Healthy Families Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3409 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 MAY 17, 2023 Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. CARSON, Ms. KUSTER, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. FOSTER, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. DELUZIO, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PHILLIPS, Ms. ROSS, Mr. KILMER, Mr. BEYER, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. EVANS, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. CASAR, Ms. OMAR, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Mr. NADLER, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. LAR- SON of Connecticut, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. MORELLE, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. CHU, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. POR- TER, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. BLUNT ROCH- ESTER, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. POCAN, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. MCGARVEY, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Mr. TONKO, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. PETERS, Mr. MAGAZINER, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania, Ms. DELBENE, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. LIEU, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. NICKEL, and Ms. LOFGREN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, and Oversight and Accountability, 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 committee concerned A BILL To allow Americans to earn paid sick time so that they VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3409.IH H3409 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3409 IH can address their own health needs and the health needs of their families. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Healthy Families Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 5 In this Act: 6 (1) CHILD.—The term ‘‘child’’ means a biologi- 7 cal, foster, or adopted child, a stepchild, a child of 8 a domestic partner, a legal ward, or a child of a per- 9 son standing in loco parentis. 10 (2) COMMERCE.—The terms ‘‘commerce’’ and 11 ‘‘industry or activity affecting commerce’’ mean any 12 activity, business, or industry in commerce or in 13 which a labor dispute would hinder or obstruct com- 14 merce or the free flow of commerce, and include 15 ‘‘commerce’’ and any ‘‘industry affecting com- 16 merce’’, as defined in paragraphs (1) and (3) of sec- 17 tion 501 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 18 1947 (29 U.S.C. 142 (1) and (3)). 19 (3) DOMESTIC PARTNER.— 20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘domestic 21 partner’’, with respect to an individual, means 22 another individual with whom the individual is 23 in a committed relationship. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3409.IH H3409 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3409 IH (B) COMMITTED RELATIONSHIP DE- 1 FINED.—The term ‘‘committed relationship’’ 2 means a relationship between 2 individuals, 3 each at least 18 years of age, in which each in- 4 dividual is the other individual’s sole domestic 5 partner and both individuals share responsi- 6 bility for a significant measure of each other’s 7 common welfare. The term includes any such 8 relationship between 2 individuals, including in- 9 dividuals of the same sex, that is granted legal 10 recognition by a State or political subdivision of 11 a State as a marriage or analogous relationship, 12 including a civil union or domestic partnership. 13 (4) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—The term ‘‘domestic 14 violence’’ has the meaning given the term in section 15 40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act of 16 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)), except that the ref- 17 erence in such section to the term ‘‘jurisdiction re- 18 ceiving grant funding’’ shall be deemed to mean the 19 jurisdiction in which the victim lives or the jurisdic- 20 tion in which the employer involved is located. Such 21 term also includes ‘‘dating violence’’, as that term is 22 defined in such section. 23 (5) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 24 an individual who is— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3409.IH H3409 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3409 IH (A)(i) an employee, as defined in section 1 3(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 2 (29 U.S.C. 203(e)), who is not covered under 3 any other provision of this paragraph, including 4 such an employee of the Library of Congress, 5 except that a reference in such section to an 6 employer shall be considered to be a reference 7 to an employer described in paragraph 8 (6)(A)(i)(I); 9 (ii) an employee of the Government Ac- 10 countability Office; or 11 (iii) an employee of a covered employer de- 12 scribed in paragraph (6)(B)(i)(V) who performs 13 work that has been traditionally performed by 14 employees in a railroad industry craft or class 15 recognized under the Ninth paragraph of sec- 16 tion 2 of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 17 152), including any employee who performs— 18 (I) work with respect to the movement 19 of trains; 20 (II) maintenance of way work; 21 (III) signal work; 22 (IV) work for purposes of the inspec- 23 tion, maintenance, repair, or cleaning of lo- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3409.IH H3409 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3409 IH comotives, rail maintenance facilities, rail- 1 related equipment, or rail cars; 2 (V) dispatching work; 3 (VI) work with respect to the move- 4 ment of equipment within a rail yard; or 5 (VII) rail clerical or communications 6 work; 7 (B) a State employee described in section 8 304(a) of the Government Employee Rights Act 9 of 1991 (42 U.S.C. 2000e–16c(a)); 10 (C) a covered employee, as defined in sec- 11 tion 101 of the Congressional Accountability 12 Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1301), other than an ap- 13 plicant for employment; 14 (D) a covered employee, as defined in sec- 15 tion 411(c) of title 3, United States Code; or 16 (E) a Federal officer or employee covered 17 under subchapter V of chapter 63 of title 5, 18 United States Code (without regard to the limi- 19 tation in section 6381(1)(B) of that title). 20 (6) EMPLOYER.— 21 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘employer’’ 22 means a person who is— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3409.IH H3409 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3409 IH (i)(I) a covered employer who is not 1 described in any other subclause of this 2 clause; 3 (II) an entity employing a State em- 4 ployee described in section 304(a) of the 5 Government Employee Rights Act of 1991; 6 (III) an employing office, as defined 7 in section 101 of the Congressional Ac- 8 countability Act of 1995; 9 (IV) an employing office, as defined in 10 section 411(c) of title 3, United States 11 Code; or 12 (V) an employing agency covered 13 under subchapter V of chapter 63 of title 14 5, United States Code; and 15 (ii) engaged in commerce (including 16 government), or an industry or activity af- 17 fecting commerce (including government). 18 (B) COVERED EMPLOYER.