Sponsors (17)
Official title: To provide paid family and medical leave to Federal employees, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 11, 2026 by Donald Sternoff Beyer · Last progress June 11, 2026
The bill substantially expands and clarifies job-protected and paid family/medical leave for many federal employees, survivors, and veterans—improving access and consistency—but does so at the cost of higher taxpayer and agency expenses, implementation complexity, and some potential inconsistencies or narrowed protections for certain groups.
Federal and related employees (USPS, PRC, GAO, Library of Congress, Executive Office staff, congressional staff, non-judicial court and Public Defender Service employees, and veterans/beneficiaries) gain clearer and expanded eligibility for FMLA-like paid and job‑protected leave across more qualifying reasons and by counting prior federal/military service toward eligibility.
Federal employees who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, stalking, or dating violence gain explicit job-protected leave rights to address safety and recovery needs.
Employees experiencing combined qualifying events (e.g., combining military caregiver leave and other FMLA-like periods, or combining administrative and FMLA periods) can access a consolidated longer leave entitlement—often up to 26 workweeks—giving more continuous protected time off when eligible.
Taxpayers and agency budgets face higher direct and indirect costs as expanded and longer leave entitlements increase overtime, temporary-hire, and staffing costs across multiple federal entities and local court systems.
Agencies, employing offices, and payroll/HR systems will incur substantial implementation and ongoing administrative burdens—updating systems, verifying varied prior service, issuing guidance, and training staff—to apply the expanded and changed leave rules.
Constituent services and on-the-ground operations could be disrupted as broader leave entitlements reduce in-office availability and increase reliance on temporary staff or reallocated workloads, potentially delaying services.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Expands and clarifies paid family and medical leave for federal and covered employees to include prior federal/military service, new victim‑related leave, broader parental events, and surrogacy rules.
Expands paid family and medical leave across the federal workforce and several covered entities by broadening who counts as prior federal service, adding new allowable leave reasons (including leave for victims of dating/domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, and stalking), and clarifying parental and surrogacy-related leave. The bill integrates these changes into laws that apply to congressional staff, GAO, Library of Congress, USPS/PRC employees, the Executive Office of the President, the VA leave program, and creates specified paid leave programs for certain District of Columbia employees. The changes take effect six months after enactment and include procedural rules (certification, work‑obligation agreements, agency recovery of government health contributions if employees do not meet work obligations) and cross‑references so covered nonfederal entities (Congressional Accountability Act, FMLA special rules, DC local programs) treat the new leave types consistently with chapter 63 of title 5.