II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4777 

To restore leave lost by Federal employees during certain public health 

emergencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 30 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 29), 2020 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. BROWN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. 

DUCKWORTH, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. CARDIN, and Ms. WARREN) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To restore leave lost by Federal employees during certain 

public health emergencies, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Worker Leave 

5 Fairness Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RESTORATION OF LEAVE. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘agency’’ means each agency, of9 fice, or other establishment in the executive, legislaVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4777.IS S4777

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1 tive, or judicial branch of the Federal Government, 

2 including— 

3 (A) the Federal Aviation Administration; 

4 (B) the Transportation Security Adminis5 tration; 

6 (C) the Department of Veterans Affairs; 

7 (D) the United States Postal Service; 

8 (E) the Postal Regulatory Commission; 

9 (F) the Library of Congress; and 

10 (G) the Government Accountability Office; 

11 and 

12 (2) the term ‘‘employee’’— 

13 (A) means an employee of an agency; and 

14 (B) includes— 

15 (i) a covered employee, as that term is 

16 defined in section 101 of the Congressional 

17 Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 

18 1301), other than an applicant for employ19 ment; 

20 (ii) a covered employee, as that term 

21 is defined in section 411(c) of title 3, 

22 United States Code; 

23 (iii) an employee of the Department of 

24 Veterans Affairs, including an employee 

25 appointed under chapter 74 of title 38, 


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1 United States Code, without regard to 

2 whether section 7421(a) of that title, sec3 tion 7425(b) of that title, or any other pro4 vision of chapter 74 of that title is incon5 sistent with that inclusion; 

6 (iv) an employee of the Transpor7 tation Security Administration, including 

8 an employee under section 111(d) of the 

9 Aviation and Transportation Security Act 

10 (49 U.S.C. 44935 note); 

11 (v) a Foreign Service officer; 

12 (vi) an employee of the Diplomatic Se13 curity Service of the Department of State; 

14 and 

15 (vii) any other individual occupying a 

16 position in the civil service, as that term is 

17 defined in section 2101(1) of title 5, 

18 United States Code. 

19 (b) RESTORATION OF LEAVE.—Any leave lost by an 

20 employee during a pandemic declared to be a nationwide 

21 public health emergency under section 319 of the Public 

22 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) because the amount 

23 of the leave accumulated by the employee would have been 

24 in excess of the maximum amount that may be accumu25 lated by the employee under any provision of law or policy 


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1 (including under section 6304 of title 5, United States 

2 Code) shall be restored to the employee. 

3 (c) APPLICABILITY.—Subsection (b) shall apply to 

4 any leave lost on or after the date of enactment of this 

5 Act. 

Æ 


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