Military Family Leave Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8289 To amend title 38, United States Code, to grant family of members of the uniformed services temporary annual leave during the deployment of such members, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to grant family of members of the uniformed services temporary annual leave during the deployment of such members, 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 ‘‘Military Family Leave 4 Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8289.IH H8289 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8289 IH SEC. 2. ANNUAL LEAVE FOR FAMILY OF DEPLOYED MEM- 1 BERS OF THE UNIFORMED SERVICES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part III of title 38, United States 3 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 4 chapter: 5 ‘‘CHAPTER 44—ANNUAL LEAVE FOR FAM- 6 ILY OF DEPLOYED MEMBERS OF THE 7 UNIFORMED SERVICES 8 ‘‘Sec. ‘‘4401. Definitions. ‘‘4402. Leave requirement. ‘‘4403. Certification. ‘‘4404. Employment and benefits protection. ‘‘4405. Prohibited acts. ‘‘4406. Enforcement. ‘‘4407. Miscellaneous provisions. ‘‘§ 4401. Definitions 9 ‘‘In this chapter: 10 ‘‘(1) The terms ‘benefit’, ‘rights and benefits’, 11 ‘employee’, ‘employer’, and ‘uniformed services’ have 12 the meaning given such terms in section 4303 of 13 this title. 14 ‘‘(2) The term ‘contingency operation’ has the 15 same meaning given such term in section 101(a)(13) 16 of title 10. 17 ‘‘(3) The term ‘eligible employee’ means an in- 18 dividual who is— 19 ‘‘(A) a family member of a member of a 20 uniformed service; and 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8289.IH H8289 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8289 IH ‘‘(B) an employee of the employer with re- 1 spect to whom leave is requested under section 2 4402 of this title. 3 ‘‘(4) The term ‘family member’ means an indi- 4 vidual who is, with respect to another individual, one 5 of the following: 6 ‘‘(A) The spouse of the other individual. 7 ‘‘(B) A son or daughter of the other indi- 8 vidual. 9 ‘‘(C) A parent of the other individual. 10 ‘‘(5) The term ‘reduced leave schedule’ means a 11 leave schedule that reduces the usual number of 12 hours per workweek, or hours per workday, of an 13 employee. 14 ‘‘(6) The terms ‘spouse’, ‘son or daughter’, and 15 ‘parent’ have the meaning given such terms in sec- 16 tion 101 of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 17 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611). 18 ‘‘§ 4402. Leave requirement 19 ‘‘(a) ENTITLEMENT TO LEAVE.—In any 12-month 20 period, an eligible employee shall be entitled to two work- 21 weeks of leave for each family member of the eligible em- 22 ployee who, during such 12-month period— 23 ‘‘(1) is in the uniformed services; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8289.IH H8289 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8289 IH ‘‘(2)(A) receives notification of an impending 1 call or order to active duty in support of a contin- 2 gency operation; or 3 ‘‘(B) is deployed in connection with a contin- 4 gency operation. 5 ‘‘(b) LEAVE TAKEN INTERMITTENTLY OR ON RE- 6 DUCED LEAVE SCHEDULE.—(1) Leave under subsection 7 (a) may be taken by an eligible employee intermittently 8 or on a reduced leave schedule as the eligible employee 9 considers appropriate. 10 ‘‘(2) The taking of leave intermittently or on a re- 11 duced leave schedule pursuant to this subsection shall not 12 result in a reduction in the total amount of leave to which 13 the eligible employee is entitled under subsection (a) be- 14 yond the amount of leave actually taken. 15 ‘‘(c) PAID LEAVE PERMITTED.—Leave granted 16 under subsection (a) may consist of paid leave or unpaid 17 leave as the employer of the eligible employee considers 18 appropriate. 19 ‘‘(d) RELATIONSHIP TO PAID LEAVE.—(1) If an em- 20 ployer provides paid leave to an eligible employee for fewer 21 than the total number of workweeks of leave that the eligi- 22 ble employee is entitled to under subsection (a), the addi- 23 tional amount of leave necessary to attain the total num- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8289.IH H8289 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8289 IH ber of workweeks of leave required under subsection (a) 1 may be provided without compensation. 