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S.1069
Battered Women's Economic Security and Safety Act (Introduced in the
Senate)
SEC. 1070. ACCESS TO LEGAL
SERVICES CORPORATION FUNDS.
Section 502 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the
Judiciary and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105-119)
is amended by adding at the end the following:
`(c) This section shall not be construed to prohibit a recipient from--
`(1) using funds derived from a source other than the Legal Services Corporation to provide related legal assistance (as that term is
defined in subsection (b)(2)) to any alien who has been battered or
subjected to extreme cruelty by a person with whom the alien has a
relationship covered by the domestic violence laws of the State in which the
alien resides or in which an incidence of violence occurred;
`(2) using Legal Services Corporation funds to provide related
legal assistance to any alien
who has been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty who qualifies for
relief under clause (iii) or (iv) of section 204(a)(1)(A), clause (ii) or
(iii) of section 204(a)(1)(B), or subsection (b)(2) of section 240A of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(B)) or section
244(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as in effect before the
title III-A effective date in section 309 of the Illegal Immigration Reform
and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1101 note).'.
TITLE II--VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND THE WORKPLACE
SEC. 2001. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Victims of crime and their families suffer from crime and its
effects on a daily basis.
(2) Domestic crime against adults accounts for approximately 15 percent
of total crime costs in the United States each year.
(3) Violence against women has been reported to be the leading cause of
physical injury to women. It has a devastating impact on women's physical
and emotional health and financial security.
(4) The Department of Justice estimates that intimate partners commit on
average 960,000 violent crimes against women every year.
(5) Employees in the United States who have been victims of crime too
often suffer adverse consequences in the workplace as a result of their
experiences as victims of crime.
(6) Victims of crime are particularly vulnerable to changes in
employment, pay, and benefits as a result of their victimizations, and are,
therefore, in need of legal
protection.
(7) The prevalence of violence against women at work is dramatic.
Homicide is the leading cause of death for women on the job. Eight percent
of all rapes occur in the workplace. Women who are victims of violent
workplace crimes are twice as likely as men to know their attackers.
Husbands, boyfriends, and ex-partners commit 15 percent of workplace
homicides against women. One study found that three-quarters of battered
women who work were harassed by telephone by their abuser at work.
(8) Nearly 50 percent of rape victims lose their employment or are
forced to quit their jobs following the crime. Approximately one quarter of
battered women surveyed have lost a job due in part to the effects of
domestic violence.
(9) The availability of economic support is a critical factor in the
ability of battered women to leave abusive situations that threaten them and
their children. Over half of battered women surveyed stayed with their
batterers because they lacked resources to support themselves and their
children.
(10) 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, all of which harm our Nation's productivity and drain our Nation's
resources. Violent crime accounts for $426,000,000,000 of this amount.
(11) Rape exacts the highest costs-per-victim of any criminal offense,
an estimated total of $127,000,000,000 per year. Recent governmental
estimates indicate that between 300,000 and 600,000 rapes and sexual
assaults occur annually in the United States.
(12) Other violent offenses take unacceptably high tolls on the economy
as well, including assault ($93,000,000,000), murder (excluding arson and
drunk driving deaths) ($71,000,000,000), drunk driving (including
fatalities) ($61,000,000,000), and child abuse ($56,000,000,000).
(13) Violent crime results in wage losses equivalent to 1 percent of all
American earnings, and causes 3 percent of the Nation's medical spending and
14 percent of injury-related medical spending.
(14) Estimates demonstrate that employers pay between $3,000,000,000 and
$5,000,000,000 annually to cover the cost of crimes against employees and
their families.
(15) Surveys of business executives and corporate security directors
also underscore the heavy toll that workplace violence takes on American
women, businesses, and interstate commerce.
(16) Ninety-four percent of corporate security and safety directors at
companies nationwide rank domestic violence as a high-risk security
problem.
(17) 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.
(18) Only 12 States have enacted statutes forbidding employers from
taking adverse action against employees who have been victims of crime and
must participate in the criminal justice process during working hours. No
State explicitly protects crime victims from other adverse action which may
result from their experiences and status as crime victims.
