 4 (ii) SPECIAL RULE BEFORE ENACT- 5 MENT.—For purposes of making payments 6 under this section, the period beginning on 7 January 27, 2020, and ending with the 8 date of the enactment of this Act shall be 9 treated as one quarter and payments shall 10 be made a lump sum. 11 (5) PROCESS.— 12 (A) SUBMISSION TO SECRETARY.—Begin- 13 ning not later than 60 days after the date of 14 the enactment of this Act, each employer shall 15 submit to the Secretary for each coronavirus 16 hazard payment quarter— 17 (i) a projection of payments of the 18 regular rate of pay for such quarter for 19 employees who are high-risk health care 20 workers or essential workers; 21 (ii) a certification of such payments 22 for the preceding quarter; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3020 IH (iii) the rate of pay for each employee 1 who is a high-risk health care worker or an 2 essential worker; and 3 (iv) the number of hours each em- 4 ployee provided health care service or es- 5 sential service each week. 6 (B) DEVELOPMENT OF PROCESS AND 7 EVALUATION CRITERIA.—For purposes of this 8 section, the Secretary shall develop— 9 (i) a process for submitting applica- 10 tions under this section, including a proc- 11 ess for correcting such applications; and 12 (ii) a criteria for evaluating each such 13 application. 14 (d) DISTRIBUTION OF PAYMENTS.— 15 (1) PAYMENTS TO EMPLOYER.—Beginning not 16 later than 75 days after the date of the enactment 17 of this Act, the Secretary shall make coronavirus 18 hazard payments under subsection (c)(1) on the 19 basis of projections under subparagraph (A)(i)(I) of 20 such subsection and shall make appropriate adjust- 21 ments for any surplus or deficit certified for the pre- 22 vious quarter under subparagraph (A)(i)(II) of such 23 subsection. 24 (2) PAYMENTS TO EMPLOYEE.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3020 IH (A) IN GENERAL.—From amounts paid to 1 the employer under paragraph (1), the employer 2 shall make the appropriate hazard payment to 3 each employee who is a high-risk health care 4 worker or an essential worker not later than 14 5 days after the date the employer receives such 6 amounts, taking into account the appropriate 7 adjustments for any surplus or deficit certified 8 for the previous quarter. 9 (B) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE HAZARD 10 PAYMENTS.—The requirement to make the ap- 11 propriate hazard payment under subparagraph 12 (A) shall apply to an employer after the em- 13 ployer receives the amounts paid to the em- 14 ployer pursuant to paragraph (1). 15 (3) TREATMENT OF SELF-EMPLOYED INDIVID- 16 UALS.—For purposes of this section, an individual 17 with net earnings from self-employment (as defined 18 in section 1402(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 19 1986) shall be treated as an employer, except that 20 an employer (within the meaning of section 21 401(c)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) 22 may make an election (in such manner as the Sec- 23 retary may provide) to be the employer for such pur- 24 poses. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3020 IH (4) TREATMENT OF EMPLOYERS.—An employer 1 may not receive a payment under this section unless 2 the employer has entered into an agreement in writ- 3 ing with the Secretary— 4 (A) to make the payments described in 5 paragraph (2); and 6 (B) to be bound by such other terms and 7 conditions as the Secretary may prescribe. 8 (e) SPECIAL RULES RELATING TO PAYMENTS.—For 9 purposes of this section— 10 (1) PAYMENTS NOT TREATED AS COMPENSA- 11 TION.—Payments made under subsection (c) shall 12 not be— 13 (A) treated as compensation with respect 14 to wages, overtime, or any other form of remu- 15 neration under the Fair Labor Standards Act 16 of 1938; and 17 (B) taken into account for purposes of de- 18 terminations with respect to benefits provided 19 by the employer. 20 (2) CORONAVIRUS HAZARD PAYMENTS DIS- 21 REGARDED IN ADMINISTRATION OF FEDERAL PRO- 22 GRAMS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 23 law, a coronavirus hazard payment made to any in- 24 dividual under this title shall not be taken into ac- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3020 IH count as income, and shall not be taken into account 1 as resources for a period of 12 months from receipt, 2 for purposes of determining the eligibility of such in- 3 dividual for benefits or assistance (or the amount or 4 extent of benefits or assistance) under any Federal 5 program or under any State or local program fi- 6 nanced in whole or in part with Federal funds. 7 (f) PROTECTIONS.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to an employee 9 who is a high-risk health care worker or an essential 10 worker, an employer may not— 11 (A) reduce the regular rate of pay of the 12 employee because the employee received a haz- 13 ard payment under this section; or 14 (B) discriminate against the employee be- 15 cause the employee received a hazard payment 16 under this section, including terminating the 17 employment of the employee with the intent to 18 reinstate the employee at a regular rate of pay 19 that is lower than the previous rate of pay. 20 (2) ENFORCEMENT UNDER FAIR LABOR STAND- 21 ARDS ACT.—An employer shall be treated as vio- 22 lating section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 23 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206) if the employer— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3020.IH H3020 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 14 •HR 3020 I [Text truncated for display. 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