FAMILY Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3481 To provide paid family and medical leave benefits to certain individuals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 18, 2023 Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Ms. KUSTER, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Ms. PETTERSEN, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. DELUZIO, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PHILLIPS, Ms. TITUS, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. EVANS, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. OMAR, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Ms. WEXTON, Mr. NADLER, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. MFUME, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. POCAN, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. MCGARVEY, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Mr. TONKO, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. PETERS, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. NICKEL, Ms. LOFGREN, and Ms. STRICKLAND) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To provide paid family and medical leave benefits to certain individuals, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3481 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Family and Medical 2 Insurance Leave Act’’ or the ‘‘FAMILY Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 5 (1) CAREGIVING DAY.— 6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘caregiving 7 day’’ means, with respect to an individual, a 8 calendar day in which the individual engaged in 9 qualified caregiving. 10 (B) LIMITATIONS.—An individual may not 11 exceed— 12 (i) with respect to any month, 20 13 caregiving days; or 14 (ii) with respect to any benefit period, 15 60 caregiving days. 16 (2) COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis- 17 sioner’’ means the Commissioner of Social Security. 18 (3) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Dep- 19 uty Commissioner’’ means the Deputy Commissioner 20 who heads the Office of Paid Family and Medical 21 Leave established under section 3(a). 22 (4) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 23 individual’’ means an individual who is entitled to a 24 benefit under section 4 for a particular month, upon 25 filing an application for such benefit for such month. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3481 IH (5) QUALIFIED CAREGIVING.— 1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘qualified 2 caregiving’’ means any activity engaged in by 3 an individual, other than regular employment, 4 for a qualifying reason. 5 (B) QUALIFYING REASON.— 6 (i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 7 subparagraph (A), the term ‘‘qualifying 8 reason’’ means any of the following rea- 9 sons for taking leave: 10 (I) Any reason for which an eligi- 11 ble employee would be entitled to 12 leave under subparagraph (A), (B), or 13 (E) of paragraph (1) of section 102(a) 14 of the Family and Medical Leave Act 15 of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)). 16 (II) In order to care for a quali- 17 fied family member of the individual, 18 if such qualified family member has a 19 serious health condition. 20 (III) Because of a serious health 21 condition that makes the individual 22 unable to perform the services re- 23 quired under the terms of their reg- 24 ular employment. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3481 IH (IV) In order to, as a result of 1 domestic violence, sexual assault, or 2 stalking— 3 (aa) seek medical attention 4 for the employee or the employ- 5 ee’s child, parent, spouse, domes- 6 tic partner, or any other indi- 7 vidual related by blood or affinity 8 whose close association with the 9 employee is the equivalent of a 10 family relationship, to recover 11 from physical or psychological in- 12 jury or disability caused by do- 13 mestic violence, sexual assault, or 14 stalking; 15 (bb) obtain or assist a re- 16 lated person described in item 17 (aa) in obtaining services from a 18 victim services organization; 19 (cc) obtain or assist a re- 20 lated person described in item 21 (aa) in obtaining psychological or 22 other counseling; 23 (dd) seek relocation; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3481 IH (ee) take legal action, in- 1 cluding preparing for or partici- 2 pating in any civil or criminal 3 legal proceeding related to or re- 4 sulting from domestic violence, 5 sexual assault, or stalking. 6 (ii) QUALIFIED FAMILY MEMBER; SE- 7 RIOUS HEALTH CONDITION.—In this sub- 8 paragraph: 9 (I) QUALIFIED FAMILY MEM- 10 BER.