2 ‘‘(2) An eligible employee may elect, and an employer 3 may not require the eligible employee, to substitute any 4 of the accrued paid vacation leave, personal leave, or fam- 5 ily leave of the eligible employee for leave provided under 6 subsection (a) for any part of the total period of such leave 7 the eligible employee is entitled to under such subsection. 8 ‘‘(e) NOTICE FOR LEAVE.—In any case in which an 9 eligible employee chooses to use leave under subsection 10 (a), the eligible employee shall provide such notice to the 11 employer as is reasonable and practicable. 12 ‘‘§ 4403. Certification 13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An employer may require that 14 a request for leave under section 4402(a) of this title be 15 supported by a certification of entitlement to such leave. 16 ‘‘(b) TIMELINESS OF CERTIFICATION.—An eligible 17 employee shall provide, in a timely manner, a copy of the 18 certification required by subsection (a) to the employer. 19 ‘‘(c) SUFFICIENT CERTIFICATION.—A copy of the no- 20 tification, call, or order described in section 4402(a)(2) of 21 this title shall be considered sufficient certification of enti- 22 tlement to leave for purposes of providing certification 23 under this section. The Secretary may prescribe such addi- 24 tional forms and manners of certification as the Secretary 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8289.IH H8289 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8289 IH considers appropriate for purposes of providing certifi- 1 cation under this section. 2 ‘‘§ 4404. Employment and benefits protection 3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible employee who takes 4 leave under section 4402 of this title for the intended pur- 5 pose of the leave shall be entitled, on return from such 6 leave— 7 ‘‘(1) to be restored by the employer to the posi- 8 tion of employment held by the eligible employee 9 when the leave commenced; or 10 ‘‘(2) to be restored to an equivalent position 11 with equivalent rights and benefits of employment. 12 ‘‘(b) LOSS OF BENEFITS.—The taking of leave under 13 section 4402 of this title shall not result in the loss of 14 any employment benefit accrued prior to the date on which 15 the leave commenced. 16 ‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS.—Nothing in this section shall be 17 construed to entitle any restored employee to— 18 ‘‘(1) the accrual of any seniority or employment 19 benefits during any period of leave; or 20 ‘‘(2) any right, benefit, or position of employ- 21 ment other than any right, benefit, or position to 22 which the employee would have been entitled had the 23 employee not taken the leave. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8289.IH H8289 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8289 IH ‘‘§ 4405. Prohibited acts 1 ‘‘(a) EXERCISE OF RIGHTS.—It shall be unlawful for 2 any employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exer- 3 cise of or the attempt to exercise, any right provided under 4 this chapter. 5 ‘‘(b) DISCRIMINATION.—It shall be unlawful for any 6 employer to discharge or in any other manner discriminate 7 against any individual for opposing any practice made un- 8 lawful by this chapter. 9 ‘‘§ 4406. Enforcement 10 ‘‘The provisions of subchapter III of chapter 43 of 11 this title shall apply with respect to the provisions of this 12 chapter as if such provisions were incorporated into and 13 made part of this chapter. 14 ‘‘§ 4407. Miscellaneous provisions 15 ‘‘The provisions of subchapter IV of chapter 43 of 16 this title shall apply with respect to the provisions of this 17 chapter as if such provisions were incorporated into and 18 made part of this chapter.’’. 19 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of chapters 20 at the beginning of title 38, United States Code, and at 21 the beginning of part III of such title, are each amended 22 by inserting after the item relating to chapter 43 the fol- 23 lowing new item: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8289.IH H8289 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8289 IH ‘‘44. Annual Leave for Family of Deployed Members of the Uniformed Services ....................................... 4401’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8289.IH H8289 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS