I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 770 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2023 

Mr. CASTEN (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. ALLRED, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, 

Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BUSH, Mr. CARSON, Ms. CRAIG, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. 

DEAN of Pennsylvania, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. FOSTER, 

Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. 

NORTON, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. MCGOVERN, 

Mr. NADLER, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Ms. SALINAS, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, 

Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. TITUS, Mr. TRONE, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and Accountability, and House Administration, 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 establish eligibility requirements for education support 

professionals and school support staff under the Family 

and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ESP Family Leave 

3 Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFES5 SIONALS AND SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF. 

6 Section 101(2) of the Family and Medical Leave Act 

7 of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611(2)) is amended by adding at the 

8 end the following: 

9 ‘‘(F) EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFES10 SIONALS AND SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF.— 

11 ‘‘(i) DETERMINATION.—For purposes 

12 of determining whether an employee who is 

13 an education support professional meets 

14 the hours of service requirement specified 

15 in subparagraph (A)(ii), the employee will 

16 be considered to meet the requirement if 

17 the employee has worked a number of 

18 hours equal to not less than 60 percent of 

19 the applicable total monthly hours expected 

20 for the employee’s job description and du21 ties, as assigned for the previous school 

22 year. 

23 ‘‘(ii) FILE.—Each employer of an 

24 education support professional shall main25 tain on file with the Secretary (in accord26 ance with such regulations as the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Feb 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H770.IH H770

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1 retary may prescribe) information speci2 fying the total monthly hours expected for 

3 the employee’s job description and duties 

4 for each school year. 

5 ‘‘(iii) DEFINITIONS.—In this subpara6 graph: 

7 ‘‘(I) EDUCATION SUPPORT PRO8 FESSIONAL.—The term ‘education 

9 support professional’ (who may also 

10 be known as ‘school support staff’) 

11 means an employee employed by an 

12 employer, as defined in paragraph (4), 

13 whose work takes place primarily 

14 within a public school or public insti15 tution of higher education, which may 

16 include— 

17 ‘‘(aa) paraeducators that 

18 provide instructional and non-in19 structional support; 

20 ‘‘(bb) secretarial, clerical, 

21 and administrative support staff; 

22 ‘‘(cc) custodians and mainte23 nance service workers that pro24 vide building and grounds main25 tenance and repair; 


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1 ‘‘(dd) skilled trade workers 

2 that provide services in schools, 

3 such as electricians, carpenters, 

4 and workers who operate machin5 ery; 

6 ‘‘(ee) workers who provide 

7 food service, including prepara8 tion and serving of food; 

9 ‘‘(ff) workers who provide 

10 school transportation and deliv11 ery services; 

12 ‘‘(gg) computer, audiovisual, 

13 and language technical support 

14 staff; 

15 ‘‘(hh) security staff; 

16 ‘‘(ii) nursing, health, and 

17 therapy support staff, who may 

18 also provide community, family, 

19 parent and welfare services; and 

20 ‘‘(jj) other staff that may 

21 serve public education students. 

22 ‘‘(II) EMPLOYER.—The term 

23 ‘employer’ includes a public school or 

24 public institution of higher education 


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1 that meets the definition of employer 

2 in paragraph (4). 

3 ‘‘(III) PUBLIC SCHOOL.—The 

4 term ‘public school’ means a school 

5 that is maintained at public expense 

6 for the education of the children of a 

7 community or district and that con8 stitutes a part of a system of free 

9 public education commonly including 

10 primary and secondary schools, in11 cluding special education cooperatives, 

12 alternative schools, and other similar 

13 facilities. 

14 ‘‘(IV) PUBLIC INSTITUTION OF

15 HIGHER EDUCATION.—The term ‘pub16 lic institution of higher education’ 

17 means an institution of higher edu18 cation, as defined in section 101 of 

19 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

20 U.S.C. 1001), that is funded, at least 

21 partly, by State taxpayers.’’. 

22 SEC. 3. ENTITLEMENT TO LEAVE. 

23 Section 102(a) of the Family and Medical Leave Act 

24 of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)) is amended by adding at the 

25 end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(6) CALCULATION OF LEAVE FOR EDUCATION

2 SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS.—The Secretary may pro3 vide a method for calculating the leave described in 

4 paragraph (1) with respect to employees described in 

5 section 101(2)(F).’’. 

Æ 


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