—The term ‘‘qualified family 11 member’’ means, which respect to an 12 individual— 13 (aa) a spouse (including a 14 domestic partner in a civil union 15 or other registered domestic part- 16 nership recognized by a State) or 17 a parent of such spouse; 18 (bb) a child (regardless of 19 age) or a child’s spouse; 20 (cc) a parent or a parent’s 21 spouse; 22 (dd) a sibling or a sibling’s 23 spouse; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3481 IH (ee) a grandparent, a grand- 1 child, or a spouse of a grand- 2 parent or grandchild; and 3 (ff) any other individual who 4 is related by blood or affinity and 5 whose association with the em- 6 ployee is equivalent of a family 7 relationship. 8 (II) SERIOUS HEALTH CONDI- 9 TION.—The term ‘‘serious health con- 10 dition’’ has the meaning given such 11 term in section 101(11) of the Family 12 and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 13 U.S.C. 2611(11)). 14 (iii) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For pur- 15 poses of clause (i)(IV): 16 (I) CHILD.—The term ‘‘child’’ 17 means, regardless of age, a biological, 18 foster, or adopted child, a stepchild, a 19 child of a domestic partner, a legal 20 ward, or a child of a person standing 21 in loco parentis. 22 (II) DOMESTIC PARTNER.— 23 (aa) IN GENERAL.—The 24 term ‘‘domestic partner’’, with 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3481 IH respect to an individual, means 1 another individual with whom the 2 individual is in a committed rela- 3 tionship. 4 (bb) COMMITTED RELATION- 5 SHIP DEFINED.—The term ‘‘com- 6 mitted relationship’’ means a re- 7 lationship between 2 individuals, 8 each at least 18 years of age, in 9 which each individual is the other 10 individual’s sole domestic partner 11 and both individuals share re- 12 sponsibility for a significant 13 measure of each other’s common 14 welfare. The term includes any 15 such relationship between 2 indi- 16 viduals, including individuals of 17 the same sex, that is granted 18 legal recognition by a State or 19 political subdivision of a State as 20 a marriage or analogous relation- 21 ship, including a civil union or 22 domestic partnership. 23 (III) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—The 24 term ‘‘domestic violence’’ has the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3481 IH meaning given the term in section 1 40002(a) of the Violence Against 2 Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 3 12291(a)), except that the reference 4 in such section to the term ‘‘jurisdic- 5 tion receiving grant monies’’ shall be 6 deemed to mean the jurisdiction in 7 which the victim lives or the jurisdic- 8 tion in which the employer involved is 9 located. Such term also includes ‘‘dat- 10 ing violence’’, as that term is defined 11 in such section. 12 (IV) PARENT.—The term ‘‘par- 13 ent’’ means a biological, foster, or 14 adoptive parent of an employee, a 15 stepparent of an employee, parent-in- 16 law, parent of a domestic partner, or 17 a legal guardian or other person who 18 stood in loco parentis to an employee 19 when the employee was a child. 20 (V) SEXUAL ASSAULT.—The 21 term ‘‘sexual assault’’ has the mean- 22 ing given the term in section 40002(a) 23 of the Violence Against Women Act of 24 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3481 IH (VI) SPOUSE.—The term 1 ‘‘spouse’’, with respect to an em- 2 ployee, has the meaning given such 3 term by the marriage laws of the 4 State in which the marriage was cele- 5 brated. 6 (VII) STALKING.—The term 7 ‘‘stalking’’ has the meaning given the 8 term in section 40002(a) of the Vio- 9 lence Against Women Act of 1994 (34 10 U.S.C. 12291(a)). 11 (VIII) VICTIM SERVICES ORGANI- 12 ZATION.—The term ‘‘victim services 13 organization’’ means a nonprofit, non- 14 governmental organization that pro- 15 vides assistance to victims of domestic 16 violence, sexual assault, or stalking or 17 advocates for such victims, including a 18 rape crisis center, an organization 19 carrying out a domestic violence, sex- 20 ual assault, or stalking prevention or 21 treatment program, an organization 22 operating a shelter or providing coun- 23 seling services, or a legal services or- 24 ganization or other organization pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 3481 IH viding assistance through the legal 1 process. 2 (C) TREATMENT OF INDIVIDUALS COV- 3 ERED BY LEGACY STATE COMPREHENSIVE PAID 4 LEAVE PROGRAM.