Flexibility for Working Families Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3610 To permit employees to request, and to ensure employers consider requests for, flexible work terms and conditions, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 28, 2021 Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York (for herself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CAR- SON, and Mr. COOPER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Com- mittees on Oversight and Reform, House Administration, and the Judici- ary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To permit employees to request, and to ensure employers consider requests for, flexible work terms and conditions, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Flexibility for Working 4 Families Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3610 IH (1) Over the last 50 years, the demographics of 1 the Nation’s workforce have undergone significant 2 changes. As a result of the changes, the modern 3 workforce has a more diverse set of needs. 4 (2) Over time, increasing numbers of women 5 have joined the workforce. The Bureau of Labor 6 Statistics reports that in 1960 women composed 33 7 percent of employed persons, whereas in 2010 they 8 were 47 percent of employed persons. 9 (3) Fewer households have at least 1 parent at 10 home. According to the Bureau of the Census, more 11 than 70 percent of children are raised in families 12 that are headed by either a working single parent or 13 2 working parents. Furthermore, the number of 14 households with married parents and children, in 15 which both parents were in the workforce, rose to 66 16 percent in 2010. The number of single-parent fami- 17 lies has also increased, almost tripling over the last 18 50 years, from 5 percent in 1960, to 14 percent in 19 2010. 20 (4) More households are caring for older rel- 21 atives. According to the Bureau of the Census, the 22 average life expectancy for a child born in 2010 is 23 78.3 years, almost 10 years longer than for a child 24 born in 1960. The National Alliance for Caregiving 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3610 IH found that 57 percent of persons who provide unpaid 1 care to an adult or to a child with special needs are 2 employed, with 46 percent working full time and 11 3 percent working part time. 4 (5) Many jobs are now located outside of city 5 centers. Low-wage employees in particular have dif- 6 ficulty reaching jobs through public transportation 7 during off-peak shifts, such as shifts that start in 8 the evening or early morning. 9 (6) In response to the needs of the modern 10 workforce some employers have instituted flexible 11 work arrangements, which, according to Georgetown 12 University Law School’s Workforce Flexibility 2010 13 initiative, are voluntary arrangements between em- 14 ployees and employers that alter the time or place 15 at which work is conducted, or the amount of work 16 that is conducted, in order to allow employees to 17 more easily meet the needs of both work and family 18 life. 19 (7) The National Study of the Changing Work- 20 force, published in 2002 by the Families and Work 21 Institute, found that employees with access to flexi- 22 ble work arrangements reported less interference be- 23 tween their job and family life, and fewer mental 24 health problems. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3610 IH (8) Corporate Voices for Working Families 1 found that implementing workplace flexibility im- 2 proves employee satisfaction, morale, and teamwork 3 as well as employee health, well-being, and resilience, 4 and helps to reduce stress. 5 (9) Flexible work arrangements have also been 6 shown to improve the bottom line for businesses. 7 Corporate Voices for Working Families found that 8 implementing workplace flexibility improves the bot- 9 tom line by helping businesses to attract and retain 10 key talent, increase employee retention and reduce 11 turnover, reduce overtime and absenteeism, and en- 12 hance employee productivity, effectiveness, and en- 13 gagement. 14 (10) The President’s Council of Economic Advi- 15 sors found that, as more businesses adopt flexibility 16 practices, the benefits to society, in the form of re- 17 duced traffic, improved employment outcomes, and 18 more efficient allocation of employees to employers, 19 may be greater than the gains to individual busi- 20 nesses and employees. 21 (11) According to a 2011 Government Account- 22 ability Office report, a flexible work environment can 23 increase and enhance employment opportunities for 24 individuals with disabilities. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3610 IH (12) The Society for Human Resource Manage- 1 ment believes that the key to getting the best out of 2 every employee is a flexible work environment. 3 (13) According to the National Partnership for 4 Women and Families, businesses can retain their 5 most valuable asset—a trained and committed work- 6 force—by offering flexible workplace policies. 7 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 8 In this Act: 9 (1) ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER.—The term ‘‘ad- 10 ministrative officer’’, used with respect to an em- 11 ployer or an employee, means the corresponding in- 12 dividual or entity with authority to issue regulations 13 under section 13. 14 (2) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 15 an individual— 16 (A) who is— 17 (i)(I) an employee (including an appli- 18 cant), as defined in section 3(e) of the Fair 19 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 20 203(e)), who is not covered under any of 21 clauses (ii) through (v), including such an 22 employee of the Library of Congress, ex- 23 cept that a reference in such section to an 24 employer shall be considered to be a ref- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3610 IH erence to an employer described in clauses 1 (i)(I) and (ii) of paragraph (3)(A); or 2 (II) an employee (including an appli- 3 cant) of the Government Accountability 4 Office; 5 (ii) a State employee (including an ap- 6 plicant) described in section 304(a) of the 7 Government Employee Rights Act of 1991 8 (42 U.S.C. 2000e–16c(a)); 9 (iii) a covered employee (including an 10 applicant), as defined in section 101 of the 11 Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 12 (2 U.S.C. 1301); 13 (iv) a covered employee (including an 14 applicant), as defined in section 411(c) of 15 title 3, United States Code; or 16 (v) a Federal officer or employee (in- 17 cluding an applicant) covered under sub- 18 chapter V of chapter 63 of title 5, United 19 States Code; and 20 (B) who works at least 20 hours per week 21 or, in the alternative, at least 1,000 hours per 22 year. 23 (3) EMPLOYER.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3610 IH (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘employer’’ 1 means a person who is— 2 (i)(I) a covered employer, as defined 3 in subparagraph (B), who is not covered 4 under any of subclauses (II) through (V); 5 (II) an entity employing a State em- 6 ployee described in section 304(a) of the 7 Government Employee Rights Act of 1991; 8 (III) an employing office, as defined 9 in section 101 of the Congressional Ac- 10 countability Act of 1995; 11 (IV) an employing office, as defined in 12 section 411(c) of title 3, United States 13 Code; or 14 (V) an employing agency covered 15 under subchapter V of chapter 63 of title 16 5, United States Code; and 17 (ii) is engaged in commerce (including 18 government), in the production of goods 19 for commerce, or in an enterprise engaged 20 in commerce (including government) or in 21 the production of goods for commerce. 22 (B) COVERED EMPLOYER.— 23 (i) IN GENERAL.—In subparagraph 24 (A)(i)(I), the term ‘‘covered employer’’— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3610 IH (I) means any person engaged in 1 commerce or in any industry or activ- 2 ity affecting commerce who employs 3 15 or more employees for each work- 4 ing day during each of 20 or more 5 calendar workweeks in the current or 6 preceding calendar year; 7 (II) includes— 8 (aa) any person who acts, 9 directly or indirectly, in the inter- 10 est of such an employer to any of 11 the employees of such employer; 12 and 13 (bb) any successor in inter- 14 est of such an employer; and 15 (III) includes an agency de- 16 scribed in clause (iii) or (iv) of sub- 17 paragraph (A) of section 101(4) of 18 the Family and Medical Leave Act of 19 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611(4)), to which 20 subparagraph (B) of such section 21 shