Freight Rail Workforce Health and Safety Act

Subjects: Transportation and Public Works


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3255 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3255

 To amend title 49, United States Code, with respect to sick leave for 
    certain employees of Class I railroads, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 11, 2023

  Mr. Payne (for himself, Mr. Bowman, Ms. Budzinski, Mr. Carson, Mr. 
   Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Cohen, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. 
 Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Kim of 
   New Jersey, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. 
 Magaziner, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mrs. Napolitano, Ms. 
 Norton, Ms. Omar, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Titus, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. 
 Escobar, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Evans, Mr. Neguse, Mrs. Foushee, Ms. Hoyle of 
   Oregon, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Jayapal, Ms. 
  Strickland, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Moulton, and Ms. 
Wilson of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
           the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 49, United States Code, with respect to sick leave for 
    certain employees of Class I railroads, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Freight Rail Workforce Health and 
Safety Act''.

SEC. 2. RAILROAD SAFETY RISK REDUCTION PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 20156(a)(3) of title 49, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``The Secretary shall not approve a 
        railroad safety risk reduction program plan, or subsequent 
        amendment to a plan, if the railroad carrier submitting such 
        plan or amendment does not comply with the requirements of 
        section 20172. The Secretary may consider other factors in 
        reviewing and approving or disapproving safety risk reduction 
        program plans or amendments to plans that the Secretary 
        determines appropriate.'' after ``reasonable period of time.'';
            (2) by inserting ``and approve or disapprove plans'' after 
        ``conduct a review''; and
            (3) by inserting ``, including the requirements of section 
        20172'' after ``their plans''.
    (b) Injury and Fatality Prevention.--Chapter 201 of title 49, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 20172. Injury and fatality prevention
    ``(a) In General.--
            ``(1) Sick leave.--Not later than 60 days after the date of 
        enactment of this section, each Class I railroad carrier 
        subject to part 271 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, 
        shall provide the employees of such rail carrier paid sick 
        leave in accordance with this section.
            ``(2) Accounting.--
                    ``(A) In general.--For the purposes of this 
                section, personal days, holidays, floating holidays, 
                vacation, any other form of accrued leave or any other 
                unpaid leave do not count as days of paid sick leave.
                    ``(B) Use or ability to use.--The use of or the 
                ability to use any such days or leave as paid sick 
                leave days also does not count toward satisfying the 
                minimum number of paid sick leave days required by this 
                section.
    ``(b) Accruing Paid Sick Leave.--
            ``(1) In general.--Each Class I railroad carrier described 
        in subsection (a)(1) shall provide the employees of such rail 
        carrier at least 7 days of paid sick leave in a calendar year.
            ``(2) Carry over.--Each day of paid sick leave that an 
        employee does not take in a calendar year shall be carried over 
        to January 1 of the following calendar year and shall not count 
        toward the minimum number of sick days set under subsection 
        (a).
            ``(3) Wage rate.--Each day of sick leave that an employee 
        takes shall be paid at the regular hourly wage rate of the 
        employee and is to include compensation elements that comprise 
        the wage rate of such employee.
    ``(c) Use of Paid Sick Leave.--Subject to the conditions of 
subsection (d), a Class I railroad carrier shall permit an employee to 
use paid sick leave to be absent during any work time because of--
            ``(1) a physical or mental illness, injury, or medical 
        condition of the employee;
            ``(2) obtaining diagnosis, care, or preventive care from a 
        health care provider by the employee;
            ``(3) caring for the child, parent, spouse, or domestic 
        partner of an employee or any other individual related by blood 
        or affinity whose close association with the employee is the 
        equivalent of a family relationship who has any of the 
        conditions or needs for diagnosis, care, or preventive care 
        described in paragraphs (1) or (2) of this subsection; or
            ``(4) an absence resulting from domestic violence, sexual 
        assault, or stalking, if the time is to--
                    ``(A) seek medical attention for the employee or 
                the employee's child, parent, spouse, domestic partner, 
                or an individual related to the employee as described 
                in paragraph (3), to recover from physical or 
                psychological injury or disability caused by domestic 
                violence, sexual assault, or stalking;
                    ``(B) obtain or assist a related person described 
                in paragraph (3) in obtaining services from a victim 
                services organization;
                    ``(C) obtain or assist a related person described 
                in paragraph (3) in obtaining psychological or other 
                counseling;
                    ``(D) seek relocation; or
                    ``(E) take legal action, including preparing for or 
                participating in any civil or criminal legal proceeding 
                related to or resulting from domestic violence, sexual 
                assault, or stalking.
    ``(d) Utilizing Paid Sick Leave.--
            ``(1) In general.--If the need for leave is foreseeable, 
        the request by an employee shall be made at least 7 calendar 
        days in advance of the date for which the leave is requested.
            ``(2) Non-foreseeable requests.--If the employee is unable 
        to request leave at least 7 calendar days in advance, the 
        request shall be made as soon as is practicable.
            ``(3) No contingency.--A Class I railroad carrier may not 
        make the use of paid sick leave contingent on the requesting 
        employee finding a replacement to cover any work time to be 
        missed by the requesting employee.
            ``(4) Prohibition on adverse action.--A Class I railroad 
        carrier is prohibited from--
                    ``(A) dismissing, suspending, laying off, demoting, 
                or disciplining (including assigning points, demerits, 
                or disciplinary citations under any attendance policy) 
                an employee because the employee has requested the use 
                of or has used paid sick leave; and
                    ``(B) taking into account a request by an employee 
                to use or use of paid sick leave in connection with in 
                any decision to promote or train the employee.
    ``(e) Minimum Days of Paid Sick Leave and Collective Bargaining.--
            ``(1) In general.--The minimum number of paid sick days 
        established by this section that a Class I railroad carrier 
        must provide employees is the minimum number of such days 
        consistent with safety. The use of any 7 days of paid sick 
        leave annually, regardless of whether such days are provided 
        under any agreement reached in negotiations between any such 
        Class I railroad carrier and any representative of its 
        employees under the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), 
        shall meet the requirements of subsection (d) of this 
        subsection.
            ``(2) Additional days.--Additional paid sick days may be 
        collectively bargained between a railroad carrier and the 
        representatives of employees of such railroad in accordance 
        with the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.).
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Day.--The term `day' means a period of 24 consecutive 
        hours.
            ``(2) Domestic violence.--The term `domestic violence'--
                    ``(A) has the meaning given the term in section 
                40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (34 
                U.S.C. 12291(a)), except that the reference in such 
                section to the term ``jurisdiction receiving grant 
                monies'' shall be deemed to mean the jurisdiction in 
                which the victim lives or the jurisdiction in which the 
                employer involved is located; and
                    ``(B) includes dating violence, as such term is 
                defined in such section.
            ``(3) Paid sick leave.--The term `paid sick leave' means an 
        increment of compensated leave that can be earned by an 
        employee for use during an absence from employment for any of 
        the reasons described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of 
        subsection (c).
            ``(4) Sexual assault.--The term `sexual assault' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 40002(a) of the Violence 
        Against Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)).
            ``(5) Stalking.--The term `stalking' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act 
        of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)).''.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The analysis for chapter 201 of title 49, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

``20172. Injury and fatality prevention.''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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