II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1530

To amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to clarify the Act,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 5, 1999

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

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

A BILL

To amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to

clarify the Act, 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; REFERENCES; TABLE OF CON4 TENTS.

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

6 ‘‘Family and Medical Leave Clarification Act’’.

7 (b) REFERENCES.—Except as otherwise expressly

8 provided, wherever in this Act an amendment or repeal

9 is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of,

10 a section or other provision, the reference shall be consid-
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1 ered to be made to a section or other provision of the Fam2 ily and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2601 et

3 seq.).

4 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents is

5 as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; references; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Findings.

Sec. 3. Definition of serious health condition.

Sec. 4. Intermittent leave.

Sec. 5. Request for leave.

Sec. 6. Substitution of paid leave.

Sec. 7. Regulations.

Sec. 8. Effective date.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:

8 (1) The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993

9 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Act’’) is not

10 working as Congress intended when Congress passed

11 the Act in 1993. Many employers, including those

12 employers that are nationally recognized as having

13 generous family-friendly benefit and leave programs,

14 are experiencing serious problems complying with

15 the Act.

16 (2) The Department of Labor’s overly broad

17 regulations and interpretations have caused many of

18 these problems by greatly expanding the Act’s cov19 erage to apply to many nonserious health conditions.

20 (3) Documented problems generated by the Act

21 include significant new administrative and personnel
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1 costs, loss of productivity and scheduling difficulties,

2 unnecessary paperwork and recordkeeping, and

3 other compliance problems.

4 (4) The Act often conflicts with employers’ paid

5 sick leave policies, prevents employers from man6 aging absences through their absence control plans,

7 and results in most leave under the Act becoming

8 paid leave.

9 (5) The Commission on Leave, established in

10 title III of the Act (29 U.S.C. 2631 et seq.), which

11 reported few difficulties with compliance with the

12 Act, failed to identify many of the problems with

13 compliance because the study on which the report

14 was based was conducted too soon after the date of

15 enactment of the Act and the most significant prob16 lems with compliance arose only when employers

17 later sought to comply with the Act’s final regula18 tions and interpretations.

19 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITION.

20 Section 101(11) (29 U.S.C. 2611(11)) is amended—

21 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and

22 (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively;

23 (2) by aligning the margins of those clauses

24 with the margins of clause (i) of paragraph (4)(A);

25 (3) by inserting before ‘‘The’’ the following:
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—’’; and

2 (4) by adding at the end the following:

3 ‘‘(B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term does not in4 clude a short-term illness, injury, impairment,

5 or condition for which treatment and recovery

6 are very brief.

7 ‘‘(C) EXAMPLES.—The term includes an

8 illness, injury, impairment, or physical or men9 tal condition such as a heart attack, a heart

10 condition requiring extensive therapy or a sur11 gical procedure, a stroke, a severe respiratory

12 condition, a spinal injury, appendicitis, pneu13 monia, emphysema, severe arthritis, a severe

14 nervous disorder, an injury caused by a serious

15 accident on or off the job, an ongoing preg16 nancy, a miscarriage, a complication or illness

17 related to pregnancy, such as severe morning

18 sickness, a need for prenatal care, childbirth,

19 and recovery from childbirth, that involves care

20 or treatment described in subparagraph (A).’’.

21 SEC. 4. INTERMITTENT LEAVE.

22 Section 102(b)(1) (29 U.S.C. 2612(b)(1)) is amended

23 by striking the period at the end of the second sentence

24 and inserting the following: ‘‘, as certified under section

25 103 by the health care provider after each leave occur-
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1 rence. An employer may require an employee to take intermittent leave in increments of up to 1 2 ⁄2 of a workday. An

3 employer may require an employee who travels as part of

4 the normal day-to-day work or duty assignment of the em5 ployee and who requests intermittent leave or leave on a

6 reduced schedule to take leave for the duration of that

7 work or assignment if the employer cannot reasonably ac8 commodate the employee’s request.’’.

9 SEC. 5. REQUEST FOR LEAVE.

10 Section 102(e) (29 U.S.C. 2612(e)) is amended by

11 inserting after paragraph (2) the following:

12 ‘‘(3) REQUEST FOR LEAVE.—If an employer

13 does not exercise, under subsection (d)(2), the right

14 to require an employee to substitute other employer15 provided leave for leave under this title, the em16 ployer may require the employee who wants leave

17 under this title to request the leave in a timely man18 ner. If an employer requires a timely request under

19 this paragraph, an employee who fails to make a

20 timely request may be denied leave under this title.

21 ‘‘(4) TIMELINESS OF REQUEST FOR LEAVE.—

22 For purposes of paragraph (3), a request for leave

23 shall be considered to be timely if—

24 ‘‘(A) in the case of foreseeable leave, the

25 employee—
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1 ‘‘(i) provides the applicable advance

2 notice required by paragraphs (1) and (2);

3 and

4 ‘‘(ii) submits any written application

5 required by the employer for the leave not

6 later than 5 working days after providing

7 the notice to the employer; and

8 ‘‘(B) in the case of unforeseeable leave, the

9 employee—

10 ‘‘(i) notifies the employer orally of the

11 need for the leave—

12 ‘‘(I) not later than the date the

13 leave commences; or

14 ‘‘(II) during such additional pe15 riod as may be necessary, if the em16 ployee is physically or mentally in17 capable of providing the notification;

18 and

19 ‘‘(ii) submits any written application

20 required by the employer for the leave—

21 ‘‘(I) not later than 5 working

22 days after providing the notice to the

23 employer; or

24 ‘‘(II) during such additional pe25 riod as may be necessary, if the em-
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1 ployee is physically or mentally in2 capable of submitting the applica3 tion.’’.

4 SEC. 6. SUBSTITUTION OF PAID LEAVE.

5 Section 102(d)(2) (29 U.S.C. 2612(d)(2)) is amended

6 by adding at the end the following:

7 ‘‘(C) PAID ABSENCE.—Notwithstanding

8 subparagraphs (A) and (B), with respect to

9 leave provided under subparagraph (D) of sub10 section (a)(1), where an employer provides a

11 paid absence under the employer’s collective

12 bargaining agreement, a welfare benefit plan

13 under the Employee Retirement Income Secu14 rity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), or

15 under any other sick leave, sick pay, or dis16 ability plan, program, or policy of the employer,

17 the employer may require the employee to

18 choose between the paid absence and unpaid

19 leave provided under this title.’’.

20 SEC. 7. REGULATIONS.

21 (a) EXISTING REGULATIONS.—

22 (1) REVIEW.—Not later than 90 days after the

23 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of

24 Labor shall review all regulations issued before that

25 date to implement the Family and Medical Leave
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1 Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.), including the

2 regulations published in sections 825.114 and

3 825.115 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations.

4 (2) TERMINATION.—The regulations, and opin5 ion letters promulgated under the regulations, shall

6 cease to be effective on the effective date of final

7 regulations issued under subsection (b)(2)(B), except

8 as described in subsection (c).

9 (b) REVISED REGULATIONS.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor shall

11 issue revised regulations implementing the Family

12 and Medical Leave Act of 1993 that reflect the

13 amendments made by this Act.

14 (2) NEW REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of

15 Labor shall issue—

16 (A) proposed regulations described in para17 graph (1) not later than 90 days after the date

18 of enactment of this Act; and

19 (B) final regulations described in para20 graph (1) not later than 180 days after that

21 date of enactment.

22 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The final regulations

23 take effect 90 days after the date on which the regu24 lations are issued.
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1 (c) TRANSITION.—The regulations described in sub2 section (a) shall apply to actions taken by an employer

3 prior to the effective date of final regulations issued under

4 subsection (b)(2)(B), with respect to leave under the Fam5 ily and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

6 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

7 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect

8 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

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