FAMILY Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 463 To provide paid family and medical leave benefits to certain individuals, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 12, 2019 Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. REED, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. BROWN, Mr. BENNET, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. KING, Mr. LEAHY, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. HAR- RIS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. SCHATZ, Ms. HASSAN, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. WARREN, Mrs. MUR- RAY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. CARPER, Mr. CASEY, Mr. UDALL, Ms. ROSEN, Ms. HIRONO, and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 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. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S463.IS S463 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 463 IS (1) In more than two-thirds of families with 1 children, all adults in the household work. 2 43,500,000 people provide unpaid care to family 3 members, and six of every ten family caregivers re- 4 port working at jobs unrelated to their care respon- 5 sibilities. More than half report working full time. 6 An estimated 36,000,000 working age adults live 7 with a family member who has a disability. Without 8 paid family and medical leave, many workers are un- 9 able to take time away from work to care for new- 10 born children, parents and relatives with serious 11 health conditions, or themselves. 12 (2) Both women and men need to be able to 13 take time off work to participate in the care of their 14 children, in the care of seriously ill family members, 15 and to address their own serious health conditions. 16 Yet, a mere 17 percent of civilian workers in the 17 United States have access to paid family leave 18 through their employers, and fewer than 40 percent 19 have access to short-term disability insurance pro- 20 vided by their employer to use for their own ill- 21 nesses. 22 (3) Many workers cannot afford to take unpaid 23 time off work to provide care. According to the De- 24 partment of Labor, nearly half of workers who quali- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S463.IS S463 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 463 IS fied for leave under the Family and Medical Leave 1 Act of 1993 (FMLA) in 2011 were unable to take 2 the leave because they could not afford to take time 3 off without pay. Six in ten workers who took par- 4 tially paid or unpaid leave reported difficulty making 5 ends meet; half of these workers were forced to cut 6 their leaves short due to financial constraints. 7 (4) Only 17 percent of all workers had access 8 to paid family leave in 2017 and it was available to 9 only 5 percent of people working in the lowest pay- 10 ing jobs. Workers who lack paid family and medical 11 leave face lost wages or even job loss when they miss 12 work because of their own illness or to care for an 13 ill child or parent. In this way, access to paid family 14 and medical leave plays a critical role in families’ ef- 15 forts to maintain employment and economic security. 16 (5) Caregiving has a high value but also comes 17 at a high cost for family caregivers. Working fami- 18 lies in the United States lose an estimated 19 $20,600,000,000 in wages each year due to lack of 20 access to paid family and medical leave. 21 (6) The estimated value of unpaid family care 22 provided in 2013 was $470,000,000,000. Family 23 caregivers face financial, physical and emotional 24 hardships, and in many cases their careers, incomes, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S463.IS S463 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 463 IS and retirement security suffer because of their fam- 1 ily responsibilities. 2 (7) The average worker age 50 and older who 3 leaves the workforce to care for an elderly parent 4 loses more than $300,000 in earnings and retire- 5 ment income. Working caregivers should not have to 6 risk their family’s economic security to fulfill their 7 caregiving obligations. 8 (8) By 2030, one in five United States resi- 9 dents will have reached retirement age, and individ- 10 uals 65 and older are projected to outnumber those 11 under the age of 18 for the first time in the history 12 of the United States. The number of potential family 13 caregivers for each person age 80 and older will fall 14 from 7:1 in 2010 to fewer than 3:1 by 2050. Addi- 15 tionally, the number of people with chronic condi- 16 tions is expected to reach nearly 160,000,000 by 17 2020. Many of these individuals will at some point 18 require family care, and for older workers still in the 19 workforce, many will need time off at some point to 20 address serious health conditions. 21 (9) Ensuring working family caregivers have 22 paid family leave to care for seriously ill or injured 23 older adult relatives could drive down Medicare costs 24 by decreasing recurrences of ailments and re-admit- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S463.IS S463 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 463 IS tance into hospitals. The implementation of Califor- 1 nia’s paid family leave insurance program, which has 2 been in effect since 2004, accounted for an 11 per- 3 cent relative decline in elder nursing home usage. 4 (10) Only half of cancer patients and survivors 5 report having access to paid leave, and only four in 6 ten caregivers of those patients are able to take paid 7 leave to help with completing treatment, managing 8 symptoms and side effects, and caring for their own 9 health. 10 (11) Many workers are forced to quickly return 11 to work after the birth or arrival of a child because 12 they have no access to paid family and medical 13 leave. Only half of new mothers take paid leave of 14 any duration after the birth of their first child, and 15 among women with less than a high school education 16 the figure is less than 20 percent—a rate that has 17 not changed in more than half a century. Access to 18 paid leave is even rarer for men, as just 9 percent 19 of private sector workers are employed at worksites 20 that offer paid paternity leave to all male employees. 21 Three out of every four fathers in white-collar jobs 22 took one week or less of leave after their most recent 23 child was born, and nearly 60 percent of low-income 24 fathers reported taking zero weeks of paid time 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S463.IS S463 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 463 IS away from work after the birth or adoption of a 1 child. 2 (12) When new mothers have no choice but to 3 return to work without taking leave, children can ex- 4 perience a variety of negative outcomes including 5 higher rates of infant mortality, lower rates of 6 breastfeeding, and lower rates of immunization. Cali- 7 fornia’s paid leave program improved child health 8 outcomes, particularly for economically vulnerable 9 children, and improved breastfeeding and vaccina- 10 tion rates. 