Servicemember Parental Leave Equity Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3122 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 11, 2021 Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. KATKO, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. MOULTON, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, Ms. PORTER, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. ROSS, Mr. RYAN, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. STRICKLAND, Ms. TITUS, Mr. TURNER, Mr. VELA, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WILD, Ms. WILSON of Florida, and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3122.IH H3122 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3122 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Servicemember Paren- 2 tal Leave Equity Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF PARENTAL LEAVE FOR MEMBERS 4 OF THE ARMED FORCES. 5 (a) EXPANSION.—Section 701 of title 10, United 6 States Code, is amended— 7 (1) in subsection (i)— 8 (A) in paragraph (1)— 9 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 10 ‘‘twelve weeks’’ and inserting ‘‘18 weeks’’; 11 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 12 ‘‘six weeks’’ and inserting ‘‘12 weeks’’; and 13 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 14 lowing new subparagraph: 15 ‘‘(C) Under the regulations prescribed for purposes 16 of this subsection, a member of the armed forces described 17 in paragraph (2) who is the primary caregiver in the case 18 of a long-term placement of a foster child is allowed up 19 to 12 weeks of total leave to be used in connection with 20 such placement, subject to limits as determined by the 21 Secretary regarding— 22 ‘‘(i) the total number of times that a member 23 of the armed forces may use leave under this section 24 with respect to the placement of a foster child; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3122.IH H3122 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3122 IH ‘‘(ii) 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 (B) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘birth or 4 adoption’’ and inserting ‘‘birth, adoption, or 5 foster child placement’’; and 6 (C) in paragraph (6)(A), by striking ‘‘birth 7 or adoption’’ and inserting ‘‘birth, adoption, or 8 foster child placement’’; 9 (2) in subsection (j)— 10 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘21 11 days’’ and inserting ‘‘12 weeks’’; 12 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 13 through (4) as paragraphs (3) through (5), re- 14 spectively; 15 (C) by inserting, after paragraph (1), the 16 following new paragraph (2): 17 ‘‘(2) Under the regulations prescribed for purposes 18 of this subsection, a member of the armed forces described 19 in subsection (i)(2) who is the secondary caregiver in the 20 case of a long-term placement of a foster child is allowed 21 up to 12 weeks of total leave to be used in connection 22 with such placement, subject to limits as determined by 23 the Secretary regarding— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3122.IH H3122 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3122 IH ‘‘(A) the total number of times that a member 1 of the armed forces may use leave under this section 2 with respect to the placement of a foster child; and 3 ‘‘(B) the frequency with which a member of the 4 armed forces may use leave under this section with 5 respect to the placement of a foster child.’’; 6 (D) in paragraph (4), as redesignated, by 7 striking ‘‘only in one increment in connection 8 with such birth or adoption’’ and inserting ‘‘in 9 more than one increment in connection with 10 such birth, adoption, or foster child placement 11 in accordance with regulations prescribed by the 12 Secretary of Defense’’; and 13 (E) by adding at the end the following new 14 paragraph (6): 15 ‘‘(6) Under regulations prescribed for purposes of 16 this subsection, the Secretary shall provide a member of 17 the armed forces described in subsection (i)(2), who would 18 have been a secondary caregiver but for a miscarriage, 19 stillbirth, or infant death, with leave— 20 ‘‘(A) in addition to leave under subsection (a); 21 and 22 ‘‘(B) not to exceed the amount of leave under 23 paragraph (1).’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3122.IH H3122 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3122 IH (3) in subsection (l), by inserting ‘‘ordered to 1 temporary duty overnight travel, or ordered to par- 2 ticipate in physically demanding field training exer- 3 cises,’’ before ‘‘during’’; and 4 (4) by adding at the end the following new sub- 5 section (m): 6 ‘‘(m) A member of the armed forces who gives birth 7 while on active duty may be required to meet body com- 8 position standards or pass a physical fitness test during 9 the period of 12 months beginning on the date of such 10 birth only with the approval of a health care provider em- 11 ployed at a military medical treatment facility and— 12 ‘‘(1) at the election of such member; or 13 ‘‘(2) in the interest of national security, as de- 14 termined by the Secretary of Defense.’’