Paid Sick Days for Public Health Emergencies and Personal and Family Care Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6150 To allow Americans to earn paid sick time so that they can address their own health needs and the health needs of their families. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 9, 2020 Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. RYAN, Mr. NADLER, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. LEE of Cali- fornia, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. KAPTUR, Mrs. MCBATH, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HAS- TINGS, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. FRANKEL, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. SOTO, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. BEYER, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. KILMER, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. BERA, Ms. WEXTON, Ms. OMAR, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. LANGEVIN, and Ms. MUCARSEL- POWELL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, Oversight and Reform, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To allow Americans to earn paid sick time so that they can address their own health needs and the health needs of their families. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H6150.IH H6150 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6150 IH 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 ‘‘Paid Sick Days for 4 Public Health Emergencies and Personal and Family Care 5 Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 7 In this Act: 8 (1) CHILD.—The term ‘‘child’’ means a biologi- 9 cal, foster, or adopted child, a stepchild, a child of 10 a domestic partner, a legal ward, or a child of a per- 11 son standing in loco parentis. 12 (2) DOMESTIC PARTNER.— 13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘domestic 14 partner’’, with respect to an individual, means 15 another individual with whom the individual is 16 in a committed relationship. 17 (B) COMMITTED RELATIONSHIP DE- 18 FINED.—The term ‘‘committed relationship’’ 19 means a relationship between 2 individuals, 20 each at least 18 years of age, in which each in- 21 dividual is the other individual’s sole domestic 22 partner and both individuals share responsi- 23 bility for a significant measure of each other’s 24 common welfare. The term includes any such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6150.IH H6150 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6150 IH relationship between 2 individuals, including in- 1 dividuals of the same sex, that is granted legal 2 recognition by a State or political subdivision of 3 a State as a marriage or analogous relationship, 4 including a civil union or domestic partnership. 5 (3) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—The term ‘‘domestic 6 violence’’ has the meaning given the term in section 7 40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act of 8 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)), except that the ref- 9 erence in such section to the term ‘‘jurisdiction re- 10 ceiving grant monies’’ shall be deemed to mean the 11 jurisdiction in which the victim lives or the jurisdic- 12 tion in which the employer involved is located. Such 13 term also includes dating violence, as that term is 14 defined in such section. 15 (4) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 16 an individual who is— 17 (A)(i) an employee, as defined in section 18 3(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 19 (29 U.S.C. 203(e)), who is not covered under 20 subparagraph (E), including such an employee 21 of the Library of Congress, except that a ref- 22 erence in such section to an employer shall be 23 considered to be a reference to an employer de- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6150.IH H6150 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6150 IH scribed in clauses (i)(I) and (ii) of paragraph 1 (5)(A); or 2 (ii) an employee of the Government Ac- 3 countability Office; 4 (B) a State employee described in section 5 304(a) of the Government Employee Rights Act 6 of 1991 (42 U.S.C. 2000e–16c(a)); 7 (C) a covered employee, as defined in sec- 8 tion 101 of the Congressional Accountability 9 Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1301), other than an ap- 10 plicant for employment; 11 (D) a covered employee, as defined in sec- 12 tion 411(c) of title 3, United States Code; or 13 (E) a Federal officer or employee covered 14 under subchapter V of chapter 63 of title 5, 15 United States Code. 16 (5) EMPLOYER.— 17 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘employer’’ 18 means a person who is— 19 (i)(I) a covered employer, as defined 20 in subparagraph (B), who is not covered 21 under subclause (V); 22 (II) an entity employing a State em- 23 ployee described in section 304(a) of the 24 Government Employee Rights Act of 1991; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6150.IH H6150 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6150 IH (III) an employing office, as defined 1 in section 101 of the Congressional Ac- 2 countability Act of 1995; 3 (IV) an employing office, as defined in 4 section 411(c) of title 3, United States 5 Code; or 6 (V) an employing agency covered 7 under subchapter V of chapter 63 of title 8 5, United States Code; and 9 (ii) engaged in commerce (including 10 government), or an industry or activity af- 11 fecting commerce (including government), 12 as defined in subparagraph (B)(iii). 13 (B) COVERED EMPLOYER.— 14 (i) IN GENERAL.—In subparagraph 15 (A)(i)(I), the term ‘‘covered employer’’— 16 (I) means any person engaged in 17 commerce or in any industry or activ- 18 ity affecting commerce who employs 1 19 or more employees; 20 (II) includes— 21 (aa) any person who acts, 22 directly or indirectly, in the inter- 23 est of an employer to any of the 24 employees of such employer; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6150.IH H6150 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6150 IH (bb) any successor in inter- 1 est of an employer; 2 (III) includes any ‘‘public agen- 3 cy’’, as defined in section 3(x) of the 4 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 5 (29 U.S.C. 203(x)); and 6 (IV) includes the Government 7 Accountability Office and the Library 8 of Congress. 9 (ii) PUBLIC AGENCY.—For purposes 10 of clause (i)(IV), a public agency shall be 11 considered to be a person engaged in com- 12 merce or in an industry or activity affect- 13 ing commerce. 14 (iii) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 15 this subparagraph: 16 (I) COMMERCE.—The terms 17 ‘‘commerce’’ and ‘‘industry or activity 18 affecting commerce’’ mean any activ- 19 ity, business, or industry in commerce 20 or in which a labor dispute would 21 hinder or obstruct commerce or the 22 free flow of commerce, and include 23 ‘‘commerce’’ and any ‘‘industry affect- 24 ing commerce’’, as defined in para- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6150.IH H6150 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6150 IH graphs (1) and (3) of section 501 of 1 the Labor Management Relations Act, 2 1947 (29 U.S.C. 142 (1) and (3)). 