Womens Economic Parity Act of 1983

Women's Economic Parity Act of 1983 - Title I: Equitable Treatment of Spouses Under Private Pension Plans - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code to require that a retirement plan that provides an annuity to a participant with at least ten years of creditable service shall provide a survivor's annuity for the spouse of a participant who dies before the annuity starting date in an amount not less than the amount that would have been made under the survivor's annuity if the participant had survived and retired on such annuity date. Provides that a participant's election not to take a joint and survivor's annuity shall not be effective unless the spouse of the participant consents in writing to such an election. Requires a retirement plan to treat an individual who was the spouse of the participant on the annuity starting date, and who survives the participant, as if such individual were the participant's spouse on the date of death, whether or not divorced after the annuity starting date. Subjects benefit payments to specified domestic relations orders and establishes procedural guidelines under which a plan administrator pays the alternate payee according to the terms of such domestic relations order. Provides the alternate payee named in such order with a right of action for the failure to comply with the requirements of the statutory guidelines. Specifies circumstances under which an alternate payee will be considered a participant or beneficiary under a retirement plan. Amends ERISA to lower the age limitation for participation in a qualified retirement plan from age 25 to age 21. Amends ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code to provide for accruals of creditable service to continue while an individual is on approved maternity leave at the rate of 20 hours service for each week of approved leave. Title II: Tax Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the earned income limitations placed on individual deductions for retirement savings (including those for married and for divorced individuals). Includes displaced homemakers as a targeted group for purposes of the targeted jobs tax credit. Defines "displaced homemaker" as a person who: (1) has not worked, except in the home, for a substantial number of years; and (2) has been dependent on public assistance or on the income of a family member but is no longer supported by that income. Exempts displaced homemakers from the termination provisions relating to tax credits earned by employers who hire members of a targeted group designated under the Internal Revenue Code. Deems the performance of substantial volunteer services by a spouse as gainful employment for the tax credit for household and dependent care expenses.

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on July 28, 1983. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

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