11 (13) New mothers without sufficient leave expe- 12 rience a higher incidence of physical and mental 13 health concerns, and new mothers with fewer than 14 12 weeks of leave experience elevated risks of 15 postpartum depression. California’s paid family leave 16 insurance program increased the number of weeks of 17 leave that women take after childbirth, with larger 18 effects among women in jobs that do not provide 19 paid leave. New Jersey’s paid leave program, which 20 has been in effect since 2009, was strongly associ- 21 ated with improvements in new mothers’ physical 22 health. 23 (14) A gender-inclusive nationwide paid family 24 and medical leave program would address persistent 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S463.IS S463 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 463 IS sex discrimination in the utilization of leave benefits 1 and reduce the disparity between women and men 2 regarding who takes time off from work to fulfill 3 caregiving duties. 4 (15) Many men would like to be more involved 5 in caregiving and report greater work-family conflict 6 than ever before. When fathers in two-parent, oppo- 7 site-sex households take paid leave, their involvement 8 in caregiving and domestic chores increases, sup- 9 porting equal co-parenting and making it easier for 10 women to return to the workforce. In California, 11 men’s use of the State’s paid family leave insurance 12 program to care for a new child has more than dou- 13 bled since the program’s implementation. In Rhode 14 Island, which implemented its program in 2014, men 15 took leave at higher rates in the program’s first year 16 than other State programs’ first year. 17 (16) Paid family and medical leave promotes 18 families’ financial security and independence, in- 19 creases worker retention, and promotes savings for 20 taxpayers. Women who take paid leave after a 21 child’s birth are more likely to be in the labor force 22 in the 9 to 12 months after a child’s birth and to 23 earn higher wages in the year following their child’s 24 birth. Both men and women who take paid leave 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S463.IS S463 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 463 IS after a child’s birth are less likely to receive SNAP 1 benefits and other public assistance in the year fol- 2 lowing a child’s birth. 3 (17) Without paid medical leave, workers who 4 are ill or injured may return to work before being 5 fully recovered, thus making them susceptible to a 6 relapse or recurrence, and potentially placing addi- 7 tional burdens on the health care system. When a 8 job requires physical stamina or ability, individuals 9 who return to work too early may put themselves or 10 others in jeopardy. 11 (18) A social insurance model of providing paid 12 family leave pioneered and implemented by the 13 States of California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and 14 New York, and recently passed in the District of Co- 15 lumbia, Washington, and Massachusetts, has worked 16 well for workers, their families, and employers. The 17 overwhelming majority of California employers re- 18 port that the State’s program had a positive or neu- 19 tral effect on their business, and businesses surveyed 20 in New Jersey and Rhode Island reported having lit- 21 tle trouble adjusting to the State’s law. 22 (19) When workers can care for themselves and 23 their loved ones, employers experience positive im- 24 pacts. In California, where a family leave insurance 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S463.IS S463 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 463 IS program has existed for more than a decade, work- 1 ers in low-wage, high-turnover industries are much 2 more likely to return to their jobs after using the 3 program, and 9 out of 10 businesses report positive 4 or neutral effects on profitability and productivity. 5 (20) High-profile employers are increasingly 6 recognizing the value of providing paid leave in re- 7 duced turnover and improved employee morale and 8 productivity, yet access to paid leave remains low 9 across most industries, particularly for low- and 10 middle-income workers. Some of the fastest-growing 11 occupations, such as home health care and service 12 jobs, typically pay low wages and are particularly 13 unlikely to offer paid leave benefits. As of 2018, 14 more than 75 businesses and business leaders have 15 endorsed the need for a strong, inclusive national 16 paid leave policy. 17 (21) Californians have filed nearly 2,810,000 18 paid family leave claims between the implementation 19 of the State’s paid family leave program in 2004 20 and November 2017. In New Jersey, more than 21 255,000 claims have been filed over the more than 22 7 years of the program’s existence, and in Rhode Is- 23 land, nearly 34,000 claims were filed in the pro- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S463.IS S463 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 463 IS gram’s first 3 years. These claims represent valuable 1 care for new children and seriously ill loved ones. 2 (22) Social Security is the Nation’s primary so- 3 cial insurance system, with the most complete record 4 of workers’ earnings history. It provides retirement 5 assistance and disability benefits currently and, 6 since its creation in 1934, the programs the Social 7 Security Administration administers have been up- 8 dated multiple times to reflect the changing needs of 9 the population, families and the workforce. The sys- 10 tem needs to be changed again now—with appro- 11 priate investments to meet the agency’s needs—to 12 reflect today’s realities. 13 (23) Researchers at Brandeis University esti- 14 mate that, following enactment of this Act, the share 15 of families falling into financial hardship (earnings 16 below 200 percent of the Federal poverty line) as a 17 result of taking 12 weeks of unpaid leave would be 18 reduced by more than 81 percent. 19 (24) Without a national paid leave policy, the 20 United States is missing out on substantial economic 21 activity, which has been estimated at approximately 22 $500,000,000,000 by the Department of Labor, as 23 women in particular are held back from partici- 24 pating in the workforce in equal shares. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Feb 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S463.IS S463 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 463 IS (25) A national paid family and medical leave 1 program has the support of more than eight in ten 2 voters across demographic and party lines. 3 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act— 4 (1) to help working people, including single 5 working parents and workers in dual-earner families, 6 afford to take time away from work to provide care 7 for a family member; 8 (2) to provide workers with a reasonable level 9 of wage replacement during time away from work 10 for a serious health condition, for the birth or adop- 11 tion o [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]