Mandatory Paid Sick Leave Bill Pending in Congress

A comprehensive bill (H.R. 3047) intended for working families has been introduced in the House of Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-Cal). Called the Balancing Act of 2009, the bill incorporated the provisions of several previously-introduced family and medical leave bills, including the Family Leave Insurance Act (H.R. 1723), Family and Medical Leave Enhancement Act (H.R. 824), Domestic Violence Leave Act (H.R. 2515) and the Healthy Families Act (H.R. 2460), all bills introduced in the House within the past six months. In addition to expanding family and medical leave, the proposed bill would also enhance access to childcare and in-school/after-school assistance, addressing school breakfast and lunch eligibility, child care facility financing, family care needs and telecommuting. In particular, the bill would create a pilot program to raise awareness about telecommuting among employers and to encourage employers to offer telecommuting options to employees.

This week we will look at the proposed bill for Healthy Family Act (H.R. 2460).

In the last few weeks, the Healthy Family Act (HFA) was introduced in both the House of Representative (H.R. 2460) and Senate (S. 1152). The bills are sponsored by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA). If passed as introduced, the legislation would require employers to provide employees with up to 56 hours (roughly 7 days) of paid sick leave annually.

The HFA is proposed to apply to public and private employers with 15 or more employees, and permit accrual of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Leave would begin accruing at the start of employment, for use beginning after 60 days of employment. The paid sick time could be used for the employee's own medical needs or to care for the medical needs of a child, parent, spouse, or any other blood relative. Additionally, the leave may be used for an absence resulting from domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

Interestingly, the HFA, as proposed, will not supersede state or local laws that provide greater paid sick time or leave employees may be entitled to under workers' compensation laws or the Family and Medical leave Act. Similar to FMLA, leave taken under the HFA could not be counted against an employer's "no-fault" attendance policy.

Employers would be required to allow workers to carryover unused paid sick leave to the next year. However, nothing in the legislation would require employers to allow employees to accrue more than 56 hours of earned paid sick time at a given time.

The legislation was introduced in previous congressional sessions and did not pass. However, President Obama was a supporter of the legislation while he served in the Senate. Moreover, with increased majorities in both the House and Senate, the HFA has a greater chance of success in the 111th Congress. LAJHRC will keep you informed about this legislation. Please visit next week as I will discuss other pending legislation