Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5991 To extend protections to part-time workers in the areas of family and medical leave and pension plans, and to ensure equitable treatment in the workplace. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 27, 2020 Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. PORTER, and Ms. PRESSLEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, Oversight and Reform, Ways and Means, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To extend protections to part-time workers in the areas of family and medical leave and pension plans, and to ensure equitable treatment in the workplace. 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 ‘‘Part-Time Worker Bill 4 of Rights Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 6 The table of contents is as follows: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5991.IH H5991 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5991 IH Sec. 1. Short title. Sec. 2. Table of contents. TITLE I—EXPANDING ACCESS TO BENEFITS FOR PART-TIME WORKERS Sec. 101. Elimination of hours of service requirement for FMLA leave. Sec. 102. Improving coverage for long-term part-time workers. TITLE II—ENSURING FAIR TREATMENT FOR PART-TIME WORKERS Sec. 201. Definitions. Sec. 202. Elimination of discrimination on the basis of hours worked. Sec. 203. Offer of work to existing employees. Sec. 204. Prohibited acts. Sec. 205. Remedies and enforcement. Sec. 206. Regulations. TITLE I—EXPANDING ACCESS TO 1 BENEFITS FOR PART-TIME 2 WORKERS 3 SEC. 101. ELIMINATION OF HOURS OF SERVICE REQUIRE- 4 MENT FOR FMLA LEAVE. 5 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 101(2)(A) of the Family 6 and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611(2)(A)) 7 is amended to read as follows: 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible em- 9 ployee’ means an employee who has been em- 10 ployed for at least 12 months by the employer 11 with respect to whom leave is requested under 12 section 102.’’. 13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 14 (1) Section 101(2) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 15 2611(2)) is amended by striking subparagraphs (C) 16 and (D). 17 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5991.IH H5991 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5991 IH (2) Section 102(a) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 1 2612(a)) is amended by striking paragraph (5). 2 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 3 subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect beginning on the 4 date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this 5 Act. 6 SEC. 102. IMPROVING COVERAGE FOR LONG-TERM PART- 7 TIME WORKERS. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of the Employee Re- 9 tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1052) 10 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 11 section: 12 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN PART-TIME EM- 13 PLOYEES.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A pension plan that in- 15 cludes either a qualified cash or deferred arrange- 16 ment (as defined in section 401(k) of the Internal 17 Revenue Code of 1986) or a salary reduction agree- 18 ment (as described in section 403(b) of such Code) 19 shall not require, as a condition of participation in 20 the arrangement or agreement, that an employee 21 complete a period of service with the employer (or 22 employers) maintaining the plan extending beyond 23 the close of the earlier of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5991.IH H5991 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5991 IH ‘‘(A) the period permitted under subsection 1 (a)(1) (determined without regard to subpara- 2 graph (B)(i) thereof) and section 410(a)(1) of 3 such Code (determined without regard to sub- 4 paragraph (B)(i) thereof); or 5 ‘‘(B) the first 24-month period— 6 ‘‘(i) consisting of 2 consecutive 12- 7 month periods during each of which the 8 employee has at least 500 hours of service; 9 and 10 ‘‘(ii) by the close of which the em- 11 ployee has attained the age of 21. 12 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1)(B) shall not 13 apply to employees who are included in a unit of em- 14 ployees covered by an agreement which the Secretary 15 finds to be a collective bargaining agreement be- 16 tween employee representatives and one or more em- 17 ployers, if there is evidence that retirement benefits 18 were the subject of good faith bargaining between 19 such employee representatives and such employer or 20 employers. 21 ‘‘(3) COORDINATION WITH OTHER RULES.—In 22 the case of employees who are not highly com- 23 pensated employees (within the meaning of section 24 414(q) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5991.IH H5991 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5991 IH who are eligible to participate in the arrangement or 1 agreement solely by reason of paragraph (1)(B): 2 ‘‘(A) EXCLUSIONS.