[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3846 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3846

 To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase the minimum 
                     wage, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 8, 2000

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase the minimum 
                     wage, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. MINIMUM WAGE.

    Section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 
206(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) except as otherwise provided in this section, not 
        less than--
                    ``(A) $5.15 an hour beginning September 1, 1997,
                    ``(B) $5.48 an hour during the year beginning April 
                1, 2000,
                    ``(C) $5.81 an hour during the year beginning April 
                1, 2001, and
                    ``(D) $6.15 an hour beginning April 1, 2002;''.

SEC. 2. EXEMPTION FOR COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS.

    Section 13(a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 
213(a)) is amended by amending paragraph (17) to read as follows:
            ``(17) any employee who is a computer systems, network, or 
        database analyst, designer, developer, programmer, software 
        engineer, or other similarly skilled worker--
                    ``(A) whose primary duty is--
                            ``(i) the application of systems or network 
                        or database analysis techniques and procedures, 
                        including consulting with users, to determine 
                        hardware, software, systems, network, or 
                        database specifications (including functional 
                        specifications);
                            ``(ii) the design, configuration, 
                        development, integration, documentation, 
                        analysis, creation, testing, securing, or 
                        modification of, or problem resolution for, 
                        computer systems, networks, databases, or 
                        programs, including prototypes, based on and 
                        related to user, system, network, or database 
                        specifications, including design specifications 
                        and machine operating systems;
                            ``(iii) the management or training of 
                        employees performing duties described in clause 
                        (i) or (ii); or
                            ``(iv) a combination of duties described in 
                        clauses (i), (ii), or (iii) the performance of 
                        which requires the same level of skills; and
                    ``(B) who, in the case of an employee who is 
                compensated on an hourly basis, is compensated at a 
                rate of not less than $27.63 an hour.
        For purposes of paragraph (17), the term `network' includes the 
        Internet and intranet networks and the world wide web. An 
        employee who meets the exemption provided by paragraph (17) 
        shall be considered an employee in a professional capacity 
        pursuant to paragraph (1);''.

SEC. 3. EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN SALES EMPLOYEES.

    (a) Amendment.--Section 13(a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 
1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(a)), as amended by section 2, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
            ``(18) any employee employed in a sales position if--
                    ``(A) the employee has specialized or technical 
                knowledge related to products or services being sold;
                    ``(B) the employee's--
                            ``(i) sales are predominantly to persons or 
                        entities to whom the employee's position has 
                        made previous sales; or
                            ``(ii) position does not involve initiating 
                        sales contacts;
                    ``(C) the employee has a detailed understanding of 
                the needs of those to whom the employee is selling;
                    ``(D) the employee exercises discretion in offering 
                a variety of products and services;
                    ``(E) the employee receives--
                            ``(i) base compensation, determined without 
                        regard to the number of hours worked by the 
                        employee, of not less than an amount equal to 
                        one and one-half times the minimum wage in 
                        effect under section 6(a)(1) multiplied by 
                        2,080; and
                            ``(ii) in addition to the employee's base 
                        compensation, compensation based upon each sale 
                        attributable to the employee;
                    ``(F) the employee's aggregate compensation based 
                upon sales attributable to the employee is not less 
                than 40 percent of one and one-half times the minimum 
                wage multiplied by 2,080;
                    ``(G) the employee receives a rate of compensation 
                based upon each sale attributable to the employee which 
                is beyond sales required to reach the compensation 
                required by subparagraph (F) which rate is not less 
                than the rate on which the compensation required by 
                subparagraph (F) is determined; and
                    ``(H) the rate of annual compensation or base 
                compensation for any employee who did not work for an 
                employer for an entire calendar year is prorated to 
                reflect annual compensation which would have been 
                earned if the employee had been compensated at the same 
                rate for the entire calendar year;''.
    (b) Construction.--The amendment made by subsection (a) may not be 
construed to apply to individuals who are employed as route sales 
drivers.

SEC. 4. EXEMPTION FOR FUNERAL DIRECTORS.

    Section 13(a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 
213(a)), as amended by section 3, is amended by adding after paragraph 
(18) the following:
            ``(19) any employee employed as a licensed funeral director 
        or a licensed embalmer.''.

SEC. 5. STATE MINIMUM WAGE.

    Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h)(1) An employer in a State that adopts minimum wage 
legislation that conforms to the requirement of paragraph (2) shall not 
be required to pay its employees at the minimum wage prescribed by 
subsection (a)(1).
    ``(2) Paragraph (1) shall apply in a State that adopts minimum wage 
legislation that--
            ``(A) sets a rate that is not less than $5.15 an hour; and
            ``(B) applies that rate to not fewer than the employees 
        performing work within the State that would otherwise be 
        covered by the minimum wage rate prescribed by subsection 
        (a)(1).''.
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