FAMILY Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1185 To provide paid family and medical leave benefits to certain individuals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 13, 2019 Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. NEAL, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. DEFA- ZIO, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. COHEN, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. WELCH, Ms. OMAR, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Ms. HILL of California, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. NADLER, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. POCAN, Ms. MOORE, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mrs. MURPHY, Ms. SHALALA, Ms. FRANKEL, Ms. DEGETTE, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. RYAN, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. KILMER, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. DEAN, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. SOTO, Mr. DOGGETT, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. TONKO, Mr. SARBANES, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. NEGUSE, Mrs. CRAIG, Mrs. HAYES, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. CRIST, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. BERA, Ms. ESHOO, Mrs. DAVIS of Cali- fornia, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. COURTNEY, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. EVANS, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. WILD, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. TRONE, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. BEYER, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. KIND, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. NORCROSS, Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. HIMES, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. MENG, Mr. RUSH, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1185.IH H1185 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1185 IH Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. WEXTON, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. JEFFRIES, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. ROSE of New York, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Ms. HOULAHAN, Ms. SCHRIER, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. KEATING, Mr. COX of California, Mr. SIRES, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. KIM, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. SMITH of Washington, and Mr. DELGADO) introduced 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. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7 (1) In more than two-thirds of families with 8 children, all adults in the household work. 9 43,500,000 people provide unpaid care to family 10 members, and six of every ten family caregivers re- 11 port working at jobs unrelated to their care respon- 12 sibilities. More than half report working full time. 13 An estimated 36,000,000 working age adults live 14 with a family member who has a disability. Without 15 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1185.IH H1185 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1185 IH paid family and medical leave, many workers are un- 1 able to take time away from work to care for new- 2 born children, parents and relatives with serious 3 health conditions, or themselves. 4 (2) Both women and men need to be able to 5 take time off work to participate in the care of their 6 children, in the care of seriously ill family members, 7 and to address their own serious health conditions. 8 Yet, a mere 17 percent of civilian workers in the 9 United States have access to paid family leave 10 through their employers, and fewer than 40 percent 11 have access to short-term disability insurance pro- 12 vided by their employer to use for their own ill- 13 nesses. 14 (3) Many workers cannot afford to take unpaid 15 time off work to provide care. According to the De- 16 partment of Labor, nearly half of workers who quali- 17 fied for leave under the Family and Medical Leave 18 Act of 1993 (FMLA) in 2011 were unable to take 19 the leave because they could not afford to take time 20 off without pay. Six in ten workers who took par- 21 tially paid or unpaid leave reported difficulty making 22 ends meet; half of these workers were forced to cut 23 their leaves short due to financial constraints. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1185.IH H1185 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1185 IH (4) Only 17 percent of all workers had access 1 to paid family leave in 2017 and it was available to 2 only 5 percent of people working in the lowest pay- 3 ing jobs. Workers who lack paid family and medical 4 leave face lost wages or even job loss when they miss 5 work because of their own illness or to care for an 6 ill child or parent. In this way, access to paid family 7 and medical leave plays a critical role in families’ ef- 8 forts to maintain employment and economic security. 9 (5) Caregiving has a high value but also comes 10 at a high cost for family caregivers. Working fami- 11 lies in the United States lose an estimated 12 $20,600,000,000 in wages each year due to lack of 13 access to paid family and medical leave. 14 (6) The estimated value of unpaid family care 15 provided in 2013 was $470,000,000,000. Family 16 caregivers face financial, physical and emotional 17 hardships, and in many cases their careers, incomes, 18 and retirement security suffer because of their fam- 19 ily responsibilities. 20 (7) The average worker age 50 and older who 21 leaves the workforce to care for an elderly parent 22 loses more than $300,000 in earnings and retire- 23 ment income. Working caregivers should not have to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1185.IH H1185 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1185 IH risk their family’s economic security to fulfill their 1 caregiving obligations. 2 (8) By 2030, one in five United States resi- 3 dents will have reached retirement age, and individ- 4 uals 65 and older are projected to outnumber those 5 under the age of 18 for the first time in the history 6 of the United States. The number of potential family 7 caregivers for each person age 80 and older will fall 8 from 7:1 in 2010 to fewer than 3:1 by 2050. Addi- 9 tionally, the number of people with chronic condi- 10 tions is expected to reach nearly 160,000,000 by 11 2020. Many of these individuals will at some point 12 require family care, and for older workers still in the 13 workforce, many will need time off at some point to 14 address serious health conditions. 