I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2132 

To amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to permit leave 

to care for a same-sex spouse, domestic partner, parent-in-law, adult 

child, sibling, or grandparent who has a serious health condition. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 28, 2009 

Mrs. MALONEY (for herself, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. FRANK of 

Massachusetts, Mr. POLIS of Colorado, Mr. DELAHUNT, Ms. HIRONO, 

Mr. FARR, Mr. ISRAEL, and Mr. NADLER of New York) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 

Labor, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration and 

Oversight and Government Reform, 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 amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to 

permit leave to care for a same-sex spouse, domestic 

partner, parent-in-law, adult child, sibling, or grandparent who has a serious health condition. 

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 ‘‘Family and Medical 

5 Leave Inclusion Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LEAVE TO CARE FOR A DOMESTIC PARTNER, PAR2 ENT-IN-LAW, ADULT CHILD, SIBLING, OR 

3 GRANDPARENT. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.— 

5 (1) INCLUSION OF SAME-SEX SPOUSES.—Sec6 tion 101(13) of the Family and Medical Leave Act 

7 of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611(13)) is amended, by insert8 ing ‘‘, and includes a same-sex spouse as determined 

9 under applicable State law’’ before the period. 

10 (2) INCLUSION OF ADULT CHILDREN AND CHIL11 DREN OF A DOMESTIC PARTNER.—Section 101(12) 

12 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 2611(12)) is amended— 

13 (A) by inserting ‘‘a child of an individual’s 

14 domestic partner,’’ after ‘‘a legal ward,’’; and 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘who is—’’ and all that 

16 follows and inserting ‘‘and includes an adult 

17 child’’. 

18 (3) INCLUSION OF GRANDPARENTS, PARENTS19 IN-LAW, SIBLINGS, AND DOMESTIC PARTNERS.—Sec20 tion 101 of such Act is further amended by adding 

21 at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(20) DOMESTIC PARTNER.—The term ‘domes23 tic partner’ means— 

24 ‘‘(A) the person recognized as the domestic 

25 partner of the employee under any domestic 

26 partner registry or civil union laws of the State 


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1 or political subdivision of a State where the em2 ployee resides; or 

3 ‘‘(B) in the case of an unmarried employee 

4 who lives in a State where a person cannot 

5 marry a person of the same sex under the laws 

6 of the State, a single, unmarried adult person 

7 of the same sex as the employee who is in a 

8 committed, intimate relationship with the em9 ployee, is not a domestic partner to any other 

10 person, and who is designated to the employer 

11 by such employee as that employee’s domestic 

12 partner. 

13 ‘‘(21) GRANDPARENT.—The term ‘grandparent’ 

14 means a parent of a parent of an employee. 

15 ‘‘(22) PARENT-IN-LAW.—The term ‘parent-in16 law’ means a parent of the spouse or domestic part17 ner of an employee. 

18 ‘‘(23) SIBLING.—The term ‘sibling’ means any 

19 person who is a son or daughter of an employee’s 

20 parent.’’. 

21 (b) LEAVE REQUIREMENT.—Section 102 of the Fam22 ily and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612) is 

23 amended— 

24 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(C), by striking ‘‘spouse, 

25 or a son, daughter, or parent of the employee, if 


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1 such spouse, son, daughter, or parent’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘spouse or domestic partner, or a son, daughter, 

3 parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or sibling, of the 

4 employee if such spouse, domestic partner, son, 

5 daughter, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or sib6 ling’’; 

7 (2) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ‘‘spouse, 

8 son, daughter, parent,’’ and inserting ‘‘spouse or do9 mestic partner, son, daughter, parent, parent-in-law, 

10 grandparent, sibling,’’; and 

11 (3) in subsection (e)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘spouse, 

12 or parent’’ and inserting ‘‘spouse, domestic partner, 

13 parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or sibling’’. 

14 (c) CERTIFICATION.—Section 103 of the Family and 

15 Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2613) is amend16 ed— 

17 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘spouse, or 

18 parent’’ and inserting ‘‘spouse, domestic partner, 

19 parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or sibling’’; 

20 (2) in subsection (b)(4)(A), by striking ‘‘spouse, 

21 or parent and an estimate of the amount of time 

22 that such employee is needed to care for the son, 

23 daughter, spouse, or parent’’ and inserting ‘‘spouse, 

24 domestic partner, parent, parent-in-law, grand25 parent, or sibling and an estimate of the amount of 


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1 time that such employee is needed to care for such 

2 son, daughter, spouse, domestic partner, parent, 

3 parent-in-law, grandparent, or sibling’’; and 

4 (3) in subsection (b)(7), by striking ‘‘parent, or 

5 spouse’’ and inserting ‘‘spouse, domestic partner, 

6 parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or sibling’’. 

