Bill Would Require Companies to Report Number of Employees Per State, Country

Legislation introduced in the House of Representatives on Wednesday would require most publicly traded companies to report how many employees they have who work domestically by state and abroad. Introduced by Rep. Gary Peters (D-MI) and co-sponsored by Reps. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and Jerry McNerney (D-CA), the Outsourcing Accountability Act of 2012 (H.R. 3875) would amend the Securities Exchange Act to require employers to disclose:

  • the total number of their employees and those of their subsidiaries who live and work in the U.S. by state;
  • the total number of their employees who physically live and work abroad, broken down by country; and
  • the percentage increase or decrease in the number of employees reported in the above categories from the previous year.

Exempt from these requirements would be newer public companies, defined in the bill as those fewer than five years old, and smaller employers (those with gross revenues of less than $1 billion during the last completed fiscal year). Under current law, publicly traded companies are required to report to the SEC the number of employees they have, but not where these individuals work.

In a press release, Rep. Peters said: “We need to do everything in our power to fight the outsourcing of American jobs and this bill gives consumers and investors the information they need to make an informed choice.” Bill co-sponsor Rep. McNerney added that “[t]ransparency is absolutely critical in making sure that we keep good jobs here in America. People have the right to know which companies are shipping jobs overseas, and which companies are creating jobs for well-qualified Americans.” Fellow co-sponsor Rep. Bishop reiterated this point, stating: “The first step in incentivizing the creation of jobs in America is having an honest assessment of our companies' employment practices and empowering the American people to reward good corporate citizens who hire American workers, if they choose to do so.”

Providing tax incentives to employers that create domestic jobs while eliminating tax breaks for outsourcing was one of the components of the President’s State of the Union Address.  The Outsourcing Accountability Act has been referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

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Information contained in this publication is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or opinion, nor is it a substitute for the professional judgment of an attorney.