[House Document 104-270]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



104th Congress, 2d Session - - - - - - - - - - - - Document 104-270


 
   PROPOSED LEGISLATION: ``FAMILY-FRIENDLY WORKPLACE ACT OF 1996''

                               __________

                                MESSAGE

                                  From

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

 A DRAFT OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION ENTITLED, ``FAMILY-FRIENDLY WORKPLACE 
                             ACT OF 1996''




 September 27, 1996.--Message and accompanying papers referred to the 
 Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities and ordered to be 
                                printed


To the Congress of the United States:
    I am pleased to transmit today for consideration and 
passage the ``Family-Friendly Workplace Act of 1996.'' Also 
transmitted is a section-by-section analysis. This legislative 
proposal is vital to American workers, offering them a 
meaningful and flexible opportunity to balance successfully 
their work and family responsibilities.
    The legislation would offer workers more choice and 
flexibility in finding ways to earn the wages they need to 
support their families while also spending valuable time with 
their families. In particular, the legislation would allow 
eligible employees who work overtime to receive compensatory 
time off--with a limit of up to 80 hours per year--in lieu of 
monetary compensation. In addition, the legislation contains 
explicit protections against coercion by employers and abuses 
by unstable or unscrupulous businesses.
    The legislation also would amend the Family and Medical 
Leave Act of 1993. This statute currently allows eligible 
workers at businesses with 50 or more employees to take up to 
12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to care for a newborn 
child, attend to their own serious health needs, or care for a 
seriously ill parent, child, or spouse. Although enactment of 
this statute was a major step forward in helping families 
balance work and family obligations, the law does not address 
many situations that working families typically confront. The 
enclosed legislation would cover more of these situations, 
thereby enhancing workers' ability to balance their need to 
care for their children and elderly relatives without 
sacrificing their employment obligations. Under the expanded 
law, workers could take up to 24 hours of unpaid leave each 
year to fulfill additional, specified family obligations, which 
would include participating in school activities that relate 
directly to the academic advancement of their children, 
accompanying children or elderly relatives to routine medical 
appointments, and attending to other health or care needs of 
elderly relatives.
    I urge the Congress to give this legislation favorable 
consideration.

                                                William J. Clinton.
    The White House, September 27, 1996.

                                



                                
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