. 15 (b) REGULATIONS; GUIDANCE AND POLICIES.— 16 (1) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Defense 17 shall prescribe regulations— 18 (A) for leave under subsection (i)(1)(C) 19 and subsection (j)(2) of section 701 of title 10, 20 United States Code, as amended by subsection 21 (a), not later than one year after the date of 22 the enactment of this Act; 23 (B) that establish leave, consistent across 24 the Armed Forces, under subsection (j)(6) of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3122.IH H3122 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3122 IH such section not later than one year after the 1 date of the enactment of this Act; and 2 (C) that establish convalescent leave, con- 3 sistent across the Armed Forces, under sub- 4 section (i)(1) of such section not later than 180 5 days after the date of the enactment of this 6 Act. 7 (2) GUIDANCE AND POLICIES.—Each Secretary 8 of a military department shall prescribe— 9 (A) policies to establish the maximum 10 amount of leave under subsection (i)(1) of sec- 11 tion 701 of title 10, United States Code, as 12 amended by subsection (a), not later than one 13 year after the date of the enactment of this Act; 14 (B) policies to implement leave under sub- 15 section (i)(5) or (j)(4) of such section not later 16 than 180 days after the date of the enactment 17 of this Act; 18 (C) policies to implement not less than 21 19 days of leave pursuant to regulations prescribed 20 under paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (j) 21 of such section not later than one year after the 22 date of the enactment of this Act; and 23 (D) policies to implement the maximum 24 amount of leave pursuant to regulations pre- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3122.IH H3122 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3122 IH scribed under paragraphs (1) and (2) of sub- 1 section (j) of such section not later than five 2 years after the date of the enactment of this 3 Act. 4 (c) REPORTING.—Not later than January 1, 2023, 5 and annually thereafter, each Secretary of a military de- 6 partment shall submit to the Committees on Armed Serv- 7 ices of the Senate and House of Representatives a report 8 containing the following: 9 (1) The use, during the preceding fiscal year, of 10 leave under subsections (i) and (j) of section 701 of 11 title 10, United States Code, as amended by sub- 12 section (a), disaggregated by births, adoptions, and 13 foster placements, including— 14 (A) the number of members in each Armed 15 Force under the jurisdiction of the Secretary 16 who became primary caregivers; 17 (B) the number of members in each Armed 18 Force under the jurisdiction of the Secretary 19 who became secondary caregivers; 20 (C) the number of primary caregivers who 21 used primary caregiver leave; 22 (D) the number of secondary caregivers 23 who used secondary caregiver leave; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3122.IH H3122 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3122 IH (E) the number of primary caregivers who 1 used the maximum amount of primary caregiver 2 leave; 3 (F) the number of secondary caregivers 4 who used the maximum amount of secondary 5 caregiver leave; 6 (G) the number of primary caregivers who 7 utilized primary caregiver leave in multiple in- 8 crements; 9 (H) the number of secondary caregivers 10 who utilized primary caregiver leave in multiple 11 increments; 12 (I) the median duration of primary care- 13 giver leave used by primary caregivers; 14 (J) the median duration of secondary care- 15 giver leave used by secondary caregivers; and 16 (K) other information the Secretary deter- 17 mines appropriate. 18 (2) An analysis of the effect of leave described 19 in paragraph (1) on— 20 (A) readiness; and 21 (B) retention. 22 (3) Any actions taken by the Secretary to miti- 23 gate negative effects described in paragraph (2). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3122.IH H3122 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3122 IH (4) The number of members deployed under 1 each paragraph of subsection (l) of section 701 of 2 title 10, United States Code, as amended by sub- 3 section (a). 4 SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN SERVICE COMMITMENT REQUIRED 5 FOR PARTICIPATION IN CAREER INTER- 6 MISSION PROGRAM OF A MILITARY DEPART- 7 MENT. 8 Section 710(c)(3) of title 10, United States Code, is 9 amended by striking ‘‘two months’’ and inserting ‘‘one 10 month’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3122.IH H3122 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS