Sponsors (5)
Official title: Amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to provide leave for the spontaneous loss of an unborn child, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 23, 2025 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress July 23, 2025
The bill gives bereaved parents meaningful job protection, paid leave for federal workers, flexible leave options, and a refundable tax credit to ease financial strain after pregnancy loss, while creating privacy risks, administrative burdens, eligibility gaps for some families, and modest fiscal costs.
Parents and employees who experience a spontaneous pregnancy loss gain up to 12 weeks of job‑protected leave (includes private‑sector FMLA expansion and leave rights for federal employees), preserving employment while they recover and grieve.
Federal employees (and their spouses) can take paid leave after a spontaneous loss, giving paid time to recover and grieve.
Leave may be taken intermittently or on a reduced schedule when medically necessary, providing flexible timing for medical care and recovery.
Requiring medical certification with specified medical details and timely submission can burden employees recovering from loss, and may force disclosure of sensitive reproductive‑health information to employers or their agents.
Administrative and compliance costs for employers, federal agencies, and health care providers (processing intermittent leave, certifications, and paperwork) could be substantial, hitting small businesses and providers harder.
The 'reasonable and practicable' notice standard leaves room for employers or agencies to dispute timeliness, risking denials, delayed approvals, or disciplinary actions for employees who cannot provide perfect notice while grieving or obtaining care.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates FMLA-style leave rights for spontaneous pregnancy loss (12 weeks, intermittent allowed) and a refundable stillbirth tax credit equal to the child tax credit amount.
Creates a new federal leave right and related rules for employees (including federal civil servants) who experience the spontaneous loss of an unborn child, allowing up to 12 weeks of FMLA-style leave, intermittent or reduced-schedule leave when medically necessary, substitution of paid leave, and employer certification. It also creates a new refundable federal tax credit for taxpayers who had a stillbirth equal to the dollar amount of the child tax credit in effect for that year.