7 (d) EMPLOYMENT AND BENEFITS PROTECTION.— 

8 Section 104(c)(3) of the Family and Medical Leave Act 

9 of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2614(c)(3)) is amended— 

10 (1) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking ‘‘spouse, 

11 or parent’’ and inserting ‘‘spouse, domestic partner, 

12 parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or sibling’’; and 

13 (2) in subparagraph (C)(ii), by striking 

14 ‘‘spouse, or parent’’ and inserting ‘‘spouse, domestic 

15 partner, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or sib16 ling’’. 

17 SEC. 3. FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 

18 (a) DEFINITIONS.— 

19 (1) INCLUSION OF ADULT CHILDREN AND CHIL20 DREN OF A DOMESTIC PARTNER.—Section 6381(6) 

21 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 

22 (A) by inserting ‘‘a child of an individual’s 

23 domestic partner,’’ after ‘‘a legal ward,’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘who is—’’ and all that 

2 follows and inserting ‘‘and includes an adult 

3 child’’. 

4 (2) INCLUSION OF GRANDPARENTS, PARENTS5 IN-LAW, SIBLINGS, AND DOMESTIC PARTNERS.—Sec6 tion 6381 of such title is further amended— 

7 (A) in paragraph (10) by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

8 and inserting a semicolon; 

9 (B) in paragraph (11), by striking the pe10 riod and inserting a semicolon; and 

11 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(12) The term ‘domestic partner’ means— 

13 ‘‘(A) the person recognized as the domestic 

14 partner of the employee under any domestic 

15 partner registry or civil union laws of the State 

16 or political subdivision of a State where the em17 ployee resides; or 

18 ‘‘(B) in the case of an unmarried employee 

19 who lives in a State where a person cannot 

20 marry a person of the same sex under the laws 

21 of the State, a single, unmarried adult person 

22 of the same sex as the employee who is in a 

23 committed, intimate relationship with the em24 ployee, is not a domestic partner to any other 

25 person, and who is designated to the employer 


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1 by such employee as that employee’s domestic 

2 partner. 

3 ‘‘(13) The term ‘parent-in-law’ means a parent 

4 of the spouse or domestic partner of an employee. 

5 ‘‘(14) The term ‘grandparent’ means a parent 

6 of a parent of an employee. 

7 ‘‘(15) The term ‘sibling’ means any person who 

8 is a son or daughter of an employee’s parent. 

9 ‘‘(16) The term ‘spouse’ includes a same-sex 

10 spouse as determined under applicable State law.’’. 

11 (b) LEAVE REQUIREMENT.—Section 6382 of title 5, 

12 United States Code, is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(C), by striking ‘‘spouse, 

14 or a son, daughter, or parent of the employee, if 

15 such spouse, son, daughter, or parent’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘spouse, or domestic partner, or a son, daughter, 

17 parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or sibling, of the 

18 employee if such spouse, domestic partner, son, 

19 daughter, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or sib20 ling’’; 

21 (2) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ‘‘spouse, 

22 son, daughter, parent,’’ and inserting ‘‘spouse or do23 mestic partner, son, daughter, parent, parent-in-law, 

24 grandparent, sibling,’’; and 


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1 (3) in subsection (e)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘spouse, 

2 or parent’’ and inserting ‘‘spouse, domestic partner, 

3 parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or sibling’’. 

4 (c) CERTIFICATION.—Section 6383 of title 5, United 

5 States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘spouse, or 

7 parent’’ and inserting ‘‘spouse, domestic partner, 

8 parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or sibling’’; and 

9 (2) in subsection (b)(4)(A), by striking ‘‘spouse, 

10 or parent, and an estimate of the amount of time 

11 that such employee is needed to care for such son, 

12 daughter, spouse, or parent’’ and inserting ‘‘spouse, 

13 domestic partner, parent, parent-in-law, grand14 parent, or sibling and an estimate of the amount of 

15 time that such employee is needed to care for such 

16 son, daughter, spouse, domestic partner, parent, 

17 parent-in-law, grandparent, or sibling’’. 

Æ 


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