[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4998 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4998

     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act to protect disaster assistance employee reservists when 
  activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for work at a 
specific disaster site from termination or demotion in their places of 
                              employment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 16, 2006

 Ms. Schwartz of Pennsylvania (for herself, Mr. Engel, Mr. Jefferson, 
Mr. Honda, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Ortiz, Mr. Bishop of New 
 York, Mr. Kanjorski, Mr. Murtha, Mr. Holden, Mr. Fattah, Mr. Brady of 
 Pennsylvania, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Farr, 
    Mr. Wu, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Stupak, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Stark, Mrs. 
     McCarthy, Ms. Linda T. Sanchez of California, and Mr. Meehan) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                   Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act to protect disaster assistance employee reservists when 
  activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for work at a 
specific disaster site from termination or demotion in their places of 
                              employment.

    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 ``Disaster Assistance Employment and 
Reemployment Rights Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIONS FOR DISASTER ASSISTANCE EMPLOYEE 
              RESERVISTS.

    Section 306 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5149) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(c) Employment Protections for Disaster Assistance Employee 
Reservists.--
            ``(1) Termination prohibited.--No person may be terminated, 
        demoted, or in any other manner discriminated against in the 
        terms and conditions of employment because the employee, when 
        activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for work 
        at a specific disaster site as a disaster assistance employee 
        reservist, is absent from or late to his or her employment.
            ``(2) Limitation.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply if such 
        person is absent from his or her employment for the purposes 
        described in paragraph (1) for a period of more than 90 days 
        per calendar year.
            ``(3) Withholding of pay.--An employer may charge, against 
        the employee's regular pay, any time that an employee loses 
        from employment because of the employee's activation as a 
        disaster assistance employee reservist.
            ``(4) Certification.--The employer may request the employee 
        to provide the employer with a written verification from the 
        Federal Emergency Management Agency that the employee was 
        activated as a disaster assistance employee reservist and 
        stating the time and dates of such activation.
            ``(5) Reasonable notice required.--An employee who may be 
        absent from or late to his or her employment due to activation 
        as a disaster assistance employee reservist shall make a 
        reasonable effort to notify his or her employer that he or she 
        may be absent or late and shall continue to provide such 
        reasonable notifications over the course of his or her absence.
            ``(6) Right of action.--
                    ``(A) Right of action.--A person who has been 
                terminated, demoted, or in any other manner 
                discriminated against in the terms and conditions of 
                employment in violation of this subsection may bring, 
                in a district court of the United States of appropriate 
                jurisdiction, a civil action against his or her 
                employer who violated this subsection.
                    ``(B) Damages.--The employee may seek reinstatement 
                to his or her former position, payment of back wages, 
                reinstatement of fringe benefits, and, where seniority 
                rights are granted, reinstatement of seniority rights.
                    ``(C) Limitation.--The employee must commence such 
                an action within 1 year after the date of the violation 
                of this subsection.
            ``(7) Disaster assistance employee reservist defined.--In 
        this subsection, the term `disaster assistance employee 
        reservist' means a person appointed by the Federal Emergency 
        Management Agency under subsection (b)(1) to serve as a 
        reservist. Reservists are carried on the personnel rolls of the 
        Federal Emergency Management Agency for a specified period and 
        may be activated to perform disaster assistance program work 
        when the need arises.''.
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