(19) Existing Federal law neither expressly authorizes battered women to
take leave from work to
seek legal assistance and
redress, counseling, or assistance with safety planning activities nor does it
protect crime victims from retaliation, discharge, or other workplace penalties
that may result from their experiences and status as crime victims.
Subtitle A--National Clearinghouse on Domestic Violence and Sexual
Assault in the Workplace Grant
SEC. 2011. NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT IN
THE WORKPLACE GRANT.
(a) AUTHORITY- The Attorney General may award a grant in accordance with
this section to a private, nonprofit entity or tribal organization that meets
the requirements of subsection (b) in order to provide for the establishment
and operation of a national clearinghouse and resource center to provide
information and assistance to employers, labor organizations, and advocates on
behalf of victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, in their efforts to
develop and implement appropriate responses to assist the victims.
(b) GRANTEES- Each applicant for a grant under this section shall submit
to the Attorney General an application, which shall--
(1) demonstrate that the applicant--
(A) has a nationally recognized expertise in the area of domestic
violence and sexual assault and a record of commitment and quality
responses to reduce domestic violence and sexual assault; and
(B) will provide matching funds from non-Federal sources in an amount
equal to not less than 10 percent of the total amount of the grant awarded
under this section; and
(2) include a plan to maximize, to the extent practicable, outreach to
employers (including private companies, as well as public entities such as
universities, and State and local governments) in developing and
implementing appropriate responses to assist employees who are victims of
domestic violence and sexual assault.
(c) USE OF GRANT AMOUNT- A grant under this section may be used for staff
salaries, travel expenses, equipment, printing, and other reasonable expenses
necessary to assemble, maintain, and disseminate to employers, labor
organizations, and advocates described in subsection (a), information on and
appropriate responses to domestic violence and sexual assault, including--
(1) training to promote a better understanding of appropriate assistance
to employee victims;
(2) conferences and other educational opportunities;
(3) development of protocols and model workplace policies;
(4) employer and union sponsored victim services and outreach counseling;
and
(5) assessments of the workplace costs of domestic violence and sexual
assault.
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS- There is authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section $500,000 for each of fiscal years 2000
through 2004.
Subtitle B--Victims' Employment Rights
SEC. 2021. SHORT TITLE.
This subtitle may be cited as the `Victims' Employment Rights Act'.
SEC. 2022. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this subtitle are, pursuant to the affirmative power of
Congress to enact legislation under section 5 of the 14th amendment to the
Constitution, as well as under the portion of section 8 of article I of the
Constitution relating to regulation of commerce among the several States--
(1) to promote the national interest in ensuring that victims and
survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking can recover
from and cope with the effects of those crimes and participate in the
criminal and civil justice processes without fear of adverse economic
consequences from their employers;
(2) to minimize the negative impact on interstate commerce from
dislocations of employees and decreases in productivity that may arise when
employees are victimized by those crimes;
(3) to promote the purposes of the 14th amendment by addressing the
failure of existing laws to protect the employment rights of victims of
domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking and by furthering the right
of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking victims to employment
free from discrimination; and
(4) to accomplish the purposes described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3)
in a manner that accommodates the legitimate interests of employers and
protects the safety of all persons in the workplace.
SEC. 2023. DEFINITIONS.
(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.
(2) EMPLOYER- The term `employer'--
(A) means any person engaged in commerce or in any industry or
activity affecting commerce who employs 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.
(3) 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).
(4) PERSON- The term `person' means an individual, partnership,
association, corporation ,
business trust, legal
representative, or any organized group of individuals.
(5) 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).
SEC. 2024. PROHIBITED DISCRIMINATORY ACTS.
An employer shall not fail to hire, refuse to hire, or discharge any
individual, or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to
compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, of the
individual (including retaliation in any form or manner) because--
(A) is or is perceived to be a victim of domestic violence, sexual
assault, or stalking;
(B) attended, participated in, or prepared for, or requested leave to
attend, participate in, or prepare for a criminal or civil court
proceeding relating to an incident of domestic violence, sexual assault,
or stalking of which the employee, or the son or daughter or parent of the
employee, was a victim; or
(C) requested an adjustment to a job structure or workplace facility,
including a transfer, reassignment, or modified schedule, leave, a changed
telephone number or seating assignment, or installation of a lock or
implementation of a safety procedure, in response to actual or threatened
domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, regardless of whether the
request was granted; or
(2) the action of a person whom the employee states has committed or
threatened to commit domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking against
the employee, or the son or daughter or parent of the employee, disrupted
the workplace.
