FAMILY Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 804 To provide paid family and medical leave benefits to certain individuals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 4, 2021 Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. ALLRED, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Mrs. AXNE, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BERA, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BOURDEAUX, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. BROWN, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. BUSH, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Ms. CHU, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. CLARK of Massa- chusetts, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. COURTNEY, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. CRIST, Mr. CROW, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. DEAN, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. DELGADO, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. DEUTCH, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. MI- CHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. VICENTE GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. HIMES, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. HOYER, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JACOBS of California, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JEFFRIES, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Geor- gia, Mr. JONES, Mr. KAHELE, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KEATING, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KILMER, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Mr. KIND, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. LAMB, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. LIEU, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mrs. LURIA, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MENG, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. NEWMAN, Mr. NORCROSS, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:34 Feb 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H804.IH H804 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 804 IH OMAR, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. PETERS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RASKIN, Miss RICE of New York, Ms. ROSS, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. RUPPERS- BERGER, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN, Mr. SABLAN, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. SAR- BANES, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Ms. SCHRIER, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. SIRES, Mr. SMITH of Wash- ington, Mr. SOTO, Ms. SPANBERGER, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. STANTON, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. TONKO, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. TRONE, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. VELA, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. WELCH, Ms. WEXTON, Ms. WILD, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. YAR- MUTH, Mr. CORREA, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. PORTER, Mr. THOMP- SON of Mississippi, Mr. HORSFORD, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To provide paid family and medical leave benefits to certain individuals, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Family and Medical 4 Insurance Leave Act’’ or the ‘‘FAMILY Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 7 (1) CAREGIVING DAY.—The term ‘‘caregiving 8 day’’ means, with respect to an individual, a cal- 9 endar day in which the individual engaged in quali- 10 fied caregiving. 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:34 Feb 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H804.IH H804 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 804 IH (2) COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis- 1 sioner’’ means the Commissioner of Social Security. 2 (3) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Dep- 3 uty Commissioner’’ means the Deputy Commissioner 4 who heads the Office of Paid Family and Medical 5 Leave established under section 3(a). 6 (4) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 7 individual’’ means an individual who is entitled to a 8 benefit under section 4 for a particular month, upon 9 filing an application for such benefit for such month. 10 (5) INITIAL WAITING PERIOD.—The term ‘‘ini- 11 tial waiting period’’ means a period beginning with 12 the first caregiving day of an individual occurring 13 during the individual’s benefit period and ending 14 after the earlier of— 15 (A) the fifth caregiving day of the indi- 16 vidual occurring during the benefit period; or 17 (B) the month preceding the first month in 18 the benefit period during which occur not less 19 than 15 caregiving days of the individual. 20 (6) QUALIFIED CAREGIVING.—The term ‘‘quali- 21 fied caregiving’’ means any activity engaged in by an 22 individual, other than regular employment, for a rea- 23 son for which an eligible employee would be entitled 24 to leave under subparagraphs (A) through (E) of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:34 Feb 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H804.IH H804 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 804 IH paragraph (1) of section 102(a) of the Family and 1 Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)). 2 (7) SELF-EMPLOYMENT INCOME.—The term 3 ‘‘self-employment income’’ has the same meaning as 4 such term in section 211(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5 411(b)). 6 (8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 7 State of the United States or the District of Colum- 8 bia or any territory or possession of the United 9 States. 10 (9) WAGES.—The term ‘‘wages’’, except as such 11 term is used in subsection (h)(2) of section 4, has 12 the same meaning as such term in section 209 of the 13 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 409). 14 (10) 60-DAY LIMITATION PERIOD.—The term 15 ‘‘60-day limitation period’’ means a period— 16 (A) beginning with the first caregiving day 17 of an individual occurring during the individ- 18 ual’s benefit period and after the expiration of 19 the individual’s 5-day waiting period, if applica- 20 ble; and 21 (B) ending with the 60th caregiving day of 22 the individual occurring during the benefit pe- 23 riod and after the expiration of the 5-day wait- 24 ing period, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:34 Feb 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H804.IH H804 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 804 IH disregarding any caregiving day of the individual oc- 1 curring during any month in the benefit period after 2 the first 20 caregiving days of the individual occur- 3 ring during such month. 4 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF PAID FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE. 5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.—There is estab- 6 lished within the Social Security Administration an office 7 to be known as the Office of Paid Family and Medical 8 Leave. The Office shall be headed by a Deputy Commis- 9 sioner who shall be appointed by the Commissioner. 10 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF DEPUTY COMMIS- 11 SIONER.