Bill > HR100

This bill, the Protecting Employees and Retirees in Business Bankruptcies Act of 2013, aims to strengthen protections for workers and retirees when a company files for bankruptcy. It proposes to increase the priority of wage claims, allowing employees to recover more of their unpaid wages, and also creates a new priority for severance pay, ensuring that employees receive this benefit even if the company goes bankrupt. The bill also addresses losses in retirement plans, allowing claims for stock value losses in defined contribution plans if fraud or a breach of duty by the employer occurred, and allows claims for pension losses in defined benefit plans, even if the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), a federal agency that insures private-sector pension plans, has already collected on such losses. Furthermore, it seeks to prevent companies from unfairly rejecting collective bargaining agreements and modifying retiree benefits by requiring good-faith negotiations and imposing stricter conditions on court approval of such actions, while also ensuring that executive compensation is not excessive or disproportionate compared to what non-management employees receive, and allows for the recovery of certain executive compensation paid in anticipation of bankruptcy.