[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4740 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4740

   To amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to 
 provide protections for employees relating to the offshoring of jobs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 25, 2004

 Mr. George Miller of California (for himself, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Owens, 
 Mr. Lantos, Mr. Pallone, Ms. Lee, Mr. Hoeffel, Mr. Sandlin, Mr. Frank 
of Massachusetts, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Frost, Mr. Markey, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. 
Solis, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Watson, Mr. Meehan, Mr. 
     Brown of Ohio, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Visclosky, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. 
  McDermott, Ms. Linda T. Sanchez of California, Ms. DeLauro, and Mr. 
  Kanjorski) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to 
 provide protections for employees relating to the offshoring of jobs.

    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 ``Jobs for America Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE WORKER ADJUSTMENT AND RETRAINING NOTIFICATION 
              ACT.

    (a) Definition.--Section 2(a) of the Worker Adjustment and 
Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3)(B), by striking ``for--'' and all that 
        follows through ``500 employees'' in clause (ii), and inserting 
        ``for at least 50 employees'';
            (2) in paragraph (7), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (3) in paragraph (8), by striking the period and inserting 
        ``; and''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(9) the term `offshoring of jobs' means any action taken 
        by an employer the effect of which is to create, shift, or 
        transfer work or facilities outside the United States and which 
        results in an employment loss during any 30 day period for 15 
        or more employees.''.
    (b) Determinations With Respect to Employment Loss.--Section 3(d) 
of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 
2102(d)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``each of which'' and inserting ``1 or more 
        of which''; and
            (2) by striking ``within any 90-day period'' and inserting 
        ``within any 180-day period''.
    (c) Notice.--Section 3 of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining 
Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2102) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                striking ``60-day'' and inserting ``90-day''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (C) in paragraph (2), by striking the period and 
                inserting ``; and''; and
                    (D) by inserting after paragraph (2), the 
                following:
            ``(3) to the Secretary of Labor.'';
            (2) in subsection (b), by striking ``60-day'' each place 
        that such appears and inserting ``90-day''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Notice for Offshoring of Jobs.--In the case of a notice under 
subsection (a) regarding the offshoring of jobs, the notice shall 
include, in addition to the information otherwise required by the 
Secretary with respect to other notices under such subsection, 
information concerning--
            ``(1) the number of jobs affected;
            ``(2) the location to which work or facilities are being 
        shifted or transferred; and
            ``(3) the reasons that such shifting or transferring of 
        work or facilities is occurring.''.
    (d) Technical Amendments.--The Worker Adjustment and Retraining 
Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``plant closing or mass layoff'' each place 
        that such appears and inserting ``plant closing, mass layoff, 
        or offshoring of jobs'';
            (2) by striking ``closing or layoff'' each place that such 
        appears and inserting ``closing, layoff, or offshoring''; and
            (3) in section 3--
                    (A) in the section heading by striking ``plant 
                closings and mass layoffs'' and inserting ``plant 
                closings, mass layoffs, and offshoring of jobs'';
                    (B) in subsection (b)(2)(A), by striking ``closing 
                or mass layoff'' and inserting ``closing, layoff, or 
                offshoring''; and
                    (C) in subsection (d), by striking ``section 
                2(a)(2) or (3)'' and inserting ``paragraph (2), (3), or 
                (9) of section 2(a)''.
    (e) Civil Actions Against Employers.--Section 5(a) of the Worker 
Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2104(a)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``60 days'' and inserting 
        ``90 days'';
            (2) in paragraph (1)(A)(ii), by striking ``and'';
            (3) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking the period and 
        inserting ``; and'';
            (4) in paragraph (1), by inserting after subparagraph (B) 
        the following:
            ``(C) any other consequential damages incurred by the 
        aggrieved employee as a result of the violation of section 3 of 
        this Act.'';
            (5) in paragraph (3), by inserting ``State or'' after 
        ``with respect to a'';
            (6) in paragraph (4), by adding at the end the following: 
        ``If the court determines that an employer acted in bad faith 
        in an attempt to evade the requirements of this Act, the court 
        may, in its discretion, award to persons seeking to enforce 
        this Act, treble damages.''; and
            (7) in paragraph (5), by inserting ``, a State,'' after ``a 
        representative of employees''.
    (f) Posting of Employee Rights.--The Worker Adjustment and 
Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 11. POSTING OF NOTICE OF RIGHTS.

    ``(a) Development.--Not later than 60 days after the date of 
enactment of this section, the Secretary of Labor shall develop a 
notice of employee rights under this Act for posting by employers.
    ``(b) Posting.--Each employer shall post in a conspicuous place in 
places of employment the notice of the rights of employees as developed 
by the Secretary under subsection (a).''.
    (g) Annual Report.--The Worker Adjustment and Retraining 
Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.), as amended by subsection 
(d), is further amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 12. CONTENTS OF ANNUAL REPORTS BY THE SECRETARY OF LABOR.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary of Labor shall collect and compile 
statistics based on the information submitted to the Secretary under 
subsections (a)(3) and (e) of section 3.
    ``(b) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the date on which each 
regular session of Congress commences, the Secretary of Labor shall 
prepare and submit to the President and the appropriate committees of 
Congress a report on the offshoring of jobs (as defined in section 
2(a)(9)). Each such report shall include information concerning--
            ``(1) the number of jobs affected by offshoring;
            ``(2) the locations to which work or facilities are being 
        shifted or transferred;
            ``(3) the reasons why such shifts and transfers are 
        occurring; and
            ``(4) any other relevant data compiled under subsection 
        (a).''.
                                 <all>