Servicemember Parental Leave Equity Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1571 To amend title 10, United States Code, to expand parental leave for members of the Armed Forces, to reduce the service commitment required for participation in the career intermission program of a military department, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 11, 2021 Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to expand parental leave for members of the Armed Forces, to reduce the service commitment required for participation in the ca- reer intermission program of a military department, 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 ‘‘Servicemember Paren- 4 tal Leave Equity Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1571.IS S1571 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1571 IS SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF PARENTAL LEAVE FOR MEMBERS 1 OF THE ARMED FORCES. 2 (a) EXPANSION.—Section 701 of title 10, United 3 States Code, is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (i)— 5 (A) in paragraph (1)— 6 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 7 ‘‘twelve weeks’’ and inserting ‘‘18 weeks’’; 8 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 9 ‘‘six weeks’’ and inserting ‘‘12 weeks’’; and 10 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 11 lowing new subparagraph: 12 ‘‘(C) Under the regulations prescribed for purposes 13 of this subsection, a member of the armed forces described 14 in paragraph (2) who is the primary caregiver in the case 15 of a long-term placement of a foster child is allowed up 16 to 12 weeks of total leave to be used in connection with 17 such placement, subject to limits as determined by the 18 Secretary regarding— 19 ‘‘(i) the total number of times that a member 20 of the armed forces may use leave under this section 21 with respect to the placement of a foster child; and 22 ‘‘(ii) the frequency with which a member of the 23 armed forces may use leave under this section with 24 respect to the placement of a foster child.’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1571.IS S1571 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1571 IS (B) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘birth or 1 adoption’’ and inserting ‘‘birth, adoption, or 2 foster child placement’’; and 3 (C) in paragraph (6)(A), by striking ‘‘birth 4 or adoption’’ and inserting ‘‘birth, adoption, or 5 foster child placement’’; 6 (2) in subsection (j)— 7 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘21 8 days’’ and inserting ‘‘12 weeks’’; 9 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 10 through (4) as paragraphs (3) through (5), re- 11 spectively; 12 (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 13 following new paragraph: 14 ‘‘(2) Under the regulations prescribed for purposes 15 of this subsection, a member of the armed forces described 16 in subsection (i)(2) who is the secondary caregiver in the 17 case of a long-term placement of a foster child is allowed 18 up to 12 weeks of total leave to be used in connection 19 with such placement, subject to limits as determined by 20 the Secretary regarding— 21 ‘‘(A) the total number of times that a member 22 of the armed forces may use leave under this section 23 with respect to the placement of a foster child; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1571.IS S1571 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1571 IS ‘‘(B) the frequency with which a member of the 1 armed forces may use leave under this section with 2 respect to the placement of a foster child.’’; 3 (D) in paragraph (4), as redesignated, by 4 striking ‘‘only in one increment in connection 5 with such birth or adoption’’ and inserting ‘‘in 6 more than one increment in connection with 7 such birth, adoption, or foster child placement 8 in accordance with regulations prescribed by the 9 Secretary of Defense’’; and 10 (E) by adding at the end the following new 11 paragraph (6): 12 ‘‘(6) Under regulations prescribed for purposes of 13 this subsection, the Secretary shall provide a member of 14 the armed forces described in subsection (i)(2), who would 15 have been a secondary caregiver but for a miscarriage, 16 stillbirth, or infant death, with leave— 17 ‘‘(A) in addition to leave under subsection (a); 18 and 19 ‘‘(B) not to exceed the amount of leave under 20 paragraph (1).’’; 21 (3) in subsection (l), by inserting ‘‘, ordered to 22 temporary duty overnight travel, or ordered to par- 23 ticipate in physically demanding field training exer- 24 cises,’’ before ‘‘during’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1571.IS S1571 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1571 IS (4) by adding at the end the following new sub- 1 section (m): 2 ‘‘(m) A member of the armed forces who gives birth 3 while on active duty may be required to meet body com- 4 position standards or pass a physical fitness test during 5 the period of 12 months beginning on the date of such 6 birth only with the approval of a health care provider em- 7 ployed at a military medical treatment facility and— 8 ‘‘(1) at the election of such member; or 9 ‘‘(2) in the interest of national security, as de- 10 termined by the Secretary of Defense.’’