[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4503 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4503

To amend the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act to 
                    provide for mandatory mediation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 13, 2005

   Mr. Norwood (for himself, Mr. Davis of Tennessee, and Mr. Graves) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                      Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act to 
                    provide for mandatory mediation.

    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 ``Agricultural Worker Protection and 
Workplace Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. MANDATORY MEDIATION.

    Section 504 of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker 
Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1854) is amended by redesignating subsections 
(b) through (f) as subsection (c) through (g), respectively, and 
inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b)(1) No person aggrieved by a violation of this chapter may 
bring an action, including a complaint, under subsection (a) unless the 
mediator first certifies that the party--
            ``(A) has made a request, not less than 90 days prior to 
        bringing an action, to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation 
        Service or an equivalent State program (as defined by the 
        Secretary of Labor) to assist the parties in reaching a 
        satisfactory resolution of all issues involving all parties to 
        the dispute; and
            ``(B) has attempted, in good faith, mediation or other non-
        binding dispute resolution of all issues involving all parties 
        to the dispute.
    ``(2) If the mediator finds that an agricultural employer, 
agricultural association, or farm labor contractor has corrected a 
violation of this Act or regulation under this Act within 14 days after 
the date on which such agricultural employer, agricultural association, 
or farm labor contractor was notified in writing of such violation, no 
action may be brought under this subsection with respect to such 
violation.
    ``(3) Upon request, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service 
shall assign a mediator that is mutually agreeable to all parties, and 
there is hereby authorized to be appropriated annually such sums as 
necessary to carry out this paragraph.
    ``(4) Any settlement reached through the mediation process required 
under this section shall preclude any right of action arising out of 
the same facts between the parties in any Federal or State court or 
administrative proceeding.''.
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