II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 880 

To amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to provide for 8 

weeks of paid leave for Senate employees giving birth, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2007 

Mr. STEVENS (for himself, Mr. BYRD, and Mr. INOUYE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to 

provide for 8 weeks of paid leave for Senate employees 

giving birth, 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 ‘‘Senate Family Leave 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PAID LEAVE FOR LEGISLATIVE BRANCH EMPLOY7 EES. 

8 Section 202 of the Congressional Accountability Act 

9 of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1312) is amended— 

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1 (1) in subsection (a)— 

2 (A) by striking paragraph (2); and 

3 (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(2) PAID LEAVE FOLLOWING BIRTH.— 

6 ‘‘(A) LEAVE FOLLOWING BIRTH TO ASSIST

7 IN EMPLOYEE’S RECOVERY.—Leave granted 

8 under paragraph (1) in accordance with section 

9 102(a)(1)(D) of the Family and Medical Leave 

10 Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)(D)) to an 

11 employee who gives birth shall include paid 

12 leave for a contiguous period immediately fol13 lowing the birth, to assist in the employee’s re14 covery. The employee shall be entitled to the 

15 paid leave for 7 contiguous workweeks, or for 

16 such lesser amount of leave time as is available 

17 to the employee under paragraph (1). 

18 ‘‘(B) LEAVE FOLLOWING BIRTH GEN19 ERALLY.—Leave granted under paragraph (1) 

20 in accordance with section 102(a)(1)(A) of the 

21 Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 

22 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)(A)) to an employee because 

23 of the birth of a son or daughter of the em24 ployee shall include paid leave. The employee 

25 shall be entitled to the paid leave for 1 workmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 week, or for such lesser amount of leave time 

2 as is available to the employee under paragraph 

3 (1). 

4 ‘‘(3) PAID LEAVE FOLLOWING PLACEMENT FOR

5 ADOPTION OR FOSTER CARE.—Leave granted under 

6 paragraph (1) in accordance with section 

7 102(a)(1)(B) of the Family and Medical Leave Act 

8 of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)(B)) to an employee 

9 because of the placement of a son or daughter with 

10 the employee for adoption or foster care shall in11 clude paid leave. The employee shall be entitled to 

12 the paid leave for 1 workweek, or for such lesser 

13 amount of leave time as is available to the employee 

14 under paragraph (1). 

15 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub16 section, including the application described in para17 graph (1)— 

18 ‘‘(A) the term ‘employer’ as used in the 

19 Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 means 

20 any employing office headed by a person with 

21 the final authority described in section 

22 101(9)(C), concerning a covered employee who 

23 is not an employee of the House of Representa24 tives; and 

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1 ‘‘(B) the term ‘eligible employee’ as used 

2 in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 

3 and the term ‘employee’ as used in paragraphs 

4 (2) and (3), means a covered employee (who is 

5 not an employee of the House of Representa6 tives) who has been employed in any employing 

7 office for 12 months and for at least 1,250 

8 hours of employment during the previous 12 

9 months.’’; 

10 (2) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(3) PAID LEAVE.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraphs (2) and 

14 (3) of subsection (a) shall apply to— 

15 ‘‘(i) the Government Accountability 

16 Office and each employee of that office 

17 who has been employed by that office as 

18 described in subsection (a)(4)(B); and 

19 ‘‘(ii) the Library of Congress and each 

20 employee of that office who has been em21 ployed by that office as described in sub22 section (a)(4)(B). 

23 ‘‘(B) REGULATIONS.—The Comptroller 

24 General of the United States and the Librarian 

25 of Congress shall issue regulations to implement 

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1 the rights and protections established under 

2 this paragraph.’’; and 

3 (3) in subsection (d)— 

4 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘(other 

5 than subsection (c))’’ before the period; and 

6 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘The’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘Except with regard to regula8 tions issued to implement paragraphs (2) and 

9 (3) of subsection (a), the’’. 

