II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1564 

To require that employers provide not less than 10 days of paid vacation 

time to eligible employees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 11, 2015 

Mr. SANDERS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To require that employers provide not less than 10 days 

of paid vacation time to eligible employees, 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 ‘‘Guaranteed Paid Vaca5 tion Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘eligible 

9 employee’’ means an employee who— 


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1 (A) has been employed for not less than 1 

2 year by the employer providing the paid vaca3 tion time under section 3; and 

4 (B) through such employment, has pro5 vided not less than 1,250 hours of service to 

6 such employer during the previous year. 

7 (2) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 

8 an individual who is— 

9 (A)(i) an employee, as defined in section 

10 3(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 

11 (29 U.S.C. 203(e)), who is not covered under 

12 subparagraph (E), including such an employee 

13 of the Library of Congress, except that a ref14 erence in such section to an employer shall be 

15 considered to be a reference to an employer who 

16 employs not less than 15 employees at any time 

17 during a calendar year and is described in 

18 clauses (i)(I) and (ii) of paragraph (3)(A); or 

19 (ii) an employee of the Government Ac20 countability Office; 

21 (B) a State employee described in section 

22 304(a) of the Government Employee Rights Act 

23 of 1991 (42 U.S.C. 2000e–16c(a)); 

24 (C) a covered employee, as defined in sec25 tion 101 of the Congressional Accountability 


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1 Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1301), other than an ap2 plicant for employment; 

3 (D) a covered employee, as defined in sec4 tion 411(c) of title 3, United States Code; or 

5 (E) a Federal officer or employee covered 

6 under subchapter V of chapter 63 of title 5, 

7 United States Code. 

8 (3) EMPLOYER.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘employer’’ 

10 means a person who employs not less than 15 

11 employees at any time during a calender year 

12 and is— 

13 (i)(I) a covered employer, as defined 

14 in subparagraph (B), who is not covered 

15 under subclause (V); 

16 (II) an entity employing a State em17 ployee described in section 304(a) of the 

18 Government Employee Rights Act of 1991; 

19 (III) an employing office, as defined 

20 in section 101 of the Congressional Ac21 countability Act of 1995; 

22 (IV) an employing office, as defined in 

23 section 411(c) of title 3, United States 

24 Code; or 


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1 (V) an employing agency covered 

2 under subchapter V of chapter 63 of title 

3 5, United States Code; and 

4 (ii) is engaged in commerce (including 

5 government), or an industry or activity af6 fecting commerce (including government), 

7 as defined in subparagraph (B)(iii). 

8 (B) COVERED EMPLOYER.— 

9 (i) IN GENERAL.—In subparagraph 

10 (A)(i)(I), the term ‘‘covered employer’’— 

11 (I) means any person engaged in 

12 commerce or in any industry or activ13 ity affecting commerce; 

14 (II) includes— 

15 (aa) any person who acts, 

16 directly or indirectly, in the inter17 est of an employer to any of the 

18 employees of such employer; and 

19 (bb) any successor in inter20 est of an employer; 

21 (III) includes any ‘‘public agen22 cy’’, as defined in section 3(x) of the 

23 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 

24 (29 U.S.C. 203(x)); and 


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1 (IV) includes the Government 

2 Accountability Office and the Library 

3 of Congress. 

4 (ii) PUBLIC AGENCY.—For purposes 

5 of clause (i)(III), a public agency shall be 

6 considered to be a person engaged in com7 merce or in an industry or activity affect8 ing commerce. 

9 (iii) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 

10 this subparagraph: 

11 (I) COMMERCE.—The terms 

12 ‘‘commerce’’ and ‘‘industry or activity 

13 affecting commerce’’ mean any activ14 ity, business, or industry in commerce 

15 or in which a labor dispute would 

16 hinder or obstruct commerce or the 

17 free flow of commerce, and include 

18 ‘‘commerce’’ and any ‘‘industry affect19 ing commerce’’, as defined in para20 graphs (1) and (3) of section 501 of 

21 the Labor Management Relations Act, 

22 1947 (29 U.S.C. 142 (1) and (3)). 