— 5 (i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 6 subparagraph (A), an activity engaged in 7 by an individual shall not be considered as 8 other than regular employment if, for the 9 time during which the individual was so 10 engaged, the individual is taking leave 11 from covered employment under the law of 12 a legacy State (as defined in section 4(c)). 13 (ii) UNEMPLOYED.—In the case of an 14 individual who is no longer employed, such 15 individual shall be treated, for purposes of 16 clause (i), as taking leave from covered 17 employment under the law of a legacy 18 State (as so defined) with respect to the 19 portion of the time during which the indi- 20 vidual was engaged in an activity for a 21 qualifying reason corresponding to the 22 share of the individual’s workweek that 23 was in covered employment under the law 24 of a legacy State (as so defined). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •HR 3481 IH (6) NATIONAL AVERAGE WAGE INDEX.—The 1 term ‘‘national average wage index’’ has the mean- 2 ing given such term in section 209(k)(1) of the So- 3 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 409(k)(1)). 4 (7) SELF-EMPLOYMENT INCOME.—The term 5 ‘‘self-employment income’’ has the same meaning as 6 such term in section 211(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 7 411(b)). 8 (8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 9 State of the United States or the District of Colum- 10 bia or any territory or possession of the United 11 States. 12 (9) WAGES.—The term ‘‘wages’’ has the mean- 13 ing given such term in section 3121(a) of the Inter- 14 nal Revenue Code of 1986 for purposes of the taxes 15 imposed by sections 3101(b) and 3111(b) of such 16 Code (without regard to section 3121(u)(2)(C) of 17 such Code), except that such term also includes— 18 (A) compensation, as defined in section 19 3231(e) of such Code for purposes of the Rail- 20 road Retirement Tax Act; and 21 (B) unemployment compensation, as de- 22 fined in section 85(b) of such Code. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •HR 3481 IH SEC. 3. OFFICE OF PAID FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE. 1 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.—There is estab- 2 lished within the Social Security Administration an office 3 to be known as the Office of Paid Family and Medical 4 Leave. The Office shall be headed by a Deputy Commis- 5 sioner who shall be appointed by the Commissioner. 6 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF DEPUTY COMMIS- 7 SIONER.—The Commissioner, acting through the Deputy 8 Commissioner, shall be responsible for— 9 (1) hiring personnel and making employment 10 decisions with regard to such personnel; 11 (2) issuing such regulations as may be nec- 12 essary to carry out the purposes of this Act; 13 (3) entering into cooperative agreements with 14 other agencies and departments to ensure the effi- 15 ciency of the administration of the program; 16 (4) determining eligibility for family and med- 17 ical leave insurance benefits under section 4; 18 (5) determining benefit amounts for each 19 month of such eligibility and making timely pay- 20 ments of such benefits to entitled individuals in ac- 21 cordance with such section; 22 (6) establishing and maintaining a system of 23 records relating to the administration of such sec- 24 tion; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3481.IH H3481 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 13 •HR 3481 IH (7) preventing fraud and abuse relating to such 1 benefits; 2 (8) providing information on request regarding 3 eligibility requirements, the claims process, benefit 4 amounts, maximum benefits payable, notice require- 5 ments, nondiscrimination rights, confidentiality, co- 6 ordination of leave under this Act and other laws, 7 collective bargaining agreements, and employer poli- 8 cies; 9 (9) annually providing employers a notice in- 10 forming employees of the availability of such bene- 11 fits; 12 (10) annually making available to the public a 13 report that includes the number of individuals who 14 received such benefits, the purposes for which such 15 benefits were received, and an analysis of utilization 16 rates of such benefits by gender, race, ethnicity, and 17 income levels; and 18 (11) tailoring culturally and linguistically com- 19 petent education and outreach toward increasing uti- 20 lization rates of benefits under such section. 21 (c) AVAILABILITY OF DATA.—Notwithstanding any 22 other provision of law, the Commissioner shall make avail- 23 able to the Deputy Commissioner such data as the Com- 24 missioner determines necessary to enable the Deputy 25 VerDate Se [Text truncated for display. 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