15 (9) Ensuring working family caregivers have 16 paid family leave to care for seriously ill or injured 17 older adult relatives could drive down Medicare costs 18 by decreasing recurrences of ailments and re-admit- 19 tance into hospitals. The implementation of Califor- 20 nia’s paid family leave insurance program, which has 21 been in effect since 2004, accounted for an 11 per- 22 cent relative decline in elder nursing home usage. 23 (10) Only half of cancer patients and survivors 24 report having access to paid leave, and only four in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1185.IH H1185 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1185 IH ten caregivers of those patients are able to take paid 1 leave to help with completing treatment, managing 2 symptoms and side effects, and caring for their own 3 health. 4 (11) Many workers are forced to quickly return 5 to work after the birth or arrival of a child because 6 they have no access to paid family and medical 7 leave. Only half of new mothers take paid leave of 8 any duration after the birth of their first child, and 9 among women with less than a high school education 10 the figure is less than 20 percent—a rate that has 11 not changed in more than half a century. Access to 12 paid leave is even rarer for men, as just 9 percent 13 of private sector workers are employed at worksites 14 that offer paid paternity leave to all male employees. 15 Three out of every four fathers in white-collar jobs 16 took one week or less of leave after their most recent 17 child was born, and nearly 60 percent of low-income 18 fathers reported taking zero weeks of paid time 19 away from work after the birth or adoption of a 20 child. 21 (12) When new mothers have no choice but to 22 return to work without taking leave, children can ex- 23 perience a variety of negative outcomes including 24 higher rates of infant mortality, lower rates of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1185.IH H1185 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1185 IH breastfeeding, and lower rates of immunization. Cali- 1 fornia’s paid leave program improved child health 2 outcomes, particularly for economically vulnerable 3 children, and improved breastfeeding and vaccina- 4 tion rates. 5 (13) New mothers without sufficient leave expe- 6 rience a higher incidence of physical and mental 7 health concerns, and new mothers with fewer than 8 12 weeks of leave experience elevated risks of 9 postpartum depression. California’s paid family leave 10 insurance program increased the number of weeks of 11 leave that women take after childbirth, with larger 12 effects among women in jobs that do not provide 13 paid leave. New Jersey’s paid leave program, which 14 has been in effect since 2009, was strongly associ- 15 ated with improvements in new mothers’ physical 16 health. 17 (14) A gender-inclusive nationwide paid family 18 and medical leave program would address persistent 19 sex discrimination in the utilization of leave benefits 20 and reduce the disparity between women and men 21 regarding who takes time off from work to fulfill 22 caregiving duties. 23 (15) Many men would like to be more involved 24 in caregiving and report greater work-family conflict 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1185.IH H1185 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 1185 IH than ever before. When fathers in two-parent, oppo- 1 site-sex households take paid leave, their involvement 2 in caregiving and domestic chores increases, sup- 3 porting equal co-parenting and making it easier for 4 women to return to the workforce. In California, 5 men’s use of the State’s paid family leave insurance 6 program to care for a new child has more than dou- 7 bled since the program’s implementation. In Rhode 8 Island, which implemented its program in 2014, men 9 took leave at higher rates in the program’s first year 10 than other State programs’ first year. 11 (16) Paid family and medical leave promotes 12 families’ financial security and independence, in- 13 creases worker retention, and promotes savings for 14 taxpayers. Women who take paid leave after a 15 child’s birth are more likely to be in the labor force 16 in the 9 to 12 months after a child’s birth and to 17 earn higher wages in the year following their child’s 18 birth. Both men and women who take paid leave 19 after a child’s birth are less likely to receive SNAP 20 benefits and other public assistance in the year fol- 21 lowing a child’s birth. 22 (17) Without paid medical leave, workers who 23 are ill or injured may return to work before being 24 fully recovered, thus making them susceptible to a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1185.IH H1185 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 1185 IH relapse or recurrence, and potentially placing addi- 1 tional burdens on the health care system. When a 2 job requires physical stamina or ability, individuals 3 who return to work too early may put themselves or 4 others in jeopardy. 5 (18) A social insurance model of providing paid 6 family leave pioneered and implemented by the 7 States of California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and 8 New York, and recently passed in the District of Co- 9 lumbia, Washington, and Massachusetts, has worked 10 well for workers, their families, and employers. The 11 overwhelming majority of California employers re- 12 port that the State’s program had a positive or neu- 13 tral effect on their business, and businesses surveyed 14 in New Jersey and Rhode Island reported having lit- 15 tle trouble adjusting to the State’s law. 16 (19) When workers can care for themselves and 17 their loved ones, employers experience positive im- 18 pacts. In California, where a family leave insurance 19 program has existed for more than a decade, work- 20 ers in low-wage, high-turnover industries are much 21 more likely to return to their jobs after using the 22 program, and 9 out of 10 businesses report positive 23 or neutral effects on profitability and productivity. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1185.IH H1185 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 1185 IH (20) High-profile employers are increasingly 1 recognizing the value of providing paid leave in re- 2 duced turnover and improved employee morale and 3 productivity, yet access to paid leave remains low 4 across most industries, particularly for low- and 5 middle-income workers. Some of the fastest-growing 6 occupations, such as home health care and service 7 jobs, typically pay low wages and are particularly 8 unlikely to offer paid leave benefits. As of 2018, 9 more than 75 businesses and business leaders have 10 endorsed the need for a strong, inclusive national 11 paid leave policy. 12 (21) Californians have filed nearly 2,810,000 13 paid family leave claims between the implementation 14 of the State’s paid family leave program in 2004 15 and November 2017. In New Jersey, more [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]