23 (II) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘em24 ployee’’ has the same meaning given 

25 such term in section 3(e) of the Fair 


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1 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 

2 U.S.C. 203(e)). 

3 (III) PERSON.—The term ‘‘per4 son’’ has the same meaning given 

5 such term in section 3(a) of the Fair 

6 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 

7 U.S.C. 203(a)). 

8 (C) PREDECESSORS.—Any reference in 

9 this paragraph to an employer shall include a 

10 reference to any predecessor of such employer. 

11 (4) PAID VACATION TIME.—The term ‘‘paid va12 cation time’’ means an increment of compensated 

13 leave to which an eligible employee is entitled under 

14 section 3 to use during an absence from employ15 ment, in accordance with the provisions of such sec16 tion. For purposes of this paragraph and section 3, 

17 any sick leave, family leave, or leave otherwise re18 quired by law (other than this Act) shall not be 

19 treated as or counted towards leave to which an eli20 gible employee is entitled under section 3. 

21 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

22 the Secretary of Labor. 

23 SEC. 3. GUARANTEED PAID VACATION TIME. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 1 year after the date 

25 of enactment of this Act, an eligible employee of an emVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Jun 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1564.IS S1564

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1 ployer shall be entitled to not less than 10 days of paid 

2 vacation time during each 12-month period to be used on 

3 consecutive or nonconsecutive days. 

4 (b) LIMITATION ON CARRYOVER.—Any paid vacation 

5 time that is not used during the applicable 12-month pe6 riod shall not carry over to a subsequent 12-month period. 

7 (c) WRITTEN NOTICE.—Not later than 15 days prior 

8 to the date on which an eligible employee is to begin to 

9 use any paid vacation time, the eligible employee shall pro10 vide the employer with written notice of the intention to 

11 use such paid vacation time, including an indication of the 

12 dates on which such paid vacation time are to begin and 

13 end. 

14 (d) COMPENSATION.— 

15 (1) RATE OF COMPENSATION.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara17 graph (B), an eligible employee using paid vaca18 tion time shall be compensated at the rate at 

19 which such eligible employee would be com20 pensated if not using paid vacation time. 

21 (B) TIPPED EMPLOYEES.—An eligible em22 ployee who is a tipped employee using paid va23 cation time shall be compensated at the rate in 

24 effect under section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor 

25 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)). 


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1 (2) EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—Any employment bene3 fits offered to an eligible employee, when such 

4 eligible employee is not using paid vacation 

5 time, shall continue to be offered to such eligi6 ble employee when such eligible employee is 

7 using paid vacation time. Such continued em8 ployment benefits shall be offered at the same 

9 level and under the same conditions as employ10 ment benefits offered to such eligible employee 

11 when such eligible employee is not using paid 

12 vacation time. 

13 (B) COST CONTRIBUTIONS.—If the em14 ployer requires an eligible employee to con15 tribute to the cost of the benefits described in 

16 subparagraph (A), the employer may require 

17 that such eligible employee contribute to such 

18 cost during the use of paid vacation time at the 

19 same rate as the rate at which such eligible em20 ployee would otherwise be required to con21 tribute if not using paid vacation time. 

22 (C) RESTORATION TO POSITION.—Any eli23 gible employee who uses paid vacation time 

24 shall be entitled, on return from using such 

25 paid vacation time, to be restored by the emVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Jun 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1564.IS S1564

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1 ployer to the position of employment held by 

2 such eligible employee when such paid vacation 

3 time commenced. 

4 (e) EMPLOYERS WITH EXISTING POLICIES.—Any 

5 employer with a paid leave policy who provides an amount 

6 of paid leave that is sufficient to meet the requirements 

7 of this section and that may be used under the same condi8 tions as the conditions described in this section shall not 

9 be required to provide an eligible employee with additional 

10 paid vacation time under this section. 

