[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 201 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 201

To amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to apply the Act to a 
   greater percentage of the United States workforce, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 19, 1999

   Mr. Dodd (for himself, Mr. Daschle, Mr. Kennedy, Mrs. Murray, Ms. 
    Mikulski, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Akaka, Mrs. Boxer, and Mr. 
  Wellstone) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to apply the Act to a 
   greater percentage of the United States workforce, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Family and Medical Leave Fairness 
Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 
        2601 et seq.) has provided employees with a significant new 
        tool in balancing the needs of their families with the demands 
        of work;
            (2) the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 has had a 
        minimal impact on business, and over 90 percent of private 
        employers covered by the Act experienced little or no cost and 
        a minimal, or positive, impact on productivity as a result of 
        the Act;
            (3) although both employers at workplaces with large 
        numbers of employees and employers at workplaces with small 
        numbers of employees reported that compliance with the Family 
        and Medical Leave Act of 1993 involved very easy administration 
        and low costs, the smaller employers found it easier and less 
        expensive to comply with the Act than the larger employers;
            (4) over three-quarters of worksites with under 50 
        employees covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 
        report no cost increases or small cost increases associated 
        with compliance with the Act;
            (5) in 1998, 27 percent of Americans needed to take family 
        or medical leave but were unable to do so, and 44 percent of 
        these employees did not take such leave because they would have 
        lost their jobs or their employers did not allow it;
            (6) only 57 percent of the private workforce is currently 
        protected by the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993; and
            (7) 13,000,000 more private employees, or an additional 14 
        percent of the private workforce, would be protected by the 
        Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 if the Act was expanded to 
        cover private employers with 25 or more employees.

SEC. 3. COVERAGE OF EMPLOYEES.

    Paragraphs (2)(B)(ii) and (4)(A)(i) of section 101 of the Family 
and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611(2)(B)(ii) and (4)(A)(i)) 
are amended by striking ``50'' each place it appears and inserting 
``25''.
                                 <all>