II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2821 

To establish eligibility requirements for education support professionals under 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021 

Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. 

COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

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

A BILL 

To establish eligibility requirements for education support 

professionals 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFES2 SIONALS. 

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

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

5 end the following: 

6 ‘‘(F) EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFES7 SIONALS.— 

8 ‘‘(i) DETERMINATION.—For purposes 

9 of determining whether an employee who is 

10 an education support professional meets 

11 the hours of service requirement specified 

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

13 be considered to meet the requirement if 

14 the employee has worked a number of 

15 hours equal to not less than 60 percent of 

16 the applicable total monthly hours expected 

17 for the employee’s job description and du18 ties, as assigned for the previous school 

19 year. 

20 ‘‘(ii) FILE.—Each employer of an 

21 education support professional shall main22 tain on file with the Secretary (in accord23 ance with such regulations as the Sec24 retary may prescribe) information speci25 fying the total monthly hours expected for 


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1 the employee’s job description and duties 

2 for each school year. 

3 ‘‘(iii) DEFINITIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(I) EDUCATION SUPPORT PRO5 FESSIONAL.—In this subparagraph, 

6 the term ‘education support profes7 sional’ means an employee within a 

8 public school or public institution of 

9 higher education, which may in10 clude— 

11 ‘‘(aa) paraeducators that 

12 provide instructional and non-in13 structional support; 

14 ‘‘(bb) secretarial, clerical, 

15 and administrative support staff; 

16 ‘‘(cc) custodians and mainte17 nance service workers that pro18 vide building and grounds main19 tenance and repair; 

20 ‘‘(dd) skilled trade workers 

21 that provide services in schools, 

22 such as electricians, carpenters, 

23 and workers who operate machin24 ery; 


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1 ‘‘(ee) workers who provide 

2 food service, including prepara3 tion and serving of food; 

4 ‘‘(ff) workers who provide 

5 school transportation and deliv6 ery services; 

7 ‘‘(gg) computer, audiovisual, 

8 and language technical support 

9 staff; 

10 ‘‘(hh) security staff; 

11 ‘‘(ii) nursing, health, and 

12 therapy support staff, who may 

13 also provide community, family, 

14 parent and welfare services; and 

15 ‘‘(jj) other staff that may 

16 serve public education students. 

17 ‘‘(II) PUBLIC SCHOOL.—In this 

18 subparagraph, the term ‘public school’ 

19 means a school that is maintained at 

20 public expense for the education of 

21 the children of a community or dis22 trict and that constitutes a part of a 

23 system of free public education com24 monly including primary and sec25 ondary schools, including special eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Sep 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2821.IS S2821

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1 cation cooperatives, alternative 

2 schools, and other similar facilities. 

3 ‘‘(III) PUBLIC INSTITUTION OF

4 HIGHER EDUCATION.—In this sub5 paragraph the term ‘public institution 

6 of higher education’ means an institu7 tion of higher education, as defined in 

8 section 101 of the Higher Education 

9 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), that is 

10 funded, at least partly, by State tax11 payers.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. ENTITLEMENT TO LEAVE. 

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

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

15 end the following: 

16 ‘‘(6) CALCULATION OF LEAVE FOR EDUCATION

17 SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS.—The Secretary may pro18 vide a method for calculating the leave described in 

19 paragraph (1) with respect to employees described in 

20 section 101(2)(F).’’. 

Æ 


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