11 (f) ENFORCEMENT.— 

12 (1) EMPLOYEES COVERED BY THE FAIR LABOR

13 STANDARDS ACT OF 1938 AND OTHER EMPLOYEES.— 

14 (A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph— 

15 (i) the term ‘‘eligible employee’’ 

16 means an eligible employee who is an em17 ployee described in subparagraph (A) or 

18 (B) of section 2(2); and 

19 (ii) the term ‘‘employer’’ means an 

20 employer who employs not less than 15 

21 employees at any time during a calendar 

22 year and is described in subclause (I) or 

23 (II) of section 2(3)(A)(i). 

24 (B) SECRETARY OF LABOR.—With respect 

25 to an eligible employee and an employer and 


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1 notwithstanding section 13 of the Fair Labor 

2 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213), the 

3 Secretary shall receive, investigate, attempt to 

4 resolve, and enforce a complaint of a violation 

5 of this Act in the same manner that the Sec6 retary receives, investigates, attempts to re7 solve, and enforces a complaint of a violation of 

8 section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 

9 1938 (29 U.S.C. 207). An employer’s liability 

10 for a violation under this Act shall be, as the 

11 case may be— 

12 (i) the amount of unpaid vacation 

13 time owed to such employee under this sec14 tion, and an additional equal amount as 

15 liquidated damages; or 

16 (ii) compensation in accordance with 

17 subsection (d) for any uncompensated un18 paid vacation time used by the eligible em19 ployee, and an additional equal amount as 

20 liquidated damages. 

21 (C) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OF22 FICE.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 

23 this paragraph, in the case of the Government 

24 Accountability Office and the Library of Con25 gress, the authority of the Secretary under this 


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1 paragraph shall be exercised respectively by the 

2 Comptroller General of the United States and 

3 the Librarian of Congress. 

4 (2) EMPLOYEES COVERED BY CONGRESSIONAL

5 ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 1995.—The powers, rem6 edies, and procedures provided in the Congressional 

7 Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.) 

8 to the Board (as defined in section 101 of that Act 

9 (2 U.S.C. 1301)), or any person, alleging a violation 

10 of section 202(a)(1) of that Act (2 U.S.C. 

11 1312(a)(1)) shall be the powers, remedies, and pro12 cedures this Act provides to that Board, or any per13 son, alleging an unlawful employment practice in 

14 violation of this Act against an eligible employee who 

15 is an employee described in section 2(2)(C). 

16 (3) EMPLOYEES COVERED BY CHAPTER 5 OF

17 TITLE 3, UNITED STATES CODE.—The powers, rem18 edies, and procedures provided in chapter 5 of title 

19 3, United States Code, to the President, the Merit 

20 Systems Protection Board, or any person, alleging a 

21 violation of section 412(a)(1) of that title, shall be 

22 the powers, remedies, and procedures this Act pro23 vides to the President, that Board, or any person, 

24 respectively, alleging an unlawful employment prac25 tice in violation of this Act against an eligible emVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Jun 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1564.IS S1564

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1 ployee who is an employee described in section 

2 2(2)(D). 

3 (4) EMPLOYEES COVERED BY CHAPTER 63 OF

4 TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE.—The powers, rem5 edies, and procedures provided in title 5, United 

6 States Code, to an employing agency, provided in 

7 chapter 12 of that title to the Merit Systems Protec8 tion Board, or provided in that title to any person, 

9 alleging a violation of chapter 63 of that title, shall 

10 be the powers, remedies, and procedures this Act 

11 provides to that agency, that Board, or any person, 

12 respectively, alleging an unlawful employment prac13 tice in violation of this Act against an eligible em14 ployee who is an employee described in section 

15 2(2)(E). 

16 SEC. 4. PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN BY THE DEPART17 MENT OF LABOR. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to 

19 conduct a public awareness campaign, through the Inter20 net and other media, to inform the public of an eligible 

21 employee’s entitlement to paid vacation time under this 

22 Act. 


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1 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

3 necessary to carry out subsection (a). 

Æ 


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