III 109th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 282 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 3, 2005 Mr. Dodd (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Mikulski, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Akaka, Mrs. Boxer, and Mr. Corzine) 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 expand the scope of the Act, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act. (b)

Table of contents

The table of contents of this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. Title I—Family income to respond to significant transitions Sec. 101. Short title. Sec. 102. Purposes. Sec. 103. Definitions. Sec. 104. Demonstration projects. Sec. 105. Notification. Sec. 106. Evaluations and reports. Sec. 107. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 108. Technical and conforming amendments. Title II—Family friendly workplaces Sec. 201. Short title. Sec. 202. Coverage of employees. Title III—Employment protection for battered women Sec. 301. Entitlement to leave for addressing domestic violence for non-Federal employees. Sec. 302. Entitlement to leave for addressing domestic violence for Federal employees. Sec. 303. Existing leave usable for domestic violence. Title IV—Federal employees paid parental Leave Sec. 401. Short title. Sec. 402. Demonstration project. Sec. 403. Technical and conforming amendments. Sec. 404. Effective date. Title V—Time for schools Sec. 501. Short title. Sec. 502. General requirements for leave. Sec. 503. School involvement leave for civil service employees. Sec. 504. Effective date.

2.

Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1) Since the enactment of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.), more than 50,000,000 Americans have taken leave for family or medical reasons. (2) Of those taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 52 percent took the leave for their own serious health conditions, and 26 percent took the leave to care for a new child or for maternity disability reasons. (3) While the leave provided by the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 has proven to be a critical resource for millions of Americans, too many people are left behind because the Act provides only unpaid leave. (4) According to a 2000 Department of Labor survey— (A) 3,500,000 Americans needed family and medical leave but could not afford to take time off without pay; (B) nearly four-fifths (78 percent) of those surveyed who needed the leave but did not take it said they could not afford unpaid leave; (C) 9 percent of those taking family and medical leave and receiving less than full pay during their longest period of the leave had to go on public assistance to cover their lost wages; and (D) 73 percent of those taking family and medical leave had incomes above $30,000. (5) Decades ago, only a tiny fraction of mothers with infants under age 1 were in the workforce. In 2004, about 55 percent of mothers with infants under age 1 were in the workforce. (6) Worldwide, 128 countries of the 172 responding to an International Social Security Association survey in 1999 provided at least some paid and job protected maternity leave, and, on average, provided 16 weeks of basic paid maternity leave. In some countries, paid maternity leave is mandatory and in others it is voluntary. (7) A European Union directive mandating 14 weeks of paid maternity leave was adopted as a health and safety measure in 1992. (8) Among the 29 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, the most advanced industrialized countries, the average period of childbirth-related leave (including maternity, paternity, and parental leaves) is 44 weeks (10 months) with additional time provided in some countries for leave to care for a sick child. In those countries, the average duration of paid childbirth-related leave is 36 weeks. (9) In more than half of the OECD countries (16 countries), the cash benefit provided while on the paid childbirth-related leave replaces between 70 and 100 percent of prior wages. (10) Among the OECD countries, adoptive mothers and adoptive parents are increasingly eligible for the paid childbirth-related leave.