[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1099 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1099

     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

                           February 15, 2007

Ms. Schwartz (for herself, Mr. Murtha, and Ms. Bordallo) 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 2007''.

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 in 
        a calendar year, except that the Secretary of Homeland Security 
        may extend such period for a major disaster if the Secretary 
        determines that an extension is appropriate due to a national 
        emergency and the Secretary publishes notice of the 
        determination in the Federal Register.
            ``(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--
                    ``(A) appointed by the Federal Emergency Management 
                Agency under subsection (b)(1) to serve as a reservist; 
                and
                    ``(B) who is 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.''.
                                 <all>