Labor Leave Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1549 To amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to ensure that employ- ees on leave under the Act maintain health coverage during an employer lockout. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 20, 2019 Mr. TESTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to ensure that employees on leave under the Act maintain health coverage during an employer lockout. 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 ‘‘Labor Leave Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. MAINTENANCE OF EMPLOYEE BENEFITS DURING 5 AN EMPLOYER LOCKOUT. 6 (a) COVERAGE.—Section 104(c)(1) of the Family and 7 Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2614(c)(1)) is 8 amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1549.IS S1549 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1549 IS (1) by striking ‘‘Except’’ and inserting the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except’’; 3 (2) by striking the period and inserting ‘‘and 4 shall maintain the coverage in a situation in which 5 the employer engages in a lockout during the leave 6 period.’’; and 7 (3) by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(B) CHANGES IN HEALTH BENEFITS OR 9 PLANS.—Except with respect to a change that 10 results from a lockout described in subpara- 11 graph (A)— 12 ‘‘(i) if an employer provides a new 13 health plan or benefits or changes a health 14 plan or benefits while an employee is on 15 leave under section 102, the employee is 16 entitled to the new or changed plan or ben- 17 efits to the same extent as the employee 18 would be if the employee were not on leave; 19 and 20 ‘‘(ii) any change to a health plan, 21 such as a change in coverage or to a pre- 22 mium or deductible, that applies to all em- 23 ployees of the employer’s workforce on that 24 plan, also applies to an employee enrolled 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1549.IS S1549 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1549 IS under the plan and on leave under section 1 102. 2 ‘‘(C) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 3 term ‘lockout’ means a labor dispute involving 4 a work stoppage, in which an employer with- 5 holds work from its employees in order to gain 6 a concession from the employees.’’. 7 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act, including the amend- 9 ment made by this Act, takes effect on the date of enact- 10 ment of this Act. 11 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 120 days after 12 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor 13 shall issue amended regulations under title I of the Family 14 and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611 et seq.), 15 taking into account the amendments made by this Act. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1549.IS S1549 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS