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HR 3420 IH
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3420
To promote the economic security and safety of victims of domestic and sexual violence, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 30, 2003
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD (for herself, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. FARR, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr.
GUTIERREZ, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KIND, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr.
MOORE, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OWENS, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. REYES, Mr. SANDLIN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. STARK,
Mrs. TAUSCHER, Ms. WATSON, Mr. WEINER, Mr. WU, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. WATERS, Ms. BERKLEY, and Mr. KUCINICH) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committees
on Ways and Means, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To promote the economic security and safety of victims of domestic and sexual violence, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE- This Act may be cited as the `Security and Financial Empowerment Act'.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS- The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I--ENTITLEMENT TO EMERGENCY LEAVE FOR ADDRESSING DOMESTIC OR SEXUAL VIOLENCE
Sec. 102. Entitlement to emergency leave for addressing domestic or sexual violence.
Sec. 103. Existing leave usable for addressing domestic or sexual violence.
Sec. 104. Emergency benefits.
Sec. 105. Effect on other laws and employment benefits.
Sec. 106. Conforming amendments.
Sec. 107. Effective date.
TITLE II--ENTITLEMENT TO UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION FOR VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATING VIOLENCE, SEXUAL
ASSAULT, OR STALKING
Sec. 202. Unemployment compensation and training provisions.
TITLE III--VICTIMS' EMPLOYMENT SUSTAINABILITY
Sec. 303. Prohibited discriminatory acts.
Sec. 305. Attorney's fees.
TITLE IV--VICTIMS OF ABUSE INSURANCE PROTECTION
Sec. 403. Discriminatory acts prohibited.
Sec. 404. Insurance protocols for subjects of abuse.
Sec. 405. Reasons for adverse actions.
Sec. 406. Life insurance.
Sec. 407. Subrogation without consent prohibited.
Sec. 409. Effective date.
TITLE V--WORKPLACE SAFETY PROGRAM TAX CREDIT
Sec. 501. Credit for costs to employers of implementing workplace safety programs.
TITLE VI--NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE ON DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE GRANT
Sec. 601. National clearinghouse on domestic and sexual violence in the workplace grant.
TITLE VII--SEVERABILITY
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Domestic violence crimes account for approximately 15 percent of total crime costs in the United States each year.
(2) Violence against women has been reported to be the leading cause of physical injury to women. Such violence has a
devastating impact on women's physical and emotional health and financial security.
(3) According to a recent National Institutes of Health--Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, each year there
are 5,300,000 non-fatal violent victimizations committed by intimate partners against women. Female murder victims were substantially
more likely than male murder victims to have been killed by an intimate partner. About 1/3 of female murder victims, and about
4 percent of male murder victims, were killed by an intimate partner.
(4) According to recent government estimates, approximately 987,400 rapes occur annually in the United States, 89 percent
of the rapes perpetrated against female victims. Since 2001, rapes have actually increased by 4 percent.
(5) Approximately 10,200,000 people have been stalked at some time in their lives. Four out of every 5 stalking victims
are women. Stalkers harass and terrorize their victims by spying on the victims, standing outside their places of work or
homes, making unwanted phone calls, sending or leaving unwanted letters or items, or vandalizing property.
(6) Employees in the United States who have been victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking
too often suffer adverse consequences in the workplace as a result of their victimization.
(7) Victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking are particularly vulnerable to changes
in employment, pay, and benefits as a result of their victimizations, and are, therefore, in need of legal protection.
(8) The prevalence of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and other violence against women at
work is dramatic. About 36,500 individuals, 80 percent of whom are women, were raped or sexually assaulted in the workplace
each year from 1993 through 1999. Half of all female victims of violent workplace crimes know their attackers. Nearly 1 out
of 10 violent workplace incidents are committed by partners or spouses. Women who work for State and local governments suffer
a
higher incidence of workplace assaults, including rapes, than women who work in the private sector.
(9) Homicide is the leading cause of death for women on the job. Husbands, boyfriends, and ex-partners commit 15 percent
of workplace homicides against women.
(10) Studies indicate that between 35 and 56 percent of employed battered women surveyed were harassed at work by their
abusive partners.
(11) According to a 1998 report of the General Accounting Office, between 1/4 and 1/2 of domestic violence victims surveyed
in 3 studies reported that the victims lost a job due, at least in part, to domestic violence.
