Federal Employee Paid Leave Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1534 To provide that 12 weeks of family leave made available to a Federal employee shall be paid leave, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 5, 2019 Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York (for herself, Ms. NORTON, Ms. PIN- GREE, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. WEXTON, Mr. HOYER, and Mr. BEYER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on House Ad- ministration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To provide that 12 weeks of family leave made available to a Federal employee shall be paid leave, 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 ‘‘Federal Employee Paid 4 Leave Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1534.IH H1534 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1534 IH SEC. 2. PAID FAMILY LEAVE FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES 1 COVERED BY TITLE 5. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 6382 of 3 title 5, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 4 ‘‘(c)(1) Leave granted under subsection (a) shall be 5 paid leave. 6 ‘‘(2)(A) An employee may elect to substitute for any 7 leave under such subsection any other paid leave which 8 is available to such employee for that purpose. 9 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not be construed to re- 10 quire that an employee first use all or any portion of the 11 other paid leave described in such subparagraph before 12 being allowed to use leave under subsection (a). 13 ‘‘(3) Leave under subsection (a)— 14 ‘‘(A) shall be payable from any appropriation or 15 fund available for salaries or expenses for positions 16 within the employing agency; 17 ‘‘(B) shall not be considered to be annual or va- 18 cation leave for purposes of section 5551 or 5552 or 19 for any other purpose; and 20 ‘‘(C) if not used by the employee before the end 21 of the 12-month period (as referred to in subsection 22 (a)(1)) to which it relates, shall not accumulate for 23 any subsequent use. 24 ‘‘(4) The Director of the Office of Personnel Manage- 25 ment— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1534.IH H1534 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1534 IH ‘‘(A) may promulgate regulations to increase 1 the amount of leave available to an employee under 2 subsection (a) to a total of not more than 16 admin- 3 istrative workweeks, based on the consideration of— 4 ‘‘(i) the benefits provided to the Federal 5 Government of increasing such leave, including 6 enhanced recruitment and retention of employ- 7 ees; 8 ‘‘(ii) the cost to the Federal Government of 9 increasing the amount of such leave that is 10 available to employees; 11 ‘‘(iii) trends in the private sector and in 12 State and local governments with respect to of- 13 fering such leave; 14 ‘‘(iv) the Federal Government’s role as a 15 model employer; 16 ‘‘(v) the impact of increased leave under 17 subsection (a) on lower-income and economi- 18 cally disadvantaged employees and their chil- 19 dren; and 20 ‘‘(vi) such other factors as the Director 21 considers necessary; and 22 ‘‘(B) shall prescribe any regulations necessary 23 to carry out this subsection, including the manner in 24 which an employee may designate any day or other 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1534.IH H1534 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1534 IH period as to which such employee wishes to use leave 1 under subsection (a).’’. 2 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 3 this section shall not be effective with respect to any birth 4 or placement occurring before the end of the 6-month pe- 5 riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. 6 SEC. 3. PAID FAMILY LEAVE FOR CONGRESSIONAL EM- 7 PLOYEES. 8 (a) AMENDMENTS TO CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNT- 9 ABILITY ACT.—Section 202 of the Congressional Account- 10 ability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1312) is amended— 11 (1) in subsection (a)(1), by adding at the end 12 the following: ‘‘In applying section 102(a)(1) of such 13 Act to covered employees, subsection (d) shall 14 apply.’’; 15 (2) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 16 subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and 17 (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULE FOR PAID FAMILY LEAVE FOR 20 CONGRESSIONAL EMPLOYEES.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any leave taken by a cov- 22 ered employee under section 102(a)(1) of the Family 23 and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 24 2612(a)(1)) shall be paid leave. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1534.IH H1534 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1534 IH ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF PAID LEAVE.—The paid leave 1 that is available to a covered employee for purposes 2 of paragraph (1) is— 3 ‘‘(A) the number of weeks of paid family 4 leave in connection with the birth or placement 5 involved that correspond to the number of ad- 6 ministrative workweeks of paid family leave 7 available to Federal employees under section 8 6382(d)(3)(A) of title 5, United States Code; 9 and 10 ‘‘(B) any additional paid vacation or sick 11 leave provided by the employing office to such 12 employee. 13 ‘‘(3) SUBSTITUTION.—An employee may elect 14 to substitute for any leave under such section 15 102(a)(1) any other paid leave which is available to 16 such employee for that purpose. The previous sen- 17 tence shall not be construed to require that an em- 18 ployee first use all or any portion of the other paid 19 leave before being allowed to use the paid family 20 leave described in this subsection. 21 ‘‘(4) ADDITIONAL RULES.