[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2501 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2501

      To prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of an 
            individual's status or history of unemployment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 12, 2011

    Ms. DeLauro (for herself, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Davis of 
 Illinois, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Schakowsky, 
Mr. Filner, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Rangel, Mr. George Miller of California, 
   Mr. McDermott, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Fattah, Mr. Towns, Mr. Frank of 
  Massachusetts, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Hirono, Ms. Norton, Ms. 
Moore, Ms. Fudge, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Ms. Woolsey, Mrs. Christensen, 
 Mr. Farr, Mr. Moran, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Ms. Pingree of Maine, Ms. 
 Richardson, and Mr. Ellison) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of an 
            individual's status or history of unemployment.

    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 ``Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 
2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that denial of employment 
opportunities to individuals because they are or have been unemployed 
is discriminatory and burdens commerce by--
            (1) reducing personal consumption and undermining economic 
        stability and growth;
            (2) squandering human capital essential to the Nation's 
        economic vibrancy and growth;
            (3) increasing demands for State and Federal unemployment 
        insurance benefits, reducing trust fund assets, and leading to 
        higher payroll taxes for employers, cuts in benefits for 
        jobless workers, or both;
            (4) imposing additional burdens on publicly funded health 
        and welfare programs; and
            (5) depressing income, property, and other tax revenues 
        that states, localities and the Federal Government rely on to 
        support operations and institutions essential to commerce.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to prohibit consideration 
of an individual's status as unemployed in screening for or filling 
positions except where a requirement related to employment status is a 
bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to successful 
performance in the job and to eliminate the burdens imposed on commerce 
by excluding such individuals from employment.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act--
            (1) the term ``employer'' means any person engaged in 
        commerce or any industry or activity affecting commerce who has 
        15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more 
        calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and 
        includes--
                    (A) any person who acts, directly or indirectly, in 
                the interest of an employer with respect to employing 
                individuals to work for the employer; and
                    (B) any successor in interest of an employer.
            (2) the term ``employment agency'' means any person 
        regularly undertaking with or without compensation to procure 
        employees for an employer or to procure for individuals 
        opportunities to work for an employer and includes an agent of 
        such a person, and includes any person who maintains an 
        Internet website that publishes advertisements or announcements 
        of job openings;
            (3) the term ``affected individual'' means any person who 
        was refused consideration for employment or was not hired by an 
        employer because of the person's current employment status, or 
        any person who was not considered, screened, or referred for 
        employment opportunities by an employment agency because of the 
        person's current employment status;
            (4) the term ``status as unemployed'' means an individual's 
        present or past unemployment regardless of the length of time 
        such individual was unemployed; and
            (5) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Labor.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITED ACTS.

    (a) Employers.--It shall be an unlawful practice for an employer 
to--
            (1) refuse to consider for employment or refuse to offer 
        employment to an individual because of the individual's status 
        as unemployed;
            (2) publish in print, on the Internet, or in any other 
        medium, an advertisement or announcement for any job that 
        includes--
                    (A) any provision stating or indicating that an 
                individual's status as unemployed disqualifies the 
                individual for a job; and
                    (B) any provision stating or indicating that an 
                employer will not consider an applicant for employment 
                based on that individual's status as unemployed; and
            (3) direct or request that an employment agency take an 
        individual's status as unemployed into account in screening or 
        referring applicants for employment.
    (b) Employment Agencies.--It shall be an unlawful practice for an 
employment agency to--
            (1) refuse to consider or refer an individual for 
        employment based on the individual's status as unemployed;
            (2) limit, segregate, or classify individuals in any manner 
        that may limit their access to information about jobs or 
        referral for consideration of jobs because of their status as 
        unemployed; or
            (3) publish, in print or on the Internet or in any other 
        medium, an advertisement or announcement for any job vacancy 
        that includes--
                    (A) any provision stating or indicating that an 
                individual's status as unemployed disqualifies the 
                individual for a job; and
                    (B) any provision stating or indicating that an 
                employer will not consider individuals for employment 
                based on that individual's status as unemployed.
    (c) Interference With Rights, Proceedings or Inquiries.--It shall 
be unlawful for any employer or employment agency to--
            (1) interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of or 
        the attempt to exercise, any right provided under this Act; or
            (2) refuse to hire, to discharge, or in any other manner to 
        discriminate against any individual because such individual--
                    (A) opposed any practice made unlawful by this Act;
                    (B) has filed any charge, or has instituted or 
                caused to be instituted any proceeding, under or 
                related to this Act;
                    (C) has given, or is about to give, any information 
                in connection with any inquiry or proceeding relating 
                to any right provided under this Act; or
                    (D) has testified, or is about to testify, in any 
                inquiry or proceeding relating to any right provided 
                under this Act.
    (d) Bona Fide Occupational Qualification.--Notwithstanding any 
other provision of this Act, consideration by an employer or employment 
agency of an individual's status as unemployed shall not be an unlawful 
employment practice where an individual's employment in a similar or 
related job for a period of time reasonably proximate to the hiring of 
such individual is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably 
necessary to successful performance of the job that is being filled.

SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) Civil Action by Individual.--
            (1) Liability for employers and employment agencies.--Any 
        employer or employment agency that violates section 4(a) and 
        (b) shall be liable to any affected individual--
                    (A) for actual damages equal to--
                            (i) the amount of--
                                    (I) any wages, salary, employment 
                                benefits, or other compensation denied 
                                or lost to such individual by reason of 
                                the violation; or
                                    (II) in a case in which wages, 
                                salary, employment benefits, or other 
                                compensation have not been denied or 
                                lost to the individual, any actual 
                                monetary losses sustained by the 
                                individual as a direct result of the 
                                violation or a civil penalty of $1,000 
                                per violation per day, whichever is 
                                greater;
                            (ii) the interest on the amount described 
                        in clause (i) calculated at the prevailing 
                        rate; and
                            (iii) an additional amount as liquidated 
                        damages equal to the sum of the amount 
                        described in clause (i) and the interest 
                        described in clause (ii), except that if an 
                        employer or employment agency that has violated 
                        section 4 proves to the satisfaction of the 
                        court that the act or omission that violated 
                        section 4 was in good faith and that the 
                        employer had reasonable grounds for believing 
                        that the act or omission was not a violation of 
                        section 4, such court may, in its discretion, 
                        reduce the amount of the liability to the 
                        amount and interest determined under clauses 
                        (i) and (ii), respectively; and
                    (B) for such equitable relief as may be 
                appropriate, including employment and compensatory and 
                punitive damages.
            (2) Right of action.--An action to recover the damages or 
        equitable relief prescribed in paragraph (1) of this subsection 
        may be maintained against any employer or employment agency in 
        any Federal or State court of competent jurisdiction by any one 
        or more persons for and in behalf of--
                    (A) the affected individual; or
                    (B) the affected individual and other individuals 
                similarly situated.
            (3) Fees and costs.--The court in such an action shall, in 
        addition to any judgment awarded to the plaintiff, allow a 
        reasonable attorney's fee, reasonable expert witness fees, and 
        other costs of the action to be paid by the defendant.
            (4) Limitations.--The right provided by paragraph (2) of 
        this subsection to bring an action by or on behalf of any 
        affected individual shall terminate--
                    (A) on the filing of a complaint by the Secretary 
                in an action under subsection (d) in which restraint is 
                sought of any violation of section 4; or
                    (B) on the filing of a complaint by the Secretary 
                in an action under subsection (b) in which a recovery 
                is sought of the damages described in paragraph (1)(A) 
                owing to an affected individual by an employer or 
                employment agency liable under paragraph (1), unless 
                the action described in subparagraph (A) or (B) is 
                dismissed without prejudice on motion of the Secretary.
    (b) Action by the Secretary.--
            (1) Administrative action.--The Secretary shall receive, 
        investigate, and attempt to resolve complaints of violations of 
        section 4 in the same manner that the Secretary receives, 
        investigates, and attempts to resolve complaints of violations 
        of sections 6 and 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 
        U.S.C. 206 and 207).
            (2) Civil action.--The Secretary may bring an action in any 
        court of competent jurisdiction--
                    (A) to enjoin violations of this title and seek 
                other relief going forward necessary to prevent future 
                violations;
                    (B) to recover--
                            (i) the damages described in subsection 
                        (a)(1)(A);
                            (ii) in the case of a violation of section 
                        4(c), a civil penalty of not less than $250 per 
                        violation; or
                            (iii) such other equitable relief the Court 
                        deems appropriate.
            (3) Sums recovered.--Any sums recovered by the Secretary 
        pursuant to paragraph (2)(A) shall be held in a special deposit 
        account and shall be paid, on order of the Secretary, directly 
        to each affected individual. Any such sums recovered pursuant 
        to paragraph (2)(A) that are not paid to an affected individual 
        because of inability to do so within a period of 3 years and 
        any sums recovered pursuant to paragraph (2)(B) shall be 
        deposited into the Treasury of the United States as 
        miscellaneous receipts.
    (c) Limitation.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), an 
        action under subsection (a) may be brought not later than 2 
        years after the date of the last event constituting the alleged 
        violation for which the action is brought, provided that the 
        limitations for filing an action shall be tolled during the 
        period that the Secretary is considering a complaint against 
        any defendant named in a complaint filed with the Secretary 
        under subsection (b)(1) above.
            (2) Willful violation.--In the case of such action brought 
        for a willful violation of section 4, such action may be 
        brought within 3 years of the date of the last event 
        constituting the alleged violation for which such action is 
        brought, provided that the limitations for filing an action by 
        an individual shall be tolled during the period that the 
        Secretary is considering a complaint pursuant to subsection 
        (b)(1).
            (3) Commencement.--In determining when an action is 
        commenced by the Secretary under this section for the purposes 
        of this subsection, it shall be considered to be commenced on 
        the date when the Secretary files a complaint in a court of 
        competent jurisdiction.
    (d) Action for Injunction by Secretary.--The district courts of the 
United States shall have jurisdiction, for cause shown, in an action 
brought by the Secretary--
            (1) to restrain violations of section 4; and
            (2) to award such other equitable relief as may be 
        appropriate, including employment and monetary damages.
    (e) Solicitor of Labor.--The Solicitor of Labor may appear for and 
represent the Secretary on any litigation brought under this section.
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