(12) Women who have experienced domestic violence or dating violence are more likely than other women to be unemployed,
to suffer from health problems that can affect employability and job performance, to report lower personal income, and to
rely on welfare.
(13) Abusers frequently seek to control their partners by actively interfering with their ability to work, including preventing
their partners from going to work, harassing their partners at work, limiting the access of their partners to cash or transportation,
and sabotaging the child care arrangements of their partners.
(14) More than 1/2 of women receiving welfare have been victims of domestic violence as adults and between 1/4 and 1/3
reported being abused in the last year.
(15) Victims of intimate partner violence lose 8,000,000 days of paid work each year--the equivalent of over 32,000 full-time
jobs and 5,600,000 days of household productivity.
(16) Sexual assault, whether occurring in or out of the workplace, can impair an employee's work performance, require
time away from work, and undermine the employee's ability to maintain a job. Almost 50 percent of sexual assault survivors
lose their jobs or are forced to quit in the aftermath of the assaults.
(17) More than 35 percent of stalking victims report losing time from work due to the stalking and 7 percent never return
to work.
(18)(A) According to the National Institute of Justice, crime costs an estimated $450,000,000,000 annually in medical
expenses, lost earnings, social service costs, pain, suffering, and reduced quality of life for victims, which harms the Nation's
productivity and drains the Nation's resources.
(B) Violent crime accounts for $426,000,000,000 per year of this amount.
(C) Rape exacts the highest costs per victim of any criminal offense, and accounts for $127,000,000,000 per year of the
amount described in subparagraph (A).
(19) Violent crime results in wage losses equivalent to 1 percent of all United States earnings, and causes 3 percent
of the Nation's medical spending and 14 percent of the Nation's injury-related medical spending.
(20) The Bureau of National Affairs has estimated that domestic violence costs United States employers between $3,000,000,000
and $5,000,000,000 annually in lost time and productivity, while other reports have estimated the cost at between $5,800,000,000
and $13,000,000,000 annually.
(21) United States medical costs for domestic violence have been estimated to be $31,000,000,000 per year.
(22) Surveys of business executives and corporate security directors also underscore the heavy toll that workplace violence
takes on women, businesses, and interstate commerce in the United States.
(23) Ninety-four percent of corporate security and safety directors at companies nationwide rank domestic violence as
a high security concern.
(24) Forty-nine percent of senior executives recently surveyed said domestic violence has a harmful effect on their company's
productivity, 47 percent said domestic violence negatively affects attendance, and 44 percent said domestic violence increases
health care costs.
(25) Only 25 States have laws that explicitly provide unemployment insurance to domestic violence victims in certain circumstances,
and none of the laws explicitly cover victims of sexual assault or stalking.
(26) Only 6 States provide domestic violence victims with leave from work to go to court, to the doctor, or to take other
steps to address the domestic violence in their lives, and only Maine provides such leave to victims of sexual assault and
stalking.
(27) No States prohibit employment discrimination against victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Five
States provide limited protection to some victims under certain circumstances.
(28) Employees, including individuals participating in welfare to work programs, may need to take time during business
hours to--
(A) obtain orders of protection;
(B) seek medical or legal assistance, counseling, or other services; or
(C) look for housing in order to escape from domestic violence.
(29) Domestic and sexual violence victims have been subjected to discrimination by private and State employers, including
discrimination motivated by sex and stereotypic notions about women.
(30) Domestic violence victims and third parties who help them have been subjected to discriminatory practices by health,
life, disability, and property and casualty insurers and employers who self-insure employee benefits who have denied or canceled
coverage, rejected claims, and raised rates based on domestic violence. Although some State legislatures have tried to address
these problems, the scope of protection afforded by the laws adopted varies from State to State, with many failing to address
the problem comprehensively. Moreover, Federal law
prevents States from protecting the almost 40 percent of employees whose employers self-insure employee benefits.
(31) Existing Federal law does not explicitly--
(A) authorize victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking to take leave from work to seek
legal assistance and redress, counseling, or assistance with safety planning activities;
(B) address the eligibility of victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking for unemployment
compensation;
(C) prohibit employment discrimination against actual or perceived victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual
assault, or stalking; or
(D) prohibit insurers and employers who self-insure employee benefits from discriminating against domestic violence victims
and those who help them in determining eligibility, rates charged, and standards for payment of claims; nor does it prohibit
insurers from disclosure of information about abuse and the victim's location through insurance databases and other means.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act, except as otherwise expressly provided:
(1) COMMERCE- The terms `commerce' and `industry or activity affecting commerce' have the meanings given the terms in
section 101 of
the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611).
