Freight Rail Workforce Health and Safety Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3255 To amend title 49, United States Code, with respect to sick leave for certain employees of Class I railroads, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 11, 2023 Mr. PAYNE (for himself, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. COHEN, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. MAGAZINER, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OMAR, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. TITUS, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. EVANS, Mr. NEGUSE, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Ms. HOYLE of Oregon, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. STRICKLAND, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. MOULTON, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, with respect to sick leave for certain employees of Class I railroads, 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 ‘‘Freight Rail Workforce 4 Health and Safety Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3255.IH H3255 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3255 IH SEC. 2. RAILROAD SAFETY RISK REDUCTION PROGRAM. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 20156(a)(3) of title 49, 2 United States Code, is amended— 3 (1) by inserting ‘‘The Secretary shall not ap- 4 prove a railroad safety risk reduction program plan, 5 or subsequent amendment to a plan, if the railroad 6 carrier submitting such plan or amendment does not 7 comply with the requirements of section 20172. The 8 Secretary may consider other factors in reviewing 9 and approving or disapproving safety risk reduction 10 program plans or amendments to plans that the Sec- 11 retary determines appropriate.’’ after ‘‘reasonable 12 period of time.’’; 13 (2) by inserting ‘‘and approve or disapprove 14 plans’’ after ‘‘conduct a review’’; and 15 (3) by inserting ‘‘, including the requirements 16 of section 20172’’ after ‘‘their plans’’. 17 (b) INJURY AND FATALITY PREVENTION.—Chapter 18 201 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding 19 at the end the following: 20 ‘‘§ 20172. Injury and fatality prevention 21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 22 ‘‘(1) SICK LEAVE.—Not later than 60 days 23 after the date of enactment of this section, each 24 Class I railroad carrier subject to part 271 of title 25 49, Code of Federal Regulations, shall provide the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3255.IH H3255 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3255 IH employees of such rail carrier paid sick leave in ac- 1 cordance with this section. 2 ‘‘(2) ACCOUNTING.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of 4 this section, personal days, holidays, floating 5 holidays, vacation, any other form of accrued 6 leave or any other unpaid leave do not count as 7 days of paid sick leave. 8 ‘‘(B) USE OR ABILITY TO USE.—The use 9 of or the ability to use any such days or leave 10 as paid sick leave days also does not count to- 11 ward satisfying the minimum number of paid 12 sick leave days required by this section. 13 ‘‘(b) ACCRUING PAID SICK LEAVE.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each Class I railroad car- 15 rier described in subsection (a)(1) shall provide the 16 employees of such rail carrier at least 7 days of paid 17 sick leave in a calendar year. 18 ‘‘(2) CARRY OVER.—Each day of paid sick leave 19 that an employee does not take in a calendar year 20 shall be carried over to January 1 of the following 21 calendar year and shall not count toward the min- 22 imum number of sick days set under subsection (a). 23 ‘‘(3) WAGE RATE.—Each day of sick leave that 24 an employee takes shall be paid at the regular hour- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3255.IH H3255 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3255 IH ly wage rate of the employee and is to include com- 1 pensation elements that comprise the wage rate of 2 such employee. 3 ‘‘(c) USE OF PAID SICK LEAVE.—Subject to the con- 4 ditions of subsection (d), a Class I railroad carrier shall 5 permit an employee to use paid sick leave to be absent 6 during any work time because of— 7 ‘‘(1) a physical or mental illness, injury, or 8 medical condition of the employee; 9 ‘‘(2) obtaining diagnosis, care, or preventive 10 care from a health care provider by the employee; 11 ‘‘(3) caring for the child, parent, spouse, or do- 12 mestic partner of an employee or any other indi- 13 vidual related by blood or affinity whose close asso- 14 ciation with the employee is the equivalent of a fam- 15 ily relationship who has any of the conditions or 16 needs for diagnosis, care, or preventive care de- 17 scribed in paragraphs (1) or (2) of this subsection; 18 or 19 ‘‘(4) an absence resulting from domestic vio- 20 lence, sexual assault, or stalking, if the time is to— 21 ‘‘(A) seek medical attention for the em- 22 ployee or the employee’s child, parent, spouse, 23 domestic partner, or an individual related