I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1573
To provide equal leave benefits for parents who adopt a child or provide
foster care for a child.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 8, 1997
Mr. OBERSTAR (for himself, Mr. HYDE, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. BURTON of Indi-
ana, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. FROST, Mr. KLUG, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. CLEMENT,
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mrs. MALONEY of New
York, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. SANDERS, Mr.
MCDERMOTT, Mr. GEJDENSON, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. GUTIERREZ, and
Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To provide equal leave benefits for parents who adopt a
child or provide foster care for a child.
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 ‘‘Leave Equity for
Adoptive Families Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. LEAVE REQUIREMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—An employee who needs leave be-
cause of the placement of a son or daughter with the em-
ployee for adoption or foster care shall be entitled to any
leave benefit provided by the employee’s employer to an
employee who needs leave—
(1) to care for the employee’s newborn biologi-
cal child, or
(2) to recover from the employee’s own illness,
injury, or disability.
(b) EXPIRATION OF ENTITLEMENT.—Leave because
of the placement of a son or daughter with the employee
for adoption or foster care under subsection (a) shall com-
mence no later than 12 months after the placement of a
child with the employee for adoption or foster care.
SEC. 3. CIVIL ACTION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the limitations con-
tained in this section, any person may bring a civil action
against an employer to enforce the provisions of section
2 in any appropriate court of the United States or in any
State court of competent jurisdiction.
(b) TIMING OF COMMENCEMENT OF CIVIL ACTION.—
No civil action may be commenced under subsection (a)
later than 1 year after the date of the last event that con-
stitutes the alleged violation of section 2.
(c) VENUE.—An action brought under subsection (a)
in a district court of the United States may be brought
in any appropriate judicial district under section 1391 of
title 28, United States Code.
(d) RELIEF.—In any civil action brought under sub-
section (a), the court may—
(1) grant as relief against any respondent that
violates section 2—
(A) any permanent or temporary injunc-
tion, temporary restraining order, or other equi-
table relief as the court determines appropriate,
(B) damages in an amount equal to any
wages, salary, employment benefits, or other
compensation denied or lost to the employee
bringing the action by reason of the violation of
section 2 or in a case in which wages, salary,
employment benefits, or other compensation
have not been denied or lost to the employee,
any actual monetary losses sustained by the
employee as a direct result of such violation, in-
cluding the cost of providing care, up to an
amount equal to 12 weeks of wages or salary
for the employee, and
(C) interest at the prevailing rate on the
total monetary damages calculated under sub-
paragraph (B), and
(2) award to a prevailing party (other than the
United States) in the action a reasonable attorney’s
fee and expert witness fee.
SEC. 4. CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require an
employer to provide any leave benefit that the employer
would not otherwise have provided to an employee to care
for a newborn biological child or to recover from the em-
ployee’s illness, injury, or disability.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means
any individual employed by an employer.
(2) EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘employer’’ means
any person engaged in commerce or in any industry
or activity affecting commerce. The terms ‘‘com-
merce’’ and ‘‘industry affecting commerce’’ mean
any activity, business, or industry in commerce or in
which a labor dispute would hinder or obstruct com-
merce or the free flow of commerce and includes
such terms as defined in section 120 of the Labor
Management Relations Act, 1947.
(3) EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.—The term ‘‘em-
ployment benefits’’ means all benefits provided or
made available to employees by an employer, includ-
ing health insurance, sick leave, annual leave, paren-
tal leave, and disability leave regardless of whether
such benefits are provided by a policy or practice of
an employer or through an ‘‘employee welfare bene-
fit plan’’, as defined in section 3(3) of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C.
1002(1)).
(4) LEAVE BENEFIT.—The term ‘‘leave benefit’’
means—
(A) any sick or parental leave provided by
an employer,
(B) any right to reemployment with the
employer after the leave described in subpara-
graph (A); and
(C) any right to the receipt of pay or em-
ployment benefits, or the accrual of seniority,
during the leave described in subparagraph (A).
(5) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ means the
biological parent, adoptive parent, prospective adop-
tive parent, foster parent, legal guardian, or step-
parent, of a child.
(6) PARENTAL
LEAVE.—The term ‘‘parental
leave’’ means any leave to enable a parent to care
for a newborn biological child.
(7) 
PLACEMENT.—The 
term 
‘‘placement’’
means the introduction of a child into a family or
the process to bring about the introduction of a child
into a family.
(8) SICK LEAVE.—The term ‘‘sick leave’’ means
any leave provided by an employer to enable an em-
ployee to recover from an illness, injury, or disabil-
ity.
(9) SON
OR
DAUGHTER.—The term ‘‘son or
daughter’’ means a biological or adopted child, a fos-
ter child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child placed
for adoption.
Æ