[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2299 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2299

To amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 
   to ensure proper treatment of temporary employees under employee 
                             benefit plans.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 22, 1999

  Mr. Evans introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 
   to ensure proper treatment of temporary employees under employee 
                             benefit plans.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``ERISA Clarification Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. EXCLUSIONS FROM PLAN AFFECTING MINIMUM PARTICIPATION 
              REQUIREMENTS.

    Section 202 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 
(29 U.S.C. 1052) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsections:
    ``(c) `Year of service' for purposes of this section includes all 
service for the employer as an employee under the common law, 
regardless of whether a worker is paid through an employment agency, 
payroll agency, temporary help agency, or staffing firm or any other 
entity which is not the employer of the worker under the common law.
    ``(d) Any exclusion from a pension plan must be made on a uniform 
basis, must be stated in the plan, must be based on reasonable job 
classifications, and must be based on objective criteria. An exclusion 
violates this section if it has the effect of giving an employer or 
plan fiduciary authority to exclude workers from a pension plan for an 
indefinite period of time, beyond a year of service as defined in 
subsection (c) of this section, or to otherwise exclude workers from a 
pension plan for an indefinite period by designating the worker as 
part-time employee, temporary employee, leased employee, agency 
employee, or staffing firm employee, where the worker is an employee of 
the employer under the common law and has served the plan's minimum 
service period.''.

SEC. 3. OBJECTIVE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA IN PLAN INSTRUMENTS.

    Section 402(a)(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
1974 (29 U.S.C. 1102(a)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new sentences: ``Every such instrument shall contain 
eligibility criteria which (A) include or exclude employees on a 
uniform basis, (B) are based on reasonable job classifications, and (C) 
are based on objective criteria stated in the instrument itself. No 
plan instrument may permit an employer or plan sponsor to exclude an 
employee from pension or welfare benefits by simply designating the 
employee as in an ineligible category, even though the worker, under 
objective criteria, meets the plan's eligibility criteria.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), the amendments made by 
this Act shall apply with respect to plans for plan years beginning on 
or after January 1, 2001.
    (b) Collective Bargaining.--In the case of a plan maintained 
pursuant to 1 or more collective bargaining agreements between employee 
representatives and 1 or more employers ratified before the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the amendments made by this Act shall not apply 
to plan years beginning before the later of--
            (1) the date on which the last of such collective 
        bargaining agreements relating to the plan terminates 
        (determined without regard to any extension thereof agreed to 
        after the date of the enactment of this Act), or
            (2) January 1, 2001.
For purposes of paragraph (1), any plan amendment made pursuant to a 
collective bargaining agreement relating to the plan which amends the 
plan solely to conform to any requirement added by this Act shall not 
be treated as a termination of such collective bargaining agreement.
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