II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1401 

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 

MAY 9, 2019 

Ms. DUCKWORTH 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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFES7 SIONALS. 

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

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

10 end the following: 


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•S 1401 IS

1 ‘‘(E) EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFES2 SIONALS.— 

3 ‘‘(i) DETERMINATION.—For purposes 

4 of determining whether an employee who is 

5 an education support professional meets 

6 the hours of service requirement specified 

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

8 be considered to meet the requirement if 

9 the employee has worked a number of 

10 hours equal to not less than 60 percent of 

11 the applicable total monthly hours expected 

12 for the employee’s job description and du13 ties, as assigned for the previous school 

14 year. 

15 ‘‘(ii) FILE.—Each employer of an 

16 education support professional shall main17 tain on file with the Secretary (in accord18 ance with such regulations as the Sec19 retary may prescribe) information speci20 fying the total monthly hours expected for 

21 the employee’s job description and duties 

22 for each school year. 

23 ‘‘(iii) DEFINITIONS.— 

24 ‘‘(I) EDUCATION SUPPORT PRO25 FESSIONAL.—In this subparagraph, 


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•S 1401 IS

1 the term ‘education support profes2 sional’ means an employee within a 

3 public school or public institution of 

4 higher education, which may in5 clude— 

6 ‘‘(aa) paraeducators that 

7 provide instructional and non-in8 structional support; 

9 ‘‘(bb) secretarial, clerical, 

10 and administrative support staff; 

11 ‘‘(cc) custodians and mainte12 nance service workers that pro13 vide building and grounds main14 tenance and repair; 

15 ‘‘(dd) skilled trade workers 

16 that provide services in schools, 

17 such as electricians, carpenters, 

18 and workers who operate machin19 ery; 

20 ‘‘(ee) workers who provide 

21 food service, including prepara22 tion and serving of food; 

23 ‘‘(ff) workers who provide 

24 school transportation and deliv25 ery services; 


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•S 1401 IS

1 ‘‘(gg) computer, audiovisual, 

2 and language technical support 

3 staff; 

4 ‘‘(hh) security staff; 

5 ‘‘(ii) nursing, health, and 

6 therapy support staff, who may 

7 also provide community, family, 

8 parent and welfare services; and 

9 ‘‘(jj) other staff that may 

10 serve public education students. 

11 ‘‘(II) PUBLIC SCHOOL.—In this 

12 subparagraph, the term ‘public school’ 

13 means a school that is maintained at 

14 public expense for the education of 

15 the children of a community or dis16 trict and that constitutes a part of a 

17 system of free public education com18 monly including primary and sec19 ondary schools, including special edu20 cation cooperatives, alternative 

21 schools, and other similar facilities. 

22 ‘‘(III) PUBLIC INSTITUTION OF

23 HIGHER EDUCATION.—In this sub24 paragraph the term ‘public institution 

25 of higher education’ means an instituVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1401.IS S1401

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•S 1401 IS

1 tion of higher education, as defined in 

2 section 101 of the Higher Education 

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

4 funded, at least partly, by State tax5 payers.’’. 

6 SEC. 3. ENTITLEMENT TO LEAVE. 

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

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

9 end the following: 

10 ‘‘(6) CALCULATION OF LEAVE FOR EDUCATION

11 SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS.—The Secretary may pro12 vide a method for calculating the leave described in 

13 paragraph (1) with respect to employees described in 

14 section 101(2)(E).’’. 

Æ 


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