Essential Pay for Essential Workers Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7117 To require employers to pay essential pay to health care employees during public health emergencies, and to provide a tax credit for the cost of such pay. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 4, 2020 Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN (for herself, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. COHEN, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. JACKSON LEE, and Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addi- tion to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To require employers to pay essential pay to health care employees during public health emergencies, and to pro- vide a tax credit for the cost of such pay. 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 ‘‘Essential Pay for Es- 4 sential Workers Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Jun 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7117.IH H7117 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7117 IH SEC. 2. MANDATORY ESSENTIAL PAY FOR HEALTH CARE 1 EMPLOYEES DURING PUBLIC HEALTH EMER- 2 GENCIES. 3 (a) EMPLOYER REQUIREMENT.—During an emer- 4 gency period, an employer of an essential employee shall 5 pay the employee at a rate equal to the sum of the regular 6 rate of pay of the employee and $15. 7 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—A violation of subsection (a) 8 shall be deemed a violation of section 7 of the Fair Labor 9 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206) and unpaid 10 amounts shall be treated as unpaid overtime compensation 11 for the purposes of sections 15 and 16 of such Act (29 12 U.S.C. 215 and 216). 13 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 14 (1) FLSA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘employer’’ and 15 ‘‘employ’’ have the meanings given the terms in sec- 16 tion 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 17 U.S.C. 203). 18 (2) ESSENTIAL.—The term ‘‘essential em- 19 ployee’’ means an employee identified as an essential 20 critical infrastructure worker in the memorandum 21 entitled, ‘‘Advisory Memorandum on Identification 22 of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During 23 COVID–19 Response’’ issued by the Director of the 24 Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency on March 25 28, 2020, or a successor memorandum. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Jun 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7117.IH H7117 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7117 IH (3) EMERGENCY PERIOD.—The term ‘‘emer- 1 gency period’’ has the meaning given such term in 2 section 1135(g) of the Social Security Act. 3 (4) REGULAR RATE.—The term ‘‘regular rate’’ 4 has the meaning given the term in section 7 of the 5 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 207). 6 SEC. 3. PAYROLL CREDIT FOR CERTAIN MANDATORY ES- 7 SENTIAL PAY. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an employer, there 9 shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by 10 section 3111(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for 11 each calendar quarter an amount equal to 100 percent of 12 the qualified essential pay wages paid by such employer 13 with respect to such calendar quarter. 14 (b) LIMITATIONS AND REFUNDABILITY.— 15 (1) CREDIT LIMITED TO CERTAIN EMPLOYMENT 16 TAXES.—The credit allowed by subsection (a) with 17 respect to any calendar quarter shall not exceed the 18 tax imposed by section 3111(a) of such Code for 19 such calendar quarter (reduced by any other credits 20 allowed against such tax for such quarter) on the 21 wages paid with respect to the employment of all 22 employees of the employer. 23 (2) REFUNDABILITY OF EXCESS CREDIT.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Jun 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7117.IH H7117 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7117 IH (A) IN GENERAL.—If the amount of the 1 credit under subsection (a) exceeds the limita- 2 tion of paragraph (1) for any calendar quarter, 3 such excess shall be treated as an overpayment 4 that shall be refunded under sections 6402(a) 5 and 6413(b) of such Code. 6 (B) TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—For pur- 7 poses of section 1324 of title 31, United States 8 Code, any amounts due to an employer under 9 this paragraph shall be treated in the same 10 manner as a refund due from a credit provision 11 referred to in subsection (b)(2) of such section. 12 (c) QUALIFIED ESSENTIAL PAY WAGES.—For pur- 13 poses of this section, the term ‘‘qualified essential pay 14 wages’’ means wages (as defined in section 3121(a) of the 15 Internal Revenue Code of 1986) paid by an employer 16 which are required to be paid by reason of section 2. 17 (d) SPECIAL RULES.— 18 (1) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—For pur- 19 poses of chapter 1 of such Code, the gross income 20 of the employer, for the taxable year which includes 21 the last day of any calendar quarter with respect to 22 which a credit is allowed under this section, shall be 23 increased by the amount of such credit. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Jun 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7117.IH H7117 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7117 IH (2) ELECTION NOT TO HAVE SECTION APPLY.— 1 This section shall not apply with respect to any em- 2 ployer for any calendar quarter if such employer 3 elects (at such time and in such manner as the Sec- 4 retary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s delegate) 5 may prescribe) not to have this section apply. 6 (3) CERTAIN TERMS.—Any term used in this 7 section which is also used in chapter 21 of such 8 Code shall have the same meaning as when used in 9 such chapter. 10 (e) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of the Treasury 11 (or the Secretary’s delegate) shall prescribe such regula- 12 tions or other guidance as may be necessary to carry out 13 the purposes of this section, including— 14 (1) regulations or other guidance to prevent the 15 avoidance of the purposes of the limitations under 16 this section; 17 (2) regulations or other guidance to minimize 18 compliance and record-keeping burdens under this 19 section; 20 (3) regulations or other guidance providing for 21 waiver of penalties for failure to deposit amounts in 22 anticipation of the allowance of the credit allowed 23 under this section; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Jun 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7117.IH H7117 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7117 IH (4) regulations or other guidance for recap- 1 turing the benefit of credits determined under this 2 section in cases where there is a subsequent adjust- 3 ment to the credit determined under subsection (a); 4 and 5 (5) regulations or other guidance to ensure that 6 the wages taken into account under this section con- 7 form with the wages required under section 2. 8 (f) TRANSFERS TO FEDERAL OLD-AGE AND SUR- 9 VIVORS INSURANCE TRUST FUND.—There are hereby ap- 10 propriated to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insur- 11 ance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance 12 Trust Fund established under section 201 of the Social 13 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401) amounts equal to the reduc- 14 tion in revenues to the Treasury by reason of this section 15 (without regard to this subsection). Amounts appropriated 16 by the preceding sentence shall be transferred from the 17 general fund at such times and in such manner as to rep- 18 licate to the extent possible the transfers which would have 19 occurred to such Trust Fund had this section not been 20 enacted. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Jun 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7117.IH H7117 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS