[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3255 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3255
To amend title 49, United States Code, with respect to sick leave for
certain employees of Class I railroads, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 11, 2023
Mr. Payne (for himself, Mr. Bowman, Ms. Budzinski, Mr. Carson, Mr.
Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Cohen, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs. Dingell, Mr.
Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Kim of
New Jersey, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Ms. Lee of California, Mr.
Magaziner, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mrs. Napolitano, Ms.
Norton, Ms. Omar, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Titus, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms.
Escobar, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Evans, Mr. Neguse, Mrs. Foushee, Ms. Hoyle of
Oregon, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Jayapal, Ms.
Strickland, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Moulton, and Ms.
Wilson of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 49, United States Code, with respect to sick leave for
certain employees of Class I railroads, 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 ``Freight Rail Workforce Health and
Safety Act''.
SEC. 2. RAILROAD SAFETY RISK REDUCTION PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--Section 20156(a)(3) of title 49, United States
Code, is amended--
(1) by inserting ``The Secretary shall not approve a
railroad safety risk reduction program plan, or subsequent
amendment to a plan, if the railroad carrier submitting such
plan or amendment does not comply with the requirements of
section 20172. The Secretary may consider other factors in
reviewing and approving or disapproving safety risk reduction
program plans or amendments to plans that the Secretary
determines appropriate.'' after ``reasonable period of time.'';
(2) by inserting ``and approve or disapprove plans'' after
``conduct a review''; and
(3) by inserting ``, including the requirements of section
20172'' after ``their plans''.
(b) Injury and Fatality Prevention.--Chapter 201 of title 49,
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 20172. Injury and fatality prevention
``(a) In General.--
``(1) Sick leave.--Not later than 60 days after the date of
enactment of this section, each Class I railroad carrier
subject to part 271 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations,
shall provide the employees of such rail carrier paid sick
leave in accordance with this section.
``(2) Accounting.--
``(A) In general.--For the purposes of this
section, personal days, holidays, floating holidays,
vacation, any other form of accrued leave or any other
unpaid leave do not count as days of paid sick leave.
``(B) Use or ability to use.--The use of or the
ability to use any such days or leave as paid sick
leave days also does not count toward satisfying the
minimum number of paid sick leave days required by this
section.
``(b) Accruing Paid Sick Leave.--
``(1) In general.--Each Class I railroad carrier described
in subsection (a)(1) shall provide the employees of such rail
carrier at least 7 days of paid sick leave in a calendar year.
``(2) Carry over.--Each day of paid sick leave that an
employee does not take in a calendar year shall be carried over
to January 1 of the following calendar year and shall not count
toward the minimum number of sick days set under subsection
(a).
``(3) Wage rate.--Each day of sick leave that an employee
takes shall be paid at the regular hourly wage rate of the
employee and is to include compensation elements that comprise
the wage rate of such employee.
``(c) Use of Paid Sick Leave.--Subject to the conditions of
subsection (d), a Class I railroad carrier shall permit an employee to
use paid sick leave to be absent during any work time because of--
``(1) a physical or mental illness, injury, or medical
condition of the employee;
``(2) obtaining diagnosis, care, or preventive care from a
health care provider by the employee;
``(3) caring for the child, parent, spouse, or domestic
partner of an employee or any other individual related by blood
or affinity whose close association with the employee is the
equivalent of a family relationship who has any of the
conditions or needs for diagnosis, care, or preventive care
described in paragraphs (1) or (2) of this subsection; or
``(4) an absence resulting from domestic violence, sexual
assault, or stalking, if the time is to--
``(A) seek medical attention for the employee or
the employee's child, parent, spouse, domestic partner,
or an individual related to the employee as described
in paragraph (3), to recover from physical or
psychological injury or disability caused by domestic
violence, sexual assault, or stalking;
``(B) obtain or assist a related person described
in paragraph (3) in obtaining services from a victim
services organization;
``(C) obtain or assist a related person described
in paragraph (3) in obtaining psychological or other
counseling;
``(D) seek relocation; or
``(E) take legal action, including preparing for or
participating in any civil or criminal legal proceeding
related to or resulting from domestic violence, sexual
assault, or stalking.
``(d) Utilizing Paid Sick Leave.--
``(1) In general.--If the need for leave is foreseeable,
the request by an employee shall be made at least 7 calendar
days in advance of the date for which the leave is requested.
``(2) Non-foreseeable requests.--If the employee is unable
to request leave at least 7 calendar days in advance, the
request shall be made as soon as is practicable.
``(3) No contingency.--A Class I railroad carrier may not
make the use of paid sick leave contingent on the requesting
employee finding a replacement to cover any work time to be
missed by the requesting employee.
``(4) Prohibition on adverse action.--A Class I railroad
carrier is prohibited from--
``(A) dismissing, suspending, laying off, demoting,
or disciplining (including assigning points, demerits,
or disciplinary citations under any attendance policy)
an employee because the employee has requested the use
of or has used paid sick leave; and
``(B) taking into account a request by an employee
to use or use of paid sick leave in connection with in
any decision to promote or train the employee.
``(e) Minimum Days of Paid Sick Leave and Collective Bargaining.--
``(1) In general.--The minimum number of paid sick days
established by this section that a Class I railroad carrier
must provide employees is the minimum number of such days
consistent with safety. The use of any 7 days of paid sick
leave annually, regardless of whether such days are provided
under any agreement reached in negotiations between any such
Class I railroad carrier and any representative of its
employees under the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.),
shall meet the requirements of subsection (d) of this
subsection.
``(2) Additional days.--Additional paid sick days may be
collectively bargained between a railroad carrier and the
representatives of employees of such railroad in accordance
with the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.).
``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Day.--The term `day' means a period of 24 consecutive
hours.
``(2) Domestic violence.--The term `domestic violence'--
``(A) has the meaning given the term in section
40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (34
U.S.C. 12291(a)), except that the reference in such
section to the term ``jurisdiction receiving grant
monies'' shall be deemed to mean the jurisdiction in
which the victim lives or the jurisdiction in which the
employer involved is located; and
``(B) includes dating violence, as such term is
defined in such section.
``(3) Paid sick leave.--The term `paid sick leave' means an
increment of compensated leave that can be earned by an
employee for use during an absence from employment for any of
the reasons described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of
subsection (c).
``(4) Sexual assault.--The term `sexual assault' has the
meaning given such term in section 40002(a) of the Violence
Against Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)).
``(5) Stalking.--The term `stalking' has the meaning given
such term in section 40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act
of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)).''.
(c) Clerical Amendment.--The analysis for chapter 201 of title 49,
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``20172. Injury and fatality prevention.''.
<all>