(2) COURSE OF CONDUCT- The term `course of conduct' means a course of repeatedly maintaining a visual or physical proximity
to a person or conveying verbal or written threats, including threats conveyed through electronic communications, or threats
implied by conduct.
(3) DATING VIOLENCE- The term `dating violence' has the meaning given the term in section 826 of the Higher Education
Amendments of 1998 (20 U.S.C. 1152).
(4) DOMESTIC OR SEXUAL VIOLENCE- The term `domestic or sexual violence' means domestic violence, dating violence, sexual
assault, or stalking.
(5) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE- The term `domestic violence' has the meaning given the term in section 826 of the Higher Education
Amendments of 1998 (20 U.S.C. 1152).
(6) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COALITION- The term `domestic violence coalition' means a nonprofit, nongovernmental membership
organization that--
(A) consists of the entities carrying out a majority of the domestic violence programs carried out within a State;
(B) collaborates and coordinates activities with Federal, State, and local entities to further the purposes of domestic
violence intervention and prevention; and
(C) among other activities, provides training and technical assistance to entities carrying out domestic violence programs
within a State, territory, political subdivision, or area under Federal authority.
(7) ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS- The term `electronic communications' includes communications via telephone, mobile phone,
computer, e-mail, video recorder, fax machine, telex, or pager.
(8) EMPLOY; STATE- The terms `employ' and `State' have the meanings given the terms in section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203).
(A) IN GENERAL- The term `employee' means any person employed by an employer. In the case of an individual employed by
a public agency, such term means an individual employed as described in section 3(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
(29 U.S.C. 203(e)).
(B) BASIS- The term includes a person employed as described in subparagraph (A) on a full- or part-time basis, for a fixed
time period, on a temporary basis, pursuant to a detail, as an independent contractor, or as a participant in a work assignment
as a condition of receipt of Federal or State income-based public assistance.
(10) EMPLOYER- The term `employer'--
(A) means any person engaged in commerce or in any industry or activity affecting commerce who employs 15 or more individuals;
and
(B) includes any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, and includes
a public agency, but does not include any labor organization (other than when acting as an employer) or anyone acting in the
capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization.
(11) EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS- The term `employment benefits' means all benefits provided or made available to employees by
an employer, including group life insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, sick leave, annual leave, educational
benefits, and pensions, regardless of whether such benefits are provided by a practice or written policy of an employer or
through an `employee benefit plan', as defined in section 3(3) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29
U.S.C. 1002(3)).
(12) FAMILY OR HOUSEHOLD MEMBER- The term `family or household member' means a spouse, former spouse, parent, son or daughter,
or person residing or formerly residing in the same dwelling unit.
(13) PARENT; SON OR DAUGHTER- The terms `parent' and `son or daughter' have the meanings given the terms in section 101
of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611).
(14) PERSON- The term `person' has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29
U.S.C. 203).
(15) PUBLIC AGENCY- The term `public agency' has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act
of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203).
(16) PUBLIC ASSISTANCE- The term `public assistance' includes cash, food stamps, medical assistance, housing assistance,
and other benefits provided on the basis of income by a public agency.
(17) REDUCED LEAVE SCHEDULE- The term `reduced leave schedule' means a leave schedule that reduces the usual number of
hours per workweek, or hours per workday, of an employee.
(18) REPEATEDLY- The term `repeatedly' means on 2 or more occasions.
(19) SECRETARY- The term `Secretary' means the Secretary of Labor.
(20) SEXUAL ASSAULT- The term `sexual assault' has the meaning given the term in section 826 of the Higher Education Amendments
of 1998 (20 U.S.C. 1152).
(21) SEXUAL ASSAULT COALITION- The term `sexual assault coalition' means a nonprofit, nongovernmental membership organization
that--
(A) consists of the entities carrying out a majority of the sexual assault programs carried out within a State;
(B) collaborates and coordinates activities with Federal, State, and local entities to further the purposes of sexual
assault intervention and prevention; and
(C) among other activities, provides training and technical assistance to entities carrying out sexual assault programs
within a State, territory, political subdivision, or area under Federal authority.
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