—An employer may 3 elect to exclude such employees from the deter- 4 mination of whether the plan that includes the 5 arrangement or agreement satisfies the require- 6 ments of subsections (a)(4), (k)(3), (k)(12), 7 (k)(13), (m)(2), (m)(11), and (m)(12) of sec- 8 tion 401 of such Code, section 410(b) of such 9 Code, and section 416 of such Code. If the em- 10 ployer so excludes such employees with respect 11 to the requirements of any such provision, such 12 employees shall be excluded with respect to the 13 requirements of all such provisions. This sub- 14 paragraph shall cease to apply to any employee 15 as of the first plan year beginning after the 16 plan year in which the employee completes 1 17 year of service (without regard to paragraph 18 (1)(B) of this subsection). 19 ‘‘(B) TIME OF PARTICIPATION.—The rules 20 of subsection (a)(4) and section 410(a)(4) of 21 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall apply 22 to such employees. 23 ‘‘(4) 12-MONTH PERIOD.—For purposes of this 24 subsection, 12-month periods shall be determined in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5991.IH H5991 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5991 IH the same manner as under the last sentence of sub- 1 section (a)(3)(A), except that 12-month periods be- 2 ginning before January 1, 2019, shall not be taken 3 into account.’’. 4 (b) VESTING.—Section 203(b) of the Employee Re- 5 tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 6 1053(b)) is amended by redesignating paragraph (4) as 7 paragraph (5) and by inserting after paragraph (3) the 8 following new paragraph: 9 ‘‘(4) PART-TIME EMPLOYEES.—For purposes of de- 10 termining whether an employee who is eligible to partici- 11 pate in a qualified cash or deferred arrangement or a sal- 12 ary reduction agreement under a plan solely by reason of 13 section 202(c)(1)(B) has a nonforfeitable right to em- 14 ployer contributions— 15 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), 16 each 12-month period for which the employee has at 17 least 500 hours of service shall be treated as a year 18 of service; and 19 ‘‘(B) 12-month periods occurring before the 24- 20 month period described in section 202(c)(1)(B) shall 21 not be treated as years of service. 22 For purposes of this paragraph, 12-month periods shall 23 be determined in the same manner as under the last sen- 24 tence of section 202(a)(3)(A), except that 12-month peri- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5991.IH H5991 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5991 IH ods beginning before January 1, 2019, shall not be taken 1 into account.’’. 2 (c) PENALTY.—Section 502 of the Employee Retire- 3 ment Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1132) is 4 amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 5 section: 6 ‘‘(n) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO PART-TIME EM- 7 PLOYEES.—In the case of a plan that fails to permit par- 8 ticipation as required by section 202(c), the Secretary may 9 assess a civil penalty against the plan sponsor in an 10 amount equal to $10,000 per year per employee to whom 11 such failure relates. The Secretary may, in the Secretary’s 12 sole discretion, waive or reduce the penalty under this sub- 13 section if the Secretary determines that the plan sponsor 14 acted reasonably and in good faith.’’. 15 TITLE II—ENSURING FAIR 16 TREATMENT FOR PART-TIME 17 WORKERS 18 SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS. 19 In this title: 20 (1) EMPLOY.—The term ‘‘employ’’ has the 21 meaning given the term in section 3(g) of the Fair 22 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203(g)). 23 (2) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 24 an individual who is— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5991.IH H5991 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 5991 IH (A) an employee, as defined in section 3(e) 1 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 2 U.S.C. 203(e)), who is not covered under any of 3 subparagraphs (B) through (G), except that a 4 reference in such section to an employer shall 5 be considered to be a reference to a person in 6 commerce described in paragraph (3)(A); 7 (B) a State employee described in section 8 304(a) of the Government Employee Rights Act 9 of 1991 (42 U.S.C. 2000e–16c(a)); 10 (C) a covered employee, as defined in sec- 11 tion 101 of the Congressional Accountability 12 Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1301), except that such 13 term shall not include an applicant for employ- 14 ment; 15 (D) a covered employee, as defined in sec- 16 tion 411(c) of title 3, United States Code; 17 (E) a Federal officer or employee covered 18 under subchapter V of chapter 63 of title 5, 19 United States Code; or 20 (F) an employee of the Government Ac- 21 countability Office. 