10 SEC. 3. RESPONSIBLE PARENTING LEAVE FOR LEGISLA11 TIVE BRANCH EMPLOYEES. 

12 The Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 is 

13 amended by inserting after section 202 (2 U.S.C. 1312) 

14 the following: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 202A. RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS RELATING TO RE16 SPONSIBLE PARENTING LEAVE. 

17 ‘‘(a) RESPONSIBLE PARENTING LEAVE RIGHTS AND

18 PROTECTIONS PROVIDED.— 

19 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub20 section, including the application described in para21 graph (4)— 

22 ‘‘(A) the term ‘employer’ as used in the 

23 Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 means 

24 any employing office headed by a person with 

25 the final authority described in section 

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1 101(9)(C) concerning a covered employee who 

2 is not an employee of the House of Representa3 tives; 

4 ‘‘(B) the term ‘eligible employee’ as used 

5 in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 

6 and the term ‘employee’ as used in this sub7 section, means a covered employee (who is not 

8 an employee of the House of Representatives) 

9 who has been employed in any employing office 

10 for 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours of 

11 employment during the previous 12 months; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(C) the term ‘son or daughter’ has the 

14 meaning given the term in section 101 of the 

15 Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 

16 U.S.C. 2611). 

17 ‘‘(2) RESPONSIBLE PARENTING LEAVE RIGHTS

18 AND PROTECTIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any 

20 leave provided under section 202, an employee 

21 shall be entitled to a total of 8 hours of paid 

22 leave, which may be taken intermittently during 

23 any 12-month period, to accompany the employ24 ee’s son or daughter to— 

25 ‘‘(i) a medical or dental appointment; 

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1 ‘‘(ii) an appointment with a teacher or 

2 other official of the son’s or daughter’s 

3 school; or 

4 ‘‘(iii) a school function of the son’s or 

5 daughter’s school. 

6 ‘‘(B) MULTIPLE CHILDREN.—Subpara7 graph (A) applies separately to each son or 

8 daughter of an employee. 

9 ‘‘(3) NOTICE AND CERTIFICATION.— 

10 ‘‘(A) NOTICE.—In any case in which the 

11 necessity for leave under paragraph (2) is fore12 seeable, the employee shall provide the employ13 ing office with not less than 7 days’ notice, be14 fore the date the leave is to begin, of the em15 ployee’s intention to take leave under such 

16 paragraph. If the necessity for the leave is not 

17 foreseeable, the employee shall provide such no18 tice as is practicable. 

19 ‘‘(B) CERTIFICATION.—An employing of20 fice may require that a request for leave under 

21 paragraph (2) be supported by a certification 

22 issued at such time and in such manner as the 

23 Board may by regulation prescribe. 

24 ‘‘(4) EMPLOYMENT AND BENEFITS PROTECTION

25 AND PROHIBITED ACTS.—The rights and protections 

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1 established by subsections (a) (other than paragraph 

2 (4)) and (c)(1) of section 104 of the Family and 

3 Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2614) shall 

4 apply to employees with respect to leave under para5 graph (2). For purposes of the application described 

6 in this paragraph, references in that section 104 to 

7 leave shall be considered to be references to leave 

8 under paragraph (2). 

9 ‘‘(b) REMEDY.—The remedy for a violation of sub10 section (a) shall be such remedy, including liquidated dam11 ages, as would be appropriate if awarded under paragraph 

12 (1) of section 107(a) of the Family and Medical Leave 

13 Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2617(a)(1)). 

14 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION TO GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT15 ABILITY OFFICE AND LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsections (a) and (b) 

17 shall apply to— 

18 ‘‘(A) the Government Accountability Office 

19 and each employee of that office who has been 

20 employed by that office as described in sub21 section (a)(1)(B); and 

22 ‘‘(B) the Library of Congress and each em23 ployee of that office who has been employed by 

24 that office as described in subsection (a)(1)(B). 

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1 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—The Comptroller General 

2 of the United States and the Librarian of Congress 

3 shall issue regulations to implement the rights and 

4 protections established under this subsection. 

5 ‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.—The Board shall, pursuant to 

6 section 304, issue regulations to implement the rights and 

7 protections under this section (other than subsection 

8 (c)).’’. 

Æ 

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