—The Commissioner, acting through the Deputy 12 Commissioner, shall be responsible for— 13 (1) hiring personnel and making employment 14 decisions with regard to such personnel; 15 (2) issuing such regulations as may be nec- 16 essary to carry out the purposes of this Act; 17 (3) entering into cooperative agreements with 18 other agencies and departments to ensure the effi- 19 ciency of the administration of the program; 20 (4) determining eligibility for family and med- 21 ical leave insurance benefits under section 4; 22 (5) determining benefit amounts for each 23 month of such eligibility and making timely pay- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:34 Feb 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H804.IH H804 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 804 IH ments of such benefits to entitled individuals in ac- 1 cordance with such section; 2 (6) establishing and maintaining a system of 3 records relating to the administration of such sec- 4 tion; 5 (7) preventing fraud and abuse relating to such 6 benefits; 7 (8) providing information on request regarding 8 eligibility requirements, the claims process, benefit 9 amounts, maximum benefits payable, notice require- 10 ments, nondiscrimination rights, confidentiality, co- 11 ordination of leave under this Act and other laws, 12 collective bargaining agreements, and employer poli- 13 cies; 14 (9) annually providing employers a notice in- 15 forming employees of the availability of such bene- 16 fits; 17 (10) annually making available to the public a 18 report that includes the number of individuals who 19 received such benefits, the purposes for which such 20 benefits were received, and an analysis of utilization 21 rates of such benefits by gender, race, ethnicity, and 22 income levels; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:34 Feb 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H804.IH H804 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 804 IH (11) tailoring culturally and linguistically com- 1 petent education and outreach toward increasing uti- 2 lization rates of benefits under such section. 3 (c) AVAILABILITY OF DATA.—The Commissioner 4 shall make available to the Deputy Commissioner such 5 data as the Commissioner determines necessary to enable 6 the Deputy Commissioner to effectively carry out the re- 7 sponsibilities described in subsection (b). 8 SEC. 4. FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE INSURANCE BENEFIT 9 PAYMENTS. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Every individual who— 11 (1) is insured for disability insurance benefits 12 (as determined under section 223(c) of the Social 13 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 423(c))) at the time such 14 individual’s application is filed; 15 (2) has earned income from employment during 16 the 12 months prior to the month in which the ap- 17 plication is filed; 18 (3) has filed an application for a family and 19 medical leave insurance benefit in accordance with 20 subsection (d); and 21 (4) was engaged in qualified caregiving, or an- 22 ticipates being so engaged, during the period that 23 begins 90 days before the date on which such appli- 24 cation is filed or within 30 days after such date, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:34 Feb 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H804.IH H804 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 804 IH shall be entitled to such a benefit for each month in the 1 benefit period specified in subsection (c), not to exceed 60 2 caregiving days per benefit period. 3 (b) BENEFIT AMOUNT.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro- 5 vided in this subsection, the benefit amount to which 6 an individual is entitled under this section for a 7 month shall be an amount equal to the greater of— 8 (A) the lesser of 1⁄18 of the wages and self- 9 employment income of the individual for the 10 calendar year in which such wages and self-em- 11 ployment income are the highest among the 12 most recent three calendar years, or the max- 13 imum benefit amount determined under para- 14 graph (2); or 15 (B) the minimum benefit amount deter- 16 mined under paragraph (2), 17 multiplied by the quotient (not greater than 1) ob- 18 tained by dividing the number of caregiving days of 19 the individual in such month by 20. 20 (2) ANNUAL INCREASE OF MAXIMUM AND MIN- 21 IMUM BENEFIT AMOUNTS.— 22 (A) For individuals who initially become el- 23 igible for family and medical leave insurance 24 benefits in the first full calendar year after the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:34 Feb 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H804.IH H804 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 804 IH date of enactment of this Act, the maximum 1 monthly benefit amount and the minimum 2 monthly benefit amount shall be $4,000 and 3 $580, respectively. 4 (B) For individuals who initially become el- 5 igible for family and medical leave insurance 6 benefits in any calendar year after such first 7 full calendar year the maximum benefit amount 8 and the minimum benefit amount shall be, re- 9 spectively, the product of the corresponding 10 amount determined with respect to the first cal- 11 endar year under subparagraph (A) and the 12 quotient obtained by dividing— 13 (i) the national average wage index 14 (as defined in section 209(k)(1) of the So- 15 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 409(k)(1))) 16 for the second calendar year preceding the 17 calendar year for which the determination 18 is made, by 19 (ii) the national average wage index 20 (as so defined) for 2020. 21 (3) LIMITATIONS ON BENEFITS PAID.— 22 (A) NONPAYABLE WAITING PERIOD.—Any 23 calendar day during an individual’s benefit pe- 24 riod which occurs before the expiration of an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:34 Feb 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H804.IH H804 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 804 IH initial waiting period shall not be taken into ac- 1 count under this subsection as a caregiving day 2 of the individual. 3 (B) LIMITATION ON TOTAL BENEFITS 4 PAID.—Any calendar day during an individual’s 5 benefit period which occurs after the expiration 6 of a 60-day limitation period shall not be taken 7 into account under this subsection as a 8 caregiving day of the individual. 9 (4) REDUCTION IN BENEFIT AMOUNT ON AC- 10 COUNT OF RECEIPT OF CERTAIN BENEFITS.—A ben- 11 efit under this section for a month shall be reduced 12 by the amount, if any, in certain benefits (as deter- 13 mined under regulations issued by the Commis- 14 sioner) as may be otherwise received by an indi- 15 vidual. For purposes of the preceding sentence, cer- 16 tain benefits include— 17 (A) periodic benefits on account of such in- 18 dividual’s total or partial disability under a 19 workmen’s compensation law or plan of the 20 United States or a State; and 21 (B) periodic benefits on account of an indi- 22 vidual’s employment status under an unemploy- 23 ment law or plan of the United States or a 24 State. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:34 Feb 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H804.IH H804 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 804 IH (5) COORDINATION OF BENEFIT AMOUNT WITH 1 CERTAIN STATE BENEFITS.—A benefit received 2 under this section shall be coordinated, in a manner 3 determined by regulations issued by the Com [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]