Title: A bill to establish family and medical leave banks to provide paid leave for employees of the Department of Defense, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:

This bill directs the Department of Defense (DOD) to establish family and medical leave banks for DOD employees.
It requires the forfeited annual leave (i.e., the lost "use it or lose it" annual leave) of an employee to be credited to a family and medical leave bank for use by an eligible employee who experiences a personal or family medical emergency and has exhausted his or her available paid leave.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1131 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1131

 To establish family and medical leave banks to provide paid leave for 
    employees of the Department of Defense, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 10, 2019

Mr. Merkley (for himself and Mr. Rounds) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish family and medical leave banks to provide paid leave for 
    employees of the Department of Defense, 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. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE BANKS.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter V of chapter 63 of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating section 6387 as section 6388; and
            (2) by inserting after section 6386 the following:
``Sec. 6387. Department of Defense family and medical leave banks
    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `covered DOD employee' means an individual 
        described in section 6381(1)(A) who is employed by the 
        Department, without regard to whether the individual meets the 
        requirements of section 6381(1)(B);
            ``(2) the term `Department' means the Department of 
        Defense;
            ``(3) the term `designated unit' means any agency, 
        component, or other administrative unit of the Department 
        designated by the Secretary under subsection (b)(1);
            ``(4) the term `family and medical leave bank' means a 
        family and medical leave bank established under subsection 
        (b)(2);
            ``(5) the term `leave recipient' means a covered DOD 
        employee whose application under subsection (e)(1) to receive 
        leave from a family and medical leave bank is approved; and
            ``(6) the term `Secretary' means the Secretary of Defense.
    ``(b) Establishment of Family and Medical Leave Banks.--The 
Secretary, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Personnel 
Management, shall--
            ``(1) designate the agencies, components, or other 
        administrative units of the Department for which it is 
        appropriate to have a separate family and medical leave bank; 
        and
            ``(2) establish a family and medical leave bank for each 
        designated unit.
    ``(c) Establishment of Family and Medical Leave Bank Boards.--
            ``(1) In general.--For each family and medical leave bank 
        established by the Secretary, the Secretary shall establish a 
        Family and Medical Leave Bank Board consisting of 3 members, at 
        least one of whom shall represent a labor organization or 
        employee group, to administer the family and medical leave 
        bank, in consultation with the Office of Personnel Management.
            ``(2) Duties.--Each Family and Medical Leave Bank Board, in 
        conjunction with the human resource office for the agency, 
        component, or administrative unit for which the applicable 
        family and medical leave bank was established, shall--
                    ``(A) review and determine whether to approve 
                applications to the family and medical leave bank under 
                subsection (e)(1);
                    ``(B) monitor each case of a leave recipient;
                    ``(C) monitor the amount of leave in the family and 
                medical leave bank and the number of applications for 
                use of leave from the family and medical leave bank; 
                and
                    ``(D) maintain an adequate amount of leave in the 
                family and medical leave bank to the greatest extent 
                practicable.
            ``(3) Qualifying family and medical events.--To the 
        greatest extent practicable, each Family and Medical Leave Bank 
        Board shall use the certification forms and standards 
        established for purposes of section 6382 in determining 
        whether, for purposes of this section, a circumstance described 
        in section 6382(a)(1) exists.
    ``(d) Crediting of Leave.--
            ``(1) Forfeited leave.--Any annual leave lost by a covered 
        DOD employee by operation of section 6304 shall be credited to 
        the family and medical leave bank of the designated unit in 
        which the covered DOD employee is employed.
            ``(2) Additional annual leave contributions.--This section 
        shall not supersede or modify the ability of a covered DOD 
        employee to donate earned annual leave to a qualified recipient 
        under regulations of the Department.
            ``(3) Contributions of use or lose leave.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A covered DOD employee who is 
                projected to have annual leave that otherwise would be 
                subject to forfeiture at the end of the leave year 
                under section 6304 may submit an application in writing 
                requesting that a specified number of hours (not to 
                exceed the number of hours projected to be subject to 
                forfeiture) be transferred from the annual leave 
                account of the covered DOD employee to the family and 
                medical leave bank for the designated unit in which the 
                covered DOD employee is employed.
                    ``(B) Approval.--If a Family and Medical Leave Bank 
                Board approves an application by a covered DOD employee 
                under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall transfer to 
                the family and medical leave bank of the designated 
                unit in which the covered DOD employee is employed the 
                amount of leave requested to be transferred.
    ``(e) Application for Leave.--
            ``(1) In general.--A covered DOD employee who is or 
        anticipates being absent from regularly scheduled duty because 
        of a circumstance described in section 6382(a)(1) (without 
        regard to whether the covered DOD employee is entitled to leave 
        under section 6382(a)(1)) may submit an application to receive 
        leave from the family and medical leave bank of the designated 
        unit in which the covered DOD employee is employed, which shall 
        contain such information as the Secretary, in consultation with 
        the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, shall by 
        regulation prescribe.
            ``(2) Determination.--A Family and Medical Leave Bank Board 
        may--
                    ``(A) approve an application submitted under 
                paragraph (1); and
                    ``(B) specify the amount of leave that shall be 
                transferred to a covered DOD employee whose application 
                is approved.
            ``(3) Maximum amount of leave.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A Family and Medical Leave Bank 
                Board may not specify an amount of leave to be 
                transferred to a covered DOD employee that is more than 
                the amount of leave described in subparagraph (B).
                    ``(B) Amount.--The amount described in this 
                subparagraph is--
                            ``(i) with respect to a full-time covered 
                        DOD employee, 12 weeks; and
                            ``(ii) with respect to a part-time covered 
                        DOD employee, the amount equal to the product 
                        obtained by multiplying--
                                    ``(I) 12 weeks; by
                                    ``(II) the quotient obtained by 
                                dividing--
                                            ``(aa) the number of hours 
                                        in the regularly scheduled 
                                        workweek of the part-time 
                                        covered DOD employee; by
                                            ``(bb) the number of hours 
                                        in the regularly scheduled 
                                        workweek of a covered DOD 
                                        employee serving in a 
                                        comparable position on a full-
                                        time basis.
            ``(4) Transfer.--The Secretary shall transfer to a covered 
        DOD employee whose application is approved under paragraph 
        (2)(A) the number of hours of leave specified under paragraph 
        (2)(B) from the family and medical leave bank for the 
        designated unit in which the covered DOD employee is employed.
    ``(f) Use of Leave.--
            ``(1) Coordination with existing fml.--A leave recipient 
        who is entitled to leave under section 6382(a)(1) shall use any 
        leave transferred to the leave recipient from a family and 
        medical leave bank in accordance with section 6382(d)(2).
            ``(2) Failure to use leave.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Any leave transferred to a leave 
                recipient from a family and medical leave bank that is 
                not used before the end of the 12-month period 
                beginning on the date described in subparagraph (B)--
                            ``(i) shall be forfeited by the leave 
                        recipient; and
                            ``(ii) shall be credited to the family and 
                        medical leave bank from which the leave was 
                        transferred.
                    ``(B) Start of period for use.--The date described 
                in this subparagraph is the later of--
                            ``(i) the date on which the circumstance 
                        described in section 6382(a)(1) arises; or
                            ``(ii) the date on which leave is 
                        transferred to the covered DOD employee under 
                        subsection (e)(4).''.
    (b) Use of Family and Medical Leave.--Section 6382(d) of title 5, 
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' before ``An employee may elect'' 
        the first place it appears; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2)(A) In this paragraph, the term `covered DOD employee' has the 
meaning given that term in section 6387.
    ``(B) A covered DOD employee entitled to leave under subsection 
(a)(1) to whom leave is transferred from a family and medical leave 
bank under section 6387--
            ``(i) shall substitute for any leave without pay under 
        subsection (a)(1) the amount of leave transferred to the 
        employee from the family and medical leave bank; and
            ``(ii) may substitute for any leave without pay under 
        subsection (a)(1) any annual or sick leave accrued or 
        accumulated by such employee under subchapter I.
    ``(C) A covered DOD employee to whom leave is transferred from a 
family and medical leave bank shall first use all of the transferred 
leave before using leave described in subparagraph (B)(ii).
    ``(D) The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall 
prescribe any regulations necessary to carry out this paragraph.''.
    (c) OPM Authority.--If the Director of the Office of Personnel 
Management determines expanding the family and medical leave bank 
program Governmentwide would be appropriate, the Director may prescribe 
regulations granting Executive agencies (as defined in section 105 of 
title 5, United States Code) the authority to establish family and 
medical leave banks, in the same manner as provided under the 
amendments made by subsections (a) and (b), to the maximum extent 
practicable.
    (d) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
chapter 63 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking the 
item relating to section 6387 and inserting the following:

``6387. Department of Defense family and medical leave banks.
``6388. Regulations.''.
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