to the 24 employee as described in paragraph (3), to re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3255.IH H3255 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3255 IH cover from physical or psychological injury or 1 disability caused by domestic violence, sexual 2 assault, or stalking; 3 ‘‘(B) obtain or assist a related person de- 4 scribed in paragraph (3) in obtaining services 5 from a victim services organization; 6 ‘‘(C) obtain or assist a related person de- 7 scribed in paragraph (3) in obtaining psycho- 8 logical or other counseling; 9 ‘‘(D) seek relocation; or 10 ‘‘(E) take legal action, including preparing 11 for or participating in any civil or criminal legal 12 proceeding related to or resulting from domestic 13 violence, sexual assault, or stalking. 14 ‘‘(d) UTILIZING PAID SICK LEAVE.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the need for leave is 16 foreseeable, the request by an employee shall be 17 made at least 7 calendar days in advance of the date 18 for which the leave is requested. 19 ‘‘(2) NON-FORESEEABLE REQUESTS.—If the 20 employee is unable to request leave at least 7 cal- 21 endar days in advance, the request shall be made as 22 soon as is practicable. 23 ‘‘(3) NO CONTINGENCY.—A Class I railroad 24 carrier may not make the use of paid sick leave con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3255.IH H3255 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3255 IH tingent on the requesting employee finding a re- 1 placement to cover any work time to be missed by 2 the requesting employee. 3 ‘‘(4) PROHIBITION ON ADVERSE ACTION.—A 4 Class I railroad carrier is prohibited from— 5 ‘‘(A) dismissing, suspending, laying off, de- 6 moting, or disciplining (including assigning 7 points, demerits, or disciplinary citations under 8 any attendance policy) an employee because the 9 employee has requested the use of or has used 10 paid sick leave; and 11 ‘‘(B) taking into account a request by an 12 employee to use or use of paid sick leave in con- 13 nection with in any decision to promote or train 14 the employee. 15 ‘‘(e) MINIMUM DAYS OF PAID SICK LEAVE AND COL- 16 LECTIVE BARGAINING.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The minimum number of 18 paid sick days established by this section that a 19 Class I railroad carrier must provide employees is 20 the minimum number of such days consistent with 21 safety. The use of any 7 days of paid sick leave an- 22 nually, regardless of whether such days are provided 23 under any agreement reached in negotiations be- 24 tween any such Class I railroad carrier and any rep- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3255.IH H3255 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3255 IH resentative of its employees under the Railway 1 Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), shall meet the 2 requirements of subsection (d) of this subsection. 3 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL DAYS.—Additional paid sick 4 days may be collectively bargained between a rail- 5 road carrier and the representatives of employees of 6 such railroad in accordance with the Railway Labor 7 Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). 8 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 ‘‘(1) DAY.—The term ‘day’ means a period of 10 24 consecutive hours. 11 ‘‘(2) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—The term ‘domes- 12 tic violence’— 13 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term in 14 section 40002(a) of the Violence Against 15 Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)), ex- 16 cept that the reference in such section to the 17 term ‘‘jurisdiction receiving grant monies’’ shall 18 be deemed to mean the jurisdiction in which the 19 victim lives or the jurisdiction in which the em- 20 ployer involved is located; and 21 ‘‘(B) includes dating violence, as such term 22 is defined in such section. 23 ‘‘(3) PAID SICK LEAVE.—The term ‘paid sick 24 leave’ means an increment of compensated leave that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3255.IH H3255 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3255 IH can be earned by an employee for use during an ab- 1 sence from employment for any of the reasons de- 2 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection 3 (c). 4 ‘‘(4) SEXUAL ASSAULT.—The term ‘sexual as- 5 sault’ has the meaning given such term in section 6 40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act of 7 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)). 8 ‘‘(5) STALKING.—The term ‘stalking’ has the 9 meaning given such term in section 40002(a) of the 10 Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 11 12291(a)).’’. 12 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap- 13 ter 201 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 14 adding at the end the following: 15 ‘‘20172. Injury and fatality prevention.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3255.IH H3255 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB