Sponsors (48)
Official title: To amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and title 5, United States Code, to permit leave to care for a domestic partner, parent-in-law, or adult child, or another related individual, who has a serious health condition, and to allow employees to take, as additional leave, parental involvement and family wellness leave to participate in or attend their children's and grandchildren's educational and extracurricular activities or meet family care needs.
Introduced February 5, 2025 by Jahana Hayes · Last progress February 5, 2025
The bill broadens who can take short, flexible family leave — extending protections to nontraditional and extended family relationships and giving federal workers limited paid time for school and routine care — while shifting added scheduling, administrative, and potential cost burdens onto employers, agencies, and (to a lesser degree) taxpayers, and leaving some caregivers with insufficient leave for larger needs.
Employees (including parents, grandparents, adult children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces/nephews, in‑laws, and state‑recognized or designated domestic partners) gain explicit eligibility to take family/medical leave to care for a much broader set of relatives and close associates.
Federal employees, contractors, and covered servicemembers receive clearer statutory leave rights (including up to 24 hours per year for certain family/school/medical activities), improving work–family flexibility for the federal workforce and military caregivers.
Workers gain a short-duration leave benefit (up to 24 hours/year overall; for federal employees, a cap of 4 hours per 30‑day period and 24 hours/year) to attend school events, routine medical appointments, or elder care that can be taken intermittently or on a reduced schedule.
Employers—especially small businesses—are likely to face more intermittent and extended leave requests, creating scheduling challenges, coverage gaps, and potential added labor costs.
Employers, agencies, and healthcare providers will face increased administrative and HR burdens to update procedures, track intermittent absences, and verify a broader array of relationships and certifications.
A subjective 'close association' or 'equivalent of a family relationship' catchall increases uncertainty and litigation risk, producing disputes between employees and employers over eligibility.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Expands covered family relationships under FMLA and creates a new short parental‑involvement/family wellness leave (4 hrs/30 days; 24 hrs/12 months) and a parallel limited paid federal leave.
Expands who counts as a family member under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and related federal leave rules and creates a new short-duration leave right for parental involvement and family wellness. The bill adds many relatives and a catchall “close association” category, defines domestic partners, and gives eligible employees up to 4 hours per 30 days (24 hours per 12-month year) of additional FMLA leave for things like school events, routine medical appointments, and care visits; it creates a parallel limited paid leave entitlement for Federal employees with the same hourly and notice limits.