—Paid family leave 22 under this subsection— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1534.IH H1534 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1534 IH ‘‘(A) shall be payable from any appropria- 1 tion or fund available for salaries or expenses 2 for positions within the employing office; and 3 ‘‘(B) if not used by the covered employee 4 before the end of the 12-month period (as re- 5 ferred to in section 102(a)(1) of the Family and 6 Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 7 2612(a)(1))) to which it relates, shall not accu- 8 mulate for any subsequent use.’’. 9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 10 this section shall not be effective with respect to any birth 11 or placement occurring before the end of the 6-month pe- 12 riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. 13 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO FAMILY AND MED- 14 ICAL LEAVE ACT FOR GAO EMPLOYEES. 15 (a) AMENDMENT TO FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE 16 ACT OF 1993.—Section 102(d) of the Family and Medical 17 Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(d)) is amended by 18 adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULE FOR GAO EMPLOYEES.— 20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any leave under sub- 21 section (a)(1) taken by an employee of the Gov- 22 ernment Accountability Office shall be paid 23 leave. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1534.IH H1534 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1534 IH ‘‘(B) AMOUNT OF PAID LEAVE.—The paid 1 leave that is available to such an employee for 2 purposes of subparagraph (A) is— 3 ‘‘(i) the number of weeks of paid fam- 4 ily leave in connection with the birth or 5 placement involved that correspond to the 6 number of administrative workweeks of 7 paid family leave available to Federal em- 8 ployees under section 6382(d)(3)(A) of 9 title 5, United States Code; and 10 ‘‘(ii) any additional paid vacation or 11 sick leave provided by such employer. 12 ‘‘(C) SUBSTITUTION.—An employee may 13 elect to substitute for any leave under sub- 14 section (a)(1) any other paid leave which is 15 available to such employee for that purpose. 16 The previous sentence shall not be construed to 17 require that an employee first use all or any 18 portion of the other paid leave before being al- 19 lowed to use the paid family leave described in 20 this subsection. 21 ‘‘(D) ADDITIONAL RULES.—Paid family 22 leave under subsection (a)(1)— 23 ‘‘(i) shall be payable from any appro- 24 priation or fund available for salaries or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1534.IH H1534 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1534 IH expenses for positions with the Government 1 Accountability Office; and 2 ‘‘(ii) if not used by the employee of 3 such employer before the end of the 12- 4 month period (as referred to in subsection 5 (a)(1)) to which it relates, shall not accu- 6 mulate for any subsequent use.’’. 7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 8 this section shall not be effective with respect to any birth 9 or placement occurring before the end of the 6-month pe- 10 riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. 11 SEC. 5. CLARIFICATION FOR MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL 12 GUARD AND RESERVES. 13 (a) EXECUTIVE BRANCH EMPLOYEES.—For pur- 14 poses of determining the eligibility of an employee who is 15 a member of the National Guard or Reserves to take leave 16 under section 6382(a) of title 5, United States Code, or 17 to substitute such leave pursuant to paragraph (2) of such 18 section (as added by section 2), any service by such em- 19 ployee on active duty (as defined in section 6381(7) of 20 such title) shall be counted as service as an employee for 21 purposes of section 6381(1)(B) of such title. 22 (b) CONGRESSIONAL EMPLOYEES.—For purposes of 23 determining the eligibility of a covered employee (as such 24 term is defined in section 101(3) of the Congressional Ac- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1534.IH H1534 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1534 IH countability Act) who is a member of the National Guard 1 or Reserves to take leave under section 102(a)(1) of the 2 Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (pursuant to sec- 3 tion 202(a)(1) of the Congressional Accountability Act), 4 or to substitute such leave pursuant to subsection (d) of 5 section 202 of such Act (as added by section 3), any serv- 6 ice by such employee on active duty (as defined in section 7 101(14) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993) 8 shall be counted as time during which such employee has 9 been employed in an employing office for purposes of sec- 10 tion 202(a)(2)(B) of the Congressional Accountability Act. 11 (c) GAO EMPLOYEES.—For purposes of determining 12 the eligibility of an employee of the Government Account- 13 ability Office who is a member of the National Guard or 14 Reserves to take leave under section 102(a)(1) of the 15 Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, or to substitute 16 such leave pursuant to paragraph (3) of section 102(d) 17 of such Act (as added by section 4), any service by such 18 employee on active duty (as defined in section 101(14) of 19 such Act) shall be counted as time during which such em- 20 ployee has been employed for purposes of section 21 101(2)(A) of such Act. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1534.IH H1534 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1534 IH SEC. 6. CONFORMING AMENDMENT FOR CERTAIN TSA EM- 1 PLOYEES. 2 Section 111(d)(2) of the Aviation and Transportation 3 Security Act (49 U.S.C. 44935 note) is amended to read 4 as follows: 5 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.— 6 ‘‘(A) REEMPLOYMENT.—In carrying out 7 the functions authorized under paragraph (1), 8 the Under Secretary shall be subject to the pro- 9 visions set forth in chapter 43 of title 38, 10 United States Code. 11 ‘‘(B) LEAVE.—The provisions of section 12 6382(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code, and 13 subsection (c) of such section shall apply to any 14 individual appointed under paragraph (1).’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1534.IH H1534 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS