Healthy Families Act
Latest action · Mar 15, 2017 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedMar 15, 2017
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Healthy Families Act
This bill requires certain employers, who employ 15 or more employees for each working day during 20 or more workweeks a year, to permit each employee to earn at least 1 hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked.
The bill authorizes small employers with fewer than 15 employees to provide the same paid sick time, but allows them to opt out. Any small employer that opts out shall provide at least 56 hours of unpaid sick time to each employee per calendar year.
The bill declares that an employer shall not be required to permit an employee to earn more than 56 hours of paid sick time in a calendar year, unless the employer chooses to set a higher limit.
Employees may use such time to: (1) meet their own medical needs; (2) care for the medical needs of certain family members (including a domestic partner or the domestic partner's parent or child); or (3) seek medical attention, assist a related person, take legal action, or engage in other specified activities relating to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
The bill prohibits an employer from interfering with an employee's exercise of such rights.
The Commissioner of Labor Statistics must compile information annually on paid sick time and the Comptroller General shall study related matters.
The bill declares that nothing in this bill shall be construed to discourage employers from adopting or retaining more generous leave policies.
The Department of Labor shall exercise certain investigative and enforcement authority for employees covered by this bill, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, or the Government Employee Rights Act of 1991. The same authority is granted to the Library of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, the Office of Compliance, and the Merit Systems Protection Board for employees under their jurisdictions.
The bill authorizes civil actions by employees, individuals, or their representatives for damages or equitable relief against employers who violate this bill.
Cosponsors 37
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Mar 15, 2017 to Nov 26, 2018; 30 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-MN | Al Franken | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-MN | Amy Klobuchar | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| I-ME | Angus S. King Jr. | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-MD | Benjamin L. Cardin | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| I-VT | Bernard Sanders | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-NY | Charles E. Schumer | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-MD | Chris Van Hollen | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-DE | Christopher A. Coons | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-CT | Christopher Murphy | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-NJ | Cory A. Booker | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-MA | Edward J. Markey | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-MA | Elizabeth Warren | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-MI | Gary C. Peters | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-RI | Jack Reed | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-OR | Jeff Merkley | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-NY | Kirsten E. Gillibrand | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-NH | Margaret Wood Hassan | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-WA | Maria Cantwell | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-NM | Martin Heinrich | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-HI | Mazie K. Hirono | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-VT | Patrick J. Leahy | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-CT | Richard Blumenthal | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-IL | Richard J. Durbin | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-NJ | Robert Menendez | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-PA | Robert P. Casey Jr. | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-OR | Ron Wyden | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-RI | Sheldon Whitehouse | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-OH | Sherrod Brown | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-VA | Tim Kaine | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-NM | Tom Udall | Original | Mar 15, 2017 |
| D-WI | Tammy Baldwin | Mar 21, 2017 | |
| D-CA | Dianne Feinstein | Mar 22, 2017 | |
| D-CO | Michael F. Bennet | Mar 28, 2017 | |
| D-MI | Debbie Stabenow | Apr 24, 2017 | |
| D-IL | Tammy Duckworth | Jun 12, 2017 | |
| D-NV | Catherine Cortez Masto | Mar 15, 2018 | |
| D-CA | Kamala D. Harris | Nov 26, 2018 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee | Referred Mar 15, 2017 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Mar 15, 2017Introduced in Senate
- Mar 15, 2017Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Related bills 3
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 497 | Healthy Families Act | Reintroduction of | Feb 12, 2015 |
| S 840 | Healthy Families Act | Reintroduced Bill | Mar 14, 2019 |
| HR 1516 | Healthy Families Act | Identical bill | Mar 13, 2017 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill to allow Americans to earn paid sick time so that they can address their own health needs and the health needs of their families.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Healthy Families Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Labor and Employment.
- Assault and harassment offenses
- Civil actions and liability
- Congressional agencies
- Congressional officers and employees
- Congressional oversight
- Domestic violence and child abuse
- Employee leave
- Employment discrimination and employee rights
- Government Accountability Office (GAO)
- Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
- Government information and archives
- Government liability
- Government studies and investigations
- Labor and Employment
- Library of Congress
- Marriage and family status
- Merit Systems Protection Board
- Sex offenses
- Small business
- State and local government operations
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Mar 15, 2017Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