— 19 (i) IN GENERAL.—In subparagraph 20 (A)(i)(I), the term ‘‘covered employer’’— 21 (I) means any person engaged in 22 commerce or in any industry or activ- 23 ity affecting commerce who employs 24 15 or more employees for each work- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3409.IH H3409 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3409 IH ing day during each of 20 or more 1 calendar workweeks in the current or 2 preceding year; 3 (II) means a smaller employer, to 4 which the special rule in paragraph 5 (3) of section 3(a) applies; 6 (III) means the Government Ac- 7 countability Office and the Library of 8 Congress; 9 (IV) includes— 10 (aa) any person who acts, 11 directly or indirectly, in the inter- 12 est of an employer covered by 13 this clause to any of the employ- 14 ees of such employer; and 15 (bb) any successor in inter- 16 est of such an employer; and 17 (V) includes any rail carrier. 18 (ii) PUBLIC AGENCY.—For purposes 19 of clause (i), a public agency, as defined in 20 section 3(x) of the Fair Labor Standards 21 Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203(x)), shall be 22 considered to be a person engaged in com- 23 merce or in an industry or activity affect- 24 ing commerce. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3409.IH H3409 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3409 IH (iii) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 1 this subparagraph: 2 (I) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘em- 3 ployee’’ has the meaning given such 4 term in section 3(e) of the Fair Labor 5 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 6 203(e)). 7 (II) PERSON.—The term ‘‘per- 8 son’’ has the meaning given such term 9 in section 3(a) of the Fair Labor 10 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 11 203(a)). 12 (III) SMALLER EMPLOYER.—The 13 term ‘‘smaller employer’’ means any 14 person engaged in commerce or in any 15 industry or activity affecting com- 16 merce who employs fewer than 15 em- 17 ployees for each working day during 18 each of 20 or more calendar work- 19 weeks in the preceding year. 20 (C) PREDECESSORS.—Any reference in 21 this paragraph to an employer, including such 22 a smaller employer, shall include a reference to 23 any predecessor of such employer. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3409.IH H3409 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3409 IH (7) EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.—The term ‘‘em- 1 ployment benefits’’ means all benefits provided or 2 made available to employees by an employer, includ- 3 ing group life insurance, health insurance, disability 4 insurance, sick leave, annual leave, educational bene- 5 fits, and pensions, regardless of whether such bene- 6 fits are provided by a practice or written policy of 7 an employer or through an ‘‘employee benefit plan’’, 8 as defined in section 3(3) of the Employee Retire- 9 ment Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 10 1002(3)). 11 (8) HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.—The term 12 ‘‘health care provider’’ means a provider who— 13 (A)(i) is a doctor of medicine or osteopathy 14 who is authorized to practice medicine or sur- 15 gery (as appropriate) by the State in which the 16 doctor practices; or 17 (ii) is any other person determined by the 18 Secretary to be capable of providing health care 19 services; and 20 (B) is not employed by an employer for 21 whom the provider issues certification under 22 this Act. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3409.IH H3409 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 3409 IH (9) PAID SICK TIME.—The term ‘‘paid sick 1 time’’ means an increment of compensated leave 2 that— 3 (A) can be earned by an employee for use 4 during an absence from employment for any of 5 the reasons described in paragraphs (1) 6 through (4) of section 3(b); and 7 (B) is compensated at a rate that is not 8 less than the greater of— 9 (i) the regular rate of pay of the em- 10 ployee; 11 (ii) the rate specified in section 12 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act 13 of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)); or 14 (iii) the rate specified in the applica- 15 ble State or local minimum wage law. 16 (10) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ means a bi- 17 ological, foster, or adoptive parent of an employee, 18 a stepparent of an employee, parent-in-law, parent 19 of a domestic partner, or a legal guardian or other 20 person who stood in loco parentis to an employee 21 when the employee was a child. 22 (11) RAIL CARRIER.—The term ‘‘rail carrier’’ 23 has the meaning given such term in section 10102 24 of title 49, United States Code. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3409.IH H3409 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •HR 3409 IH (12) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 1 means the Secretary of Labor. 2 (13) SEXUAL ASSAULT.—The term ‘‘sexual as- 3 sault’’ has the meaning given the term in section 4 40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act of 5 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)). 6 (14) SPOUSE.—The term ‘‘spouse’’, with re- 7 spect to an employee, has the meaning given such 8 term by the marriage laws of the State in which the 9 marriage was celebrated. 10 (15) STALKING.—The term ‘‘stalking’’ has the 11 meaning given the term in section 40002(a) of the 12 Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 13 12291(a)). 14 (16) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 15 ing given the term in section 3 of the Fair Labor 16 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203). 17 (17) UNPAID SICK TIME.—The term ‘‘unpaid 18 sick time’’ means the leave earned and used in the 19 same manner and under the same conditions and 20 procedures as paid sick time for the purposes of this 21 Act, except that no compensation shall be paid. 22 (18) VICTIM SERVICES ORGANIZATION.—The 23 term ‘‘victim services organization’’ means a non- 24 profit, nongovernmental organization that provides 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3409.IH H3409 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •HR 3409 IH assistance to victims of domestic violence, sexual as- 1 sault, or stalking or advocates for such victims, in- 2 cluding a rape crisis center, an organization carrying 3 out a domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking 4 prevention or treatment program, an organization 5 operating a shelter or providing counseling services, 6 or a legal services organization or other organization 7 providing assistance through the legal process. 8 SEC. 3. EARNED PAID SICK TIME. 9 (a) EARNING OF PAID SICK TIME.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—An employer shall provide 11 each employee employed by the employer not less 12 than 1 hour of earned paid sick time for every 30 13 hours worked, to be used as described in this sec- 14 tion. An employer shall not be required to permit an 15 employee to earn, under this section, more than 56 16 hours of paid sick time in a year, unless the em- 17 ployer chooses to set a higher limit. 18 (2) EXEMPT EMPLOYEES.— 19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 20 subparagraph (B), [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]