ESP, Paraprofessional, and Education Support Staff Family Leave Act

Bill: 119-s-2738
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL]
Introduced: 2025-09-09
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Latest action: action_date: 2025-09-09
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Summaries:

tv_txt: II 119th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 2738 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES September 9, 2025 Ms. Duckworth (for herself, Mr. Durbin , Mr. Markey , Mr. Coons , Mrs. Gillibrand , and Ms. Klobuchar ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To establish eligibility requirements for covered educational employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the ESP, Paraprofessional, and Education Support Staff Family Leave Act . 2. Eligibility for education support professionals and school support staff Section 101(2) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 ( 29 U.S.C. 2611(2) ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (F) Paraprofessionals and education support staff (i) Determination For purposes of determining whether a covered educational employee meets the hours of service requirement specified in subparagraph (A)(ii), the covered educational employee will be considered to meet the requirement if the employee has worked a number of hours equal to not less than 60 percent of the applicable total monthly hours expected for the employee’s job description and duties, as assigned for the previous school year. (ii) File Each employer of a covered educational employee shall maintain on file with the Secretary (in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe) information specifying the total monthly hours expected for the employee’s job description and duties for each school year. (iii) Definitions In this subparagraph: (I) Covered educational employee The term covered educational employee means a paraprofessional or an education support staff member employed by an educational agency or institution. (II) Paraprofessional The term paraprofessional has the meaning given the term in section 8101(37) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 7801(37) ). (III) Education support staff The term education support staff member (also known as a classified school employee , education support professional , or ESP ) means an employee of an educational agency or institution who provides clerical and administrative services, transportation services, food and nutrition services, custodial and maintenance services, health and student services, technical services, or services related to skilled trades. (IV) Educational agency or institution The term educational agency or institution has the meaning given the term in section 444(a)(3) of the General Education Provisions Act ( 20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(3) ). . 3. Entitlement to leave Section 102(a) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 ( 29 U.S.C. 2612(a) ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (6) Calculation of leave for covered educational employees The Secretary shall provide methods for calculating the leave described in paragraph (1) with respect to covered educational employees, in accordance with section 108, as applicable. .