Sponsors (16)
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 expands and clarifies FMLA-like leave access for many federal and related employees (including explicit survivor protections and extended combined leave), improving job protection and predictability, but does so at the cost of higher public personnel expenses, substantial administrative/implementation burdens, potential service disruptions, and some uneven or uncertain effects for certain groups.
Millions of federal and federal-adjacent employees (GAO, Library of Congress, USPS, PRC, congressional staff, Executive Office non‑temporary staff, VA, non‑judicial court and Public Defender Service employees) gain clearer and broader eligibility for FMLA-like paid or job-protected leave (including counting prior federal/military service), meaning more workers can take protected leave without job‑
Employees who are victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, or stalking explicitly get FMLA-analogous job-protected leave for safety and recovery, improving access to time off for survivors.
Eligible employees can access combined/extended protected leave (for example, combining administrative leave and other FMLA-like periods up to 26 workweeks in certain circumstances), giving longer continuous leave for serious medical or caregiver needs.
Expanding eligibility and leave categories will likely raise personnel costs for agencies, congressional offices, the VA, courts and the Public Defender Service—leading to higher direct or indirect costs for taxpayers or local governments.
Agencies and offices will face substantial administrative and implementation burdens (updating payroll/HR systems, verifying varied prior service, developing policies and training), creating transitional costs and a risk of inconsistent or delayed benefits delivery.
Broader and longer leave entitlements could reduce in‑office time, strain staffing, increase overtime or temporary hires, and delay constituent services or court functions if offices cannot backfill absences effectively.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Broadens federal paid family and medical leave eligibility and reasons (including victim‑related and reproductive events), applies changes across legislative/executive/postal employees and requires DC employer programs to provide matching paid leave.
Expands federal paid family and medical leave by broadening who counts as prior federal service for eligibility, adding new allowable leave reasons (including leave related to dating/domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, stalking, pregnancy loss and failed assisted reproduction/adoption/surrogacy), and clarifying leave for surrogacy and birth-giving parent recovery. The bill extends these changes into parallel rules that apply to congressional staff, GAO, Library of Congress, Postal Service and Postal Regulatory Commission employees, the Executive Office of the President, certain VA programs, and requires specific District of Columbia employer programs to provide paid leave consistent with the expanded leave categories. All changes take effect six months after enactment.