WASHINGTON — American workers are demanding flexible paid leave policies, and a Republican plan is offering an approach that sets minimum required paid leave days that also would have to cover vacations. Democrats say it doesn’t offer enough guarantees.
The Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions met Tuesday to review the GOP proposal by Rep. Mimi Walters , R-Calif., that was introduced in November.
“The Workflex in the 21st Century Act is a win-win for businesses and their employees, and provides Americans with the flexibility they desire when it comes to striking the right work-life balance,” said Subommittee Chairman Rep. Tim Walberg.
The plan would allow employers to offer their employees a minimum amount of compensable leave based on employer size and employee tenure.
| Number of employees employed by an employer | Minimum number of compensable days of leave per plan year | |
| Employees with 5 or more years of service with the employer as of the beginning of the plan year: | Employees with fewer than 5 years of service with the employer as of the beginning of the plan year: | |
| 1000 or more | 20 days | 16 days |
| 250 to 999 | 18 days | 14 days |
| 50 to 249 | 15 days | 13 days |
| less than 50 | 14 days | 12 days |
The compensable leave would be used for paid time off, sick leave, personal leave and vacation. An employer can deny leave to an employee if the leave disrupts operation of that particular business and can determine how the employee uses the time in a given day.
“It does not guarantee an employee the time off or flexibility that he or she might want or need, even in the most dire circumstances related to health or personal safety,” said Democratic Sen. Gayle Goldin of Rhode Island.
The bill also would also require employers to offer a variety of workflex options, such as biweekly work, compressed work schedules, telework, job sharing, flexible scheduling and predictable scheduling.
It would replace current state and local laws that require paid sick leave. According to the Committee on Education and Workforce, 10 states, the District of Columbia and more than 30 localities have some form of sick leave requirements.
“While the bill does nothing for working people who are the backbone of the American economy, it does quite a bit for large corporations who want to evade hard-won state and local laws that guarantee statutory protections to tens of millions of people and their families,” said Goldin.
Proponents of the bill say this is a way to modernize the workforce, which currently has “outdated workplace rules and government mandated lave requirements,” said Johnny Taylor, President of the Society for Human Resources Management. Opponents of the bill like Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA) think employers shouldn’t need the federal government to tell them that they should be accommodating to their employees.
The Worflex Act would be a federal law but doesn’t require states and local communities to comply. It’s an opt-in program for those employers and employees but some members of Congress are urging their constituents to reject the Workflex bill and focus on bills currently pending in Congress (Healthy Families Act, The Schedules That Work Act and The Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act) that would provide adequate and affordable paid family and medical leave.