Family and Medical Leave Clarification Act

Summary: Allows employers to require that intermittent leave be taken in increments of up to half a work day.
Requires employees to: (1) request leave be designated as FMLA leave; (2) provide written application within five working days of providing notice to the employer for foreseeable leave; and (3) with respect to unforeseeable leave, to provide, at a minimum, verbal notification of the need for the leave not later than the time the leave commences, unless the employee is physically or mentally incapable of providing notice or submitting the application.
Permits employers to require employees to choose between taking unpaid leave provided by the FMLA or paid absence under an employer's collective bargaining agreement or other sick leave, sick pay, or disability plan, program, or policy of the employer.
Directs the Secretary of Labor to review all existing regulations for implementing FMLA, and to issue new regulations revised to reflect the amendments made by this Act.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Family and Medical 
Leave Clarification Act''.
    (b) References.--Whenever in this Act an amendment is expressed in 
terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, 
the reference shall be considered to be made to that section or other 
provision of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.
    (c) Table of Contents.--The table of contents is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; references; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definition of serious health condition.
Sec. 4. Intermittent leave.
Sec. 5. Request for leave.
Sec. 6. Substitution of paid leave.
Sec. 7. Regulations.
Sec. 8. Effective date.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (in this 
        section referred to as the ``Act'') is not working as Congress 
        intended when it passed the Act in 1993. Many employers, 
        including those nationally recognized as having generous 
        family-friendly benefit and leave programs, are experiencing 
        serious problems complying with the Act.
            (2) The Department of Labor's overly broad regulations and 
        interpretations have caused many of these problems by greatly 
        expanding the Act's coverage to apply to many non-serious 
        health conditions.
            (3) Documented problems generated by the Act include 
        significant new administrative and personnel costs, loss of 
        productivity and scheduling difficulties, unnecessary paperwork 
        and record keeping, and other compliance problems.
            (4) The Act often conflicts with employers' existing paid 
        sick leave policies and prevent employers from managing 
        absences through their absence control plans and results in 
        most leave under the Act becoming paid leave.
            (5) The Commission on Leave, established in title III of 
        the Act, which reported few difficulties with compliance with 
        the Act, failed to identify many of the problems with 
        compliance because its study was conducted too soon after the 
        enactment of the Act and the most significant problems with 
        compliance arose only when employers later sought to comply 
        with the Act's final regulations and interpretations.

SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITION.

    (a) Amendment.--Section 101(11) (29 U.S.C. 2611(11)) is amended by 
adding after and below subparagraph (B) the following:
        ``The term `serious health condition' does not cover short-term 
        conditions for which treatment and recovery are very brief. 
        Conditions covered include, for example, heart attacks, heart 
        conditions requiring extensive therapy or surgical procedures, 
        strokes, severe respiratory conditions, spinal injuries, 
        appendicitis, pneumonia, emphysema, severe arthritis, severe 
        nervous disorders, injuries caused by serious accidents on or 
        off the job, ongoing pregnancy, miscarriages, complications or 
        illnesses related to pregnancy, such as severe morning 
        sickness, the need for prenatal care, childbirth, and recovery 
        from childbirth.''.
    (b) Regulations.--
            (1) Repeal.--The regulations of the Secretary of Labor, 
        published at sections 825.114 and 825.115 of title 29 of the 
        Code of Federal Regulations, and opinion letters promulgated 
        thereunder shall be null and void on the effective date of 
        final regulations issued under paragraph (2).
            (2) New regulations.--The Secretary of Labor shall revise 
        the regulations referred to in paragraph (1) and shall issue 
        proposed regulations making such revision not later than 90 
        days after the date of enactment of this Act and shall issue 
        final regulations not later than 180 days after such date of 
        enactment.
            (3) Transition.--With respect to leave and requests for 
        leave made under section 102 of the Family and Medical Leave 
        Act of 1993 occurring before the effective date of the final 
        regulations under paragraph (2), an employer may rely on the 
        regulations of the Secretary referred to in paragraph (1). In 
        any action to enforce the requirements of such Act pending on 
        or after the effective date of such final regulations, no 
        provision of the regulations referred to in paragraph (1) may 
        be cited as evidence of an employer's non-compliance with such 
        Act.

SEC. 4. INTERMITTENT LEAVE.

    Section 102(b)(1) (29 U.S.C. 2612(b)(1)) is amended by striking the 
period at the end of the second sentence and inserting the following: 
``as certified by the health care provider after each leave occurrence. 
An employer may require an employee to take intermittent leave in 
increments of up to one-half of a work day. Employers may require 
employees who travel as part of their normal day-to-day work or duty 
assignments to take leave for the duration of that work or assignment 
if the employer cannot reasonably accommodate the employee's request to 
take leave intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule.''.

SEC. 5. REQUEST FOR LEAVE.

    Section 102(a) (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)) is amended by inserting after 
paragraph (2) the following:
            ``(3) Request for leave.--When an employer does not 
        exercise under subsection (d)(2) the right to substitute other 
employer provided leave for leave under this title, an employer may 
require an employee who wants leave under this title to request in a 
timely manner such leave. If required by the employer, an employee who 
fails to make such a timely request may be denied leave under this 
title.
            ``(4) Timeliness of request for leave.--As used in 
        paragraph (3) of this subsection, a request for leave is timely 
        if--
                    ``(A) in the case of foreseeable leave, the 
                employee provides the applicable advance notice 
                required by subsection (e) and submits any written 
                application required by the employer within 5 working 
                days of providing the notice to the employer; and
                    ``(B) in the case of unforeseeable leave, the 
                employee notifies the employer verbally of the need for 
                the leave no later than the time the leave commences 
                and submits any written application required by the 
                employer within 5 working days of providing the notice 
                to the employer, except that the 5-day period will be 
                extended as necessary if the employee is physically or 
                mentally incapable of providing notice or submitting 
                the application.''.

SEC. 6. SUBSTITUTION OF PAID LEAVE.

    Section 102(d)(2) (29 U.S.C. 2612(d)(2)) is amended by adding at 
the end the following:
                    ``(C) Paid absence.--Notwithstanding subparagraphs 
                (A) and (B), with respect to leave provided under 
                subparagraph (D) of subsection (a)(1), where an 
                employer provides paid absence under an employer's 
                collective bargaining agreement, a welfare benefit plan 
                under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
                1974, or under any other sick leave, sick pay, or 
                disability plan, program, or policy of the employer, an 
                employer may require the employee to choose between 
                such paid absence and unpaid leave provided under this 
                title.''.

SEC. 7. REGULATIONS.

    (a) General Rule.--Except as provided in section 3(b)(2), not later 
than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Labor shall review and revise all regulations promulgated 
before such date to implement the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 
to reflect the amendments made by this Act.
    (b) With respect to actions taken by an employer before the 
effective date of such revised regulations, compliance with the 
regulations in effect before such date shall be deemed to constitute 
full compliance with this Act. After the effective date of this Act, 
the Secretary may not enforce regulations in effect before such date.

SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect upon the 
expiration of 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.