3 (II) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘em- 4 ployee’’ has the same meaning given 5 such term in section 3(e) of the Fair 6 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 7 U.S.C. 203(e)). 8 (III) PERSON.—The term ‘‘per- 9 son’’ has the same meaning given 10 such term in section 3(a) of the Fair 11 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 12 U.S.C. 203(a)). 13 (C) PREDECESSORS.—Any reference in 14 this paragraph to an employer shall include a 15 reference to any predecessor of such employer. 16 (6) EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.—The term ‘‘em- 17 ployment benefits’’ means all benefits provided or 18 made available to employees by an employer, includ- 19 ing group life insurance, health insurance, disability 20 insurance, sick leave, annual leave, educational bene- 21 fits, and pensions, regardless of whether such bene- 22 fits are provided by a practice or written policy of 23 an employer or through an ‘‘employee benefit plan’’, 24 as defined in section 3(3) of the Employee Retire- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6150.IH H6150 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6150 IH ment Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1 1002(3)). 2 (7) HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.—The term 3 ‘‘health care provider’’ means a provider who— 4 (A)(i) is a doctor of medicine or osteopathy 5 who is authorized to practice medicine or sur- 6 gery (as appropriate) by the State in which the 7 doctor practices; or 8 (ii) is any other person determined by the 9 Secretary to be capable of providing health care 10 services; and 11 (B) is not employed by an employer for 12 whom the provider issues certification under 13 this Act. 14 (8) PAID SICK TIME.—The term ‘‘paid sick 15 time’’ means an increment of compensated leave 16 that— 17 (A) can be— 18 (i) earned by an employee for use dur- 19 ing an absence from employment for a rea- 20 son described in any paragraph of section 21 3(b); or 22 (ii) provided by an employer during a 23 public health emergency for use during an 24 absence from employment for a reason de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6150.IH H6150 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6150 IH scribed in any paragraph of section 3(b); 1 and 2 (B) is compensated at a rate that is not 3 less than the greatest of— 4 (i) the employee’s regular rate of pay; 5 (ii) the minimum wage rate provided 6 for in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor 7 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 8 206(a)(1)); or 9 (iii) the minimum wage rate provided 10 for in the applicable State or local law for 11 the State or locality in which the employee 12 is employed. 13 (9) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ means a bio- 14 logical, foster, or adoptive parent of an employee, a 15 stepparent of an employee, parent-in-law, parent of 16 a domestic partner, or a legal guardian or other per- 17 son who stood in loco parentis to an employee when 18 the employee was a child. 19 (10) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.—The term 20 ‘‘public health emergency’’ means a public health 21 emergency declared by the Secretary of Health and 22 Human Services for a jurisdiction, or by a State 23 public health official with authority to declare such 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6150.IH H6150 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6150 IH an emergency for the State or jurisdiction within the 1 State. 2 (11) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 3 means the Secretary of Labor. 4 (12) SEXUAL ASSAULT.—The term ‘‘sexual as- 5 sault’’ has the meaning given the term in section 6 40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act of 7 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)). 8 (13) SPOUSE.—The term ‘‘spouse’’, with re- 9 spect to an employee, has the meaning given such 10 term by the marriage laws of the State in which the 11 marriage was celebrated. 12 (14) STALKING.—The term ‘‘stalking’’ has the 13 meaning given the term in section 40002(a) of the 14 Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 15 12291(a)). 16 (15) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 17 ing given the term in section 3 of the Fair Labor 18 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203). 19 (16) VICTIM SERVICES ORGANIZATION.—The 20 term ‘‘victim services organization’’ means a non- 21 profit, nongovernmental organization that provides 22 assistance to victims of domestic violence, sexual as- 23 sault, or stalking or advocates for such victims, in- 24 cluding a rape crisis center, an organization carrying 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6150.IH H6150 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 6150 IH out a domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking 1 prevention or treatment program, an organization 2 operating a shelter or providing counseling services, 3 or a legal services organization or other organization 4 providing assistance through the legal process. 5 SEC. 3. PAID SICK TIME. 6 (a) EARNING OF PAID SICK TIME.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c), an 8 employer shall provide each employee employed by 9 the employer not less than 1 hour of earned paid 10 sick time for every 30 hours worked, to be used as 11 described in subsection (b). An employer shall not be 12 required to permit an employee to earn, under this 13 subsection, more than 56 hours of paid sick time in 14 a year, unless the employer chooses to set a higher 15 limit. 16 (2) EXEMPT EMPLOYEES.— 17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 18 paragraph (3), for purposes of this subsection, 19 an employee who is exempt from overtime re- 20 quirements under section 13(a)(1) of the Fair 21 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 22 213(a)(1)) shall be assumed to work 40 hours 23 in each workweek. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6150.IH H6150 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 6150 IH (B) SHORTER NORMAL WORKWEEK.—If 1 the normal workweek of such an employee is 2 less than 40 hours, the employee shall earn 3 paid sick time under this subsection based upon 4 that normal workweek. 5 (3) DATES FOR BEGINNING TO EARN PAID SICK 6 TIME AND USE.— 7 (A) IN GENERAL.—Employees shall begin 8 to earn paid sick time under this subsection at 9 the commencement of their employment. An 10 employee shall be entitled to use the earned 11 paid sick time beginning on the 60th calendar 12 day following commencement of the employee’s 13 employment. After that 60th calendar day, the 14 employee may use the paid sick time as the 15 time is earned. An employer may, at the discre- 16 tion of the employer, loan paid sick time to an 17 employee for use by such employee in advance 18 of the employee earning such sick time as pro- 19 vided in this subsection and may permit use be- 20 fore the 60th day of employment. 21 (B) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.—Sub- 22 paragraph (A) shall not apply with respect to 23 additional paid sick time provided under sub- 24 section (c). In the event of a public health 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]