I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1723 
To provide for a paid family and medical leave insurance program, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 25, 2009 
Mr. STARK (for himself, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Ms. WOOLSEY, 
and Mrs. MALONEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Commit-
tees on Oversight and Government Reform and Ways and Means, for a 
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for a paid family and medical leave insurance 
program, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Family Leave Insur-
ance Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Since its passage, the Family and Medical 
Leave Act of 1993 (referred to in this section as the 
‘‘FMLA’’) has assisted millions of employees in bal-
ancing the demands of their jobs with their family 
responsibilities. However, many eligible employees 
are not able to utilize the benefits of the FMLA be-
cause FMLA leave is unpaid. According to a 2000 
survey on the FMLA by the Department of Labor, 
among those employees who need FMLA leave and 
don’t take it, 78 percent don’t take it because they 
can’t afford it. 
(2) An analysis of national data from the 2000 
FMLA survey by the Center for Women and Work 
at Rutgers University suggests that employees suffer 
severe financial hardship in order to be responsible 
family members and provide minor children and 
aging parents with the care they need. For example, 
among employees who needed to care for a seriously 
ill child— 
(A) 42 percent took time off even though 
they received no pay while doing so; 
(B) 46 percent received full or partial pay 
during at least part of the time off (including 
receiving pay for reasons such as use of vaca-
tion time); and 
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(C) 12 percent could not take time off to 
care for the child due to lack of pay. 
(3) Americans who provide direct care for their 
family members prevent the worsening of illnesses 
and promote strong recovery. For example, the 
length of a child’s stay in the hospital decreases by 
31 percent when parents are able to be present. 
(4) Forty-three percent of private sector em-
ployees do not have access to paid sick leave, as re-
ported in the Bureau of Labor Statistics National 
Compensation Survey in March 2006. Of those em-
ployees who do have paid sick leave, many are not 
able to use their own sick leave to receive payment 
while caring for family members who are ill. 
(5) Family and medical leave benefits strength-
en and support the business sector through health 
care savings and increased employee retention and 
productivity. 
(6) A 2008 Harvard Law study on foreclosure 
trends found that 49 percent of all respondents’ 
foreclosures were caused, at least in part, by a med-
ical crisis—including loss of work due to illness or 
injury, unmanageable medical bills, or caring for an 
ill family member. The State of California, where 
workers have access to paid family medical leave 
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benefits, had a lower rate of foreclosure caused by 
caring for a sick household member. 
(7) Demographic changes over the past few dec-
ades have altered the face and needs of the work-
force. It is now common for both parents to be in 
the workforce and for men and women to also serve 
as the primary caregivers for elderly spouses or par-
ents. 
(8) According to the Bureau of the Census and 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 56 percent of women 
with children under age 1 are in the labor force, 
while 71 percent of all women with dependent chil-
dren under age 18 are in the labor force. 
(9) Nearly 2⁄3 of Americans under the age of 60 
expect to be responsible for the care of an elderly 
relative in the next 10 years. 
SEC. 3. GENERAL DEFINITIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The definitions provided by sec-
tion 101 of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 
(29 U.S.C. 2611), other than the definitions of the terms 
‘‘son or daughter’’, shall apply for purposes of this Act. 
(b) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—In this Act, the fol-
lowing additional definitions shall apply: 
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