What This Bill Does
This bill changes the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to include education support professionals and school support staff as eligible employees. These workers will now be able to qualify for family and medical leave using a different calculation method than other employees.
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Who It Affects
- Education support professionals and school support staff employed by public schools and public colleges or universities
- Public schools and public institutions of higher education that employ these workers
- The Secretary of Labor (the federal official who oversees employment laws)
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Key Provisions
- Education support professionals meet the work hour requirement if they worked at least 60 percent of the expected monthly hours for their job position during the previous school year, instead of using the standard hour requirement (Sec. 2)
- Employers must keep a file with the Secretary showing the total monthly hours expected for each education support professional's job duties for each school year (Sec. 2)
- The Secretary may create a special method for calculating family and medical leave time for education support professionals (Sec. 3)
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What Changes
Education support professionals will have a new way to qualify for federal family and medical leave based on working 60 percent of expected hours rather than a fixed number of hours. Schools must document the expected hours for these positions.
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Important Definitions
**Education support professional**: An employee working primarily in a public school or public college whose job includes paraeducators (teaching assistants), office staff, custodians, maintenance workers, skilled trade workers, food service workers, school bus drivers, technology support staff, security staff, nursing and health staff, or other school support roles.
**Public school**: A school funded by public money for community education, including primary, secondary, special education programs, and alternative schools.
**Public institution of higher education**: A college or university partly funded by state taxpayers as defined in the Higher Education Act of 1965.
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Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 226
To establish eligibility requirements for education support professionals and
school support staff under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY 2, 2023
Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. COONS, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. DURBIN, Ms.
KLOBUCHAR, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To establish eligibility requirements for education support
professionals and school support staff under the Family
and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 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 ‘‘ESP Family Leave
4
Act’’.
5
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•S 226 IS
SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFES-
1
SIONALS AND SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF.
2
Section 101(2) of the Family and Medical Leave Act
3
of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611(2)) is amended by adding at the
4
end the following:
5
‘‘(F)
EDUCATION
SUPPORT
PROFES-
6
SIONALS AND SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF.—
7
‘‘(i) DETERMINATION.—For purposes
8
of determining whether an employee who is
9
an education support professional meets
10
the hours of service requirement specified
11
in subparagraph (A)(ii), the employee will
12
be considered to meet the requirement if
13
the employee has worked a number of
14
hours equal to not less than 60 percent of
15
the applicable total monthly hours expected
16
for the employee’s job description and du-
17
ties, as assigned for the previous school
18
year.
19
‘‘(ii) FILE.—Each employer of an
20
education support professional shall main-
21
tain on file with the Secretary (in accord-
22
ance with such regulations as the Sec-
23
retary may prescribe) information speci-
24
fying the total monthly hours expected for
25
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•S 226 IS
the employee’s job description and duties
1
for each school year.
2
‘‘(iii) DEFINITIONS.—In this subpara-
3
graph:
4
‘‘(I) EDUCATION SUPPORT PRO-
5
FESSIONAL.—The
term
‘education
6
support professional’ (who may also
7
be known as ‘school support staff’)
8
means an employee employed by an
9
employer, as defined in paragraph (4),
10
whose work takes place primarily
11
within a public school or public insti-
12
tution of higher education, which may
13
include—
14
‘‘(aa)
paraeducators
that
15
provide instructional and non-in-
16
structional support;
17
‘‘(bb)
secretarial,
clerical,
18
and administrative support staff;
19
‘‘(cc) custodians and mainte-
20
nance service workers that pro-
21
vide building and grounds main-
22
tenance and repair;
23
‘‘(dd) skilled trade workers
24
that provide services in schools,
25
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•S 226 IS
such as electricians, carpenters,
1
and workers who operate machin-
2
ery;
3
‘‘(ee) workers who provide
4
food service, including prepara-
5
tion and serving of food;
6
‘‘(ff) workers who provide
7
school transportation and deliv-
8
ery services;
9
‘‘(gg) computer, audiovisual,
10
and language technical support
11
staff;
12
‘‘(hh) security staff;
13
‘‘(ii) nursing, health, and
14
therapy support staff, who may
15
also provide community, family,
16
parent and welfare services; and
17
‘‘(jj) other staff that may
18
serve public education students.
19
‘‘(II)
EMPLOYER.—The
term
20
‘employer’ includes a public school or
21
public institution of higher education
22
that meets the definition of employer
23
in paragraph (4).
24
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•S 226 IS
‘‘(III)
PUBLIC
SCHOOL.—The
1
term ‘public school’ means a school
2
that is maintained at public expense
3
for the education of the children of a
4
community or district and that con-
5
stitutes a part of a system of free
6
public education commonly including
7
primary and secondary schools, in-
8
cluding special education cooperatives,
9
alternative schools, and other similar
10
facilities.
11
‘‘(IV) PUBLIC
INSTITUTION
OF
12
HIGHER EDUCATION.—The term ‘pub-
13
lic institution of higher education’
14
means an institution of higher edu-
15
cation, as defined in section 101 of
16
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
17
U.S.C. 1001), that is funded, at least
18
partly, by State taxpayers.’’.
19
SEC. 3. ENTITLEMENT TO LEAVE.
20
Section 102(a) of the Family and Medical Leave Act
21
of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)) is amended by adding at the
22
end the following:
23
‘‘(6) CALCULATION OF LEAVE FOR EDUCATION
24
SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS.—The Secretary may pro-
25
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•S 226 IS
vide a method for calculating the leave described in
1
paragraph (1) with respect to employees described in
2
section 101(2)(F).’’.
3
Æ
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