S. 1374 (111th): Forewarn Act

Introduced:
Jun 25, 2009 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
Sponsor:
Sen. Sherrod Brown [D-OH]
Status:
Died (Referred to Committee)
See Instead:
This bill was re-introduced as S. 3297 (112th) on Jun 14, 2012.

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. S. stands for Senate bill.

(About Ads | Go Ad-Free for $5)
Status

This bill was introduced on June 25, 2009, in a previous session of Congress, but was not enacted.

Progress
Introduced Jun 25, 2009
Referred to Committee Jun 25, 2009
Cosponsors
6 cosponsors (6D) (show)
Committees

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

A bill to amend the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act to minimize the adverse effects of employment dislocation, and for other purposes.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Jun 25, 2009.
13 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

GovTrack gets most information from THOMAS, which is updated generally one day after events occur. Activity since the last update may not be reflected here.

Citation

Click a format for a citation suggestion:

GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

6/25/2009--Introduced.
Forewarn Act - Amends the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (the Act) to:
(1) redefine the terms "employer," "plant closing," and "mass layoff" for purposes of the Act; and
(2) among other things, apply it to employers of 75 or more employees (currently, 100 employees), including any parent company of which the business enterprise is a subsidiary.
Requires an employer to:
(1) give 90-day written notice (currently, 60-day) to employees and appropriate state and local governments before ordering a plant closing or mass layoff;
(2) notify the Secretary of Labor and the governor of the state in which the closing or layoff will occur; and
(3) provide affected employees with information regarding benefits and services available to them, including unemployment compensation, trade adjustment assistance, COBRA benefits, onsite access to rapid response teams, and certain other services.
Exempts from such notice requirements plant closings or mass layoffs which are due directly to a terrorist attack.
Requires the Secretary to notify the appropriate U.S. Senators and Members of the House of Representatives who represent the area where such closing or mass layoff is to occur.
Makes an employer who violates such notice requirements liable to the employee for, among other things, two days pay (currently, back pay for each day of violation) multiplied by the number of calendar days for which the employer was required but failed to provide notice, including interest on such pay.
Authorizes an affected employee to file a complaint with the Secretary alleging a violation of the notice requirements.
Requires the Secretary to investigate and attempt to resolve such complaints.
Authorizes the Secretary to bring an action in court to recover on behalf of an affected employee any backpay (including interest), benefits, and liquidated damages due.
Requires an employer to post conspicuously upon its premises pertinent provisions of this Act and information on the filing of a complaint.
Requires the Secretary to maintain a guide on the benefits and services available to affected employees.
Prohibits the waiver of rights and remedies provided under this Act (including the right to maintain a civil action) by any agreement or settlement negotiated on behalf of affected employees.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

No summary available.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)