SEC. 2025. ENFORCEMENT.
(a) CIVIL ACTION BY EMPLOYEES-
(1) LIABILITY- Any employer who violates section 3024 shall be liable to
any employee affected for--
(A) damages equal to the amount of wages, salary, employment benefits
(as defined in section 101 of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29
U.S.C. 2611)), or other compensation denied to or lost by such employee by
reason of the violation, and the interest on that amount calculated at the
prevailing rate;
(B) compensatory damages, including damages for future pecuniary
losses, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of
enjoyment or life, and other nonpecuniary losses;
(C) such punitive damages, up to 3 times the amount of actual damages
sustained, as the court described in paragraph (2) shall determine to be
appropriate; and
(D) such equitable relief as may be appropriate, including employment,
reinstatement, and promotion.
(2) RIGHT OF ACTION- An action to recover the damages or equitable
relief prescribed in paragraph (1) may be maintained against any employer
(including a public agency) in any Federal or State court of competent
jurisdiction by any 1 or more employees.
(b) ACTION BY DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE- The Attorney General may bring a
civil action in any Federal or State court of competent jurisdiction to
recover the damages or equitable relief described in subsection (a)(1).
SEC. 2026. ATTORNEY'S FEES.
Section 722(b) of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended by
inserting `the Victims' Employment Rights Act,' after `title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964,'.
Subtitle C--Workplace Violence Against Women Prevention Tax
Credit
SEC. 2031. SHORT TITLE.
This subtitle may be cited as the `Workplace Violence Against Women
Prevention Tax Credit Act'.
SEC. 2032. CREDIT FOR COSTS TO EMPLOYERS OF IMPLEMENTING WORKPLACE SAFETY
PROGRAMS TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.
(a) IN GENERAL- Subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to business related credits) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
`SEC. 45D. WORKPLACE SAFETY PROGRAM CREDIT.
`(a) IN GENERAL- For purposes of section 38, the workplace safety program
credit determined under this section for the taxable year is, for any
employer, an amount equal to 40 percent of the violence against women safety
and education costs paid or incurred by such employer during the taxable
year.
`(b) DEFINITIONS- In this section:
`(1) VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN SAFETY AND EDUCATION COST-
`(A) IN GENERAL- The term `violence against women safety and education
cost' means any cost certified by the Attorney General to the Secretary as
being for the purpose of--
`(i) ensuring the safety of employees from violent crimes against
women,
`(ii) providing assistance to employees and the spouses and
dependents of employees with respect to violent crimes against
women,
`(iii) providing legal
or medical services to
employees and the spouses and dependents of employees subjected to, or
at risk from, violent crimes against women,
`(iv) educating employees about the issue of violent crimes against
women, or
`(v) implementing human resource or personnel policies initiated to
protect employees from violent crimes against women or to support
employees who have been victims of violent crimes against
women.
`(B) TYPES OF COSTS- Such term includes costs certified by the
Attorney General to the Secretary as being for the purpose of--
`(i) the hiring of new security personnel in order to address
violent crimes against women,
`(ii) the creation of buddy systems or escort systems for walking
employees to parking lots, parked cars, subway stations, or bus stops,
in order to address violent crimes against women,
`(iii) the purchase or installation of new security equipment,
including surveillance equipment, lighting fixtures, cardkey access
systems, and identification systems, in order to address violent crimes
against women,
`(iv) the establishment of an employee assistance line or other
employee assistance services , in order to address
violent crimes against women, for the use of individual employees,
including counseling or referral services undertaken in
consultation and coordination with national, State, or local domestic
violence and sexual assault coalitions or programs,
`(v) the retention of an attorney to provide legal services to employees seeking
restraining orders or other legal recourse from violent
crimes against women,
`(vi) the establishment of medical services addressing the medical
needs of employees who are victims of violent crimes against
women,
`(vii) the retention of a financial expert or an accountant to
provide financial counseling to employees seeking to escape from violent
crimes against women,
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