Originally published in the Reading Eagle

Written by Beth Brelje

Washington, D.C. — When U.S. House members return to Washington in about two weeks, they will consider the annual funding bill for military activities of the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy.

Like most bills, it will arrive on the House floor with a lot of additional proposals, including two from U.S. Rep Chrissy Houlahan, a Chester County Democrat representing part of Berks County.

She is cosponsor of an amendment that would give paid family leave to federal employees for family obligations such as the birth or adoption of a child, or caring for a sick member of one's immediate family.

Cosponsor Rep. Carolyn Bosher Maloney, a New York Democrat, has introduced the measure in the past.

“Rep. Maloney has been trying to get this to have a life for the last six years," Houlahan said in a phone interview last week. "Now it has the opportunity to survive and pass.”

Being attached to the defense spending bill gives Houlahan's proposal a better chance to survive, but is still would have to pass the Senate.

The measure would cost an estimated $23.4 million but Houlahan says she has it covered with another amendment that would have the Department of Defense sell off some of its rare earth reserves: 3 million pounds of tungsten out of the National Defense Stockpile to private companies that use it for manufacturing and other purposes. The sale would generate revenue for the federal government to offset the cost of expanding paid family leave benefits to government employees, Houlahan's office said.

Offering paid family leave benefits to government employees will attract workers to government jobs, Houlahan said.

“We want to make sure we are able to recruit the best and most capable workforce," she said. "Hiring the best people means that we give them good benefits. One reason I got out of the military was access to child care.”

Houlahan recounted being troubled over a story she heard about a government worker who was hired in her 20s. The worker was advised to save her sick days and let them roll over to future years in case she ever wanted to have a baby. This way she could get more time off when the baby arrived.

Notably, sick days are “use it or lose it” for many nongovernment workers; they can't roll sick days over year to year.

Why propose the benefit only to government workers?

Houlahan called the measure a signaling mechanism.

“We should all have access to family medical leave. Right now I don't believe we have the appetite for it legislatively,” Houlahan said. “But hopefully it will be something to begin the process. Most people would like to see it. It is a good first step.”

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 gave certain employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave.

Before the act, employers could and often did fire an employee who required weeks off for family or health demands.

Now advocates are asking for employers to pay employees during these extended periods off. Federal law does not require it but a handful of states mandate that private employers offer paid family leave.

States adopt mandates

Last week Connecticut became the seventh state to mandate that private employers provide paid family leave. The program kicks in in 2022. It is funded by a payroll tax on workers of 1.5%.

Other states offering paid family leave are Washington, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York.

In Pennsylvania, a companion bill offered in both the state House and state Senate seeks to extend family and medical leave beyond the federal coverage of caring for an ailing family member beyond immediate family to also include a sibling, grandparent and grandchild with a certified terminal illness.

The move would provide six weeks of unpaid leave in these cases.
The legislation is House Bill 1435 and Senate Bill 140.

No one in the Berks County delegation has signed on to the legislation.
Gail Landis, senior vice president, government and community relations at the Greater Reading Chamber and Economic Development Corporation, said the chamber is monitoring the legislation.

Landis declined to comment on how Berks businesses view proposed changes to federal or state family leave laws, saying the chamber would have to survey its members first.

At the federal level, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce favors a concept called Workflex, which avoids mandates, seeking instead to give employers incentives to provide "scaled amounts of leave to facilitate the expansion of paid leave and flexible work options that suit a broad array of workplaces."