22 (3) EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘employer’’— 23 (A)(i) means any person in commerce 24 that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5991.IH H5991 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 5991 IH (I) except as provided in subclause 1 (II)— 2 (aa) employs more than 500 em- 3 ployees described in paragraph (2)(A), 4 which shall be calculated by including 5 all employees described in paragraph 6 (2)(A) performing work for compensa- 7 tion on a full-time, part-time, or tem- 8 porary basis, except that if the num- 9 ber of such employees who perform 10 work for such a person for compensa- 11 tion fluctuates, the number may be 12 determined for a calendar year based 13 upon the average number of such em- 14 ployees who performed work for the 15 person for compensation during the 16 preceding calendar year; or 17 (bb) is part of an integrated en- 18 terprise, chain of businesses, group of 19 franchises associated with a franchi- 20 sor, or network of franchises that, in 21 the aggregate, employs more than 500 22 employees, calculated in accordance 23 with item (aa); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5991.IH H5991 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 5991 IH (II) for purposes of section 202, em- 1 ploys, directly or in the aggregate as de- 2 scribed in subclause (I)(bb), more than 15 3 employees, calculated in accordance with 4 subclause (I)(aa); 5 (ii) includes— 6 (I) any person who acts, directly or 7 indirectly, in the interest of such an em- 8 ployer to any of the employees (described 9 in clause (i)) of such employer; and 10 (II) any successor in interest of such 11 an employer; and 12 (iii) includes an agency described in sub- 13 paragraph (A)(iii) of section 101(4) of the 14 Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 15 U.S.C. 2611(4)), to which subparagraph (B) of 16 such section shall apply; 17 (B) is an entity employing a State em- 18 ployee described in section 304(a) of the Gov- 19 ernment Employee Rights Act of 1991 (42 20 U.S.C. 2000e–16c(a)); 21 (C) is an employing office, as defined in 22 section 101 of the Congressional Accountability 23 Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1301); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5991.IH H5991 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 5991 IH (D) is an employing office, as defined in 1 section 411(c) of title 3, United States Code; 2 (E) is an employing agency covered under 3 subchapter V of chapter 63 of title 5, United 4 States Code; or 5 (F) is the Comptroller General of the 6 United States. 7 (4) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’, except as 8 used with the term ‘‘person in commerce’’, has the 9 meaning given the term in section 3(a) of the Fair 10 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203(a)). 11 (5) PERSON IN COMMERCE.— 12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘person in 13 commerce’’ means any person who is engaged 14 in commerce, in any industry or activity affect- 15 ing commerce, or in the production of goods for 16 commerce. 17 (B) COMMERCE.—In subparagraph (A), 18 the term ‘‘commerce’’ includes government. 19 SEC. 202. ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS 20 OF HOURS WORKED. 21 (a) RULE.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—An employer shall not dis- 23 criminate against an employee on the basis that 24 such employee is scheduled to work fewer hours per 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5991.IH H5991 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 5991 IH week, or is employed for a shorter expected duration, 1 than another employee of the employer if the jobs of 2 such employees require substantially equal skill, ef- 3 fort, responsibility, and duties and such jobs are per- 4 formed under similar working conditions. 5 (2) EXAMPLES.—Discrimination described in 6 paragraph (1) shall include differential treatment 7 with respect to— 8 (A) rate of compensation; 9 (B) notice of, and input into, work hours; 10 (C) eligibility to accrue, on a pro rata 11 basis, employer-provided paid and unpaid time 12 off and other benefits; 13 (D) promotion opportunities; or 14 (E) other terms, conditions, or privileges of 15 employment. 16 (b) DISTINCTIONS PERMITTED.—This section shall 17 not be construed to prohibit differences in rate of com- 18 pensation, or other conditions, terms, or privileges of em- 19 ployment, of employees of an employer for reasons other 20 than the number of hours the employees are scheduled to 21 work per week, or the expected duration of employment 22 of the employees, including for reasons such as [Text truncated for display. 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