. 11 (b) REGULATIONS; GUIDANCE AND POLICIES.— 12 (1) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Defense 13 shall prescribe regulations— 14 (A) for leave under subsection (i)(1)(C) 15 and subsection (j)(2) of section 701 of title 10, 16 United States Code, as amended by subsection 17 (a), not later than one year after the date of 18 the enactment of this Act; 19 (B) that establish leave, consistent across 20 the Armed Forces, under subsection (j)(6) of 21 such section not later than one year after the 22 date of the enactment of this Act; and 23 (C) that establish convalescent leave, con- 24 sistent across the Armed Forces, under sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1571.IS S1571 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1571 IS section (i)(1) of such section not later than 180 1 days after the date of the enactment of this 2 Act. 3 (2) GUIDANCE AND POLICIES.—Each Secretary 4 of a military department shall prescribe— 5 (A) policies to establish the maximum 6 amount of leave under subsection (i)(1) of sec- 7 tion 701 of title 10, United States Code, as 8 amended by subsection (a), not later than one 9 year after the date of the enactment of this Act; 10 (B) policies to implement leave under sub- 11 section (i)(5) or (j)(4) of such section not later 12 than 180 days after the date of the enactment 13 of this Act; 14 (C) policies to implement not less than 21 15 days of leave pursuant to regulations prescribed 16 under paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (j) 17 of such section not later than one year after the 18 date of the enactment of this Act; and 19 (D) policies to implement the maximum 20 amount of leave pursuant to regulations pre- 21 scribed under paragraphs (1) and (2) of sub- 22 section (j) of such section not later than five 23 years after the date of the enactment of this 24 Act. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1571.IS S1571 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1571 IS (c) REPORTING.—Not later than January 1, 2023, 1 and annually thereafter, each Secretary of a military de- 2 partment shall submit to the Committees on Armed Serv- 3 ices of the Senate and House of Representatives a report 4 including the following: 5 (1) A description of the use, during the pre- 6 ceding fiscal year, of leave under subsections (i) and 7 (j) of section 701 of title 10, United States Code, as 8 amended by subsection (a), disaggregated by births, 9 adoptions, and foster placements, including— 10 (A) the number of members in each Armed 11 Force under the jurisdiction of the Secretary 12 who became primary caregivers; 13 (B) the number of members in each Armed 14 Force under the jurisdiction of the Secretary 15 who became secondary caregivers; 16 (C) the number of primary caregivers who 17 used primary caregiver leave; 18 (D) the number of secondary caregivers 19 who used secondary caregiver leave; 20 (E) the number of primary caregivers who 21 used the maximum amount of primary caregiver 22 leave; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1571.IS S1571 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1571 IS (F) the number of secondary caregivers 1 who used the maximum amount of secondary 2 caregiver leave; 3 (G) the number of primary caregivers who 4 utilized primary caregiver leave in multiple in- 5 crements; 6 (H) the number of secondary caregivers 7 who utilized primary caregiver leave in multiple 8 increments; 9 (I) the median duration of primary care- 10 giver leave used by primary caregivers; 11 (J) the median duration of secondary care- 12 giver leave used by secondary caregivers; and 13 (K) other information the Secretary deter- 14 mines appropriate. 15 (2) An analysis of the effect of leave described 16 in paragraph (1) on— 17 (A) readiness; and 18 (B) retention. 19 (3) A description of any actions taken by the 20 Secretary to mitigate negative effects described in 21 paragraph (2). 22 (4) The number of members deployed under 23 each paragraph of subsection (l) of section 701 of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1571.IS S1571 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1571 IS title 10, United States Code, as amended by sub- 1 section (a). 2 SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN SERVICE COMMITMENT REQUIRED 3 FOR PARTICIPATION IN CAREER INTER- 4 MISSION PROGRAM OF A MILITARY DEPART- 5 MENT. 6 Section 710(c)(3) of title 10, United States Code, is 7 amended by striking ‘‘two months’’ and inserting ‘‘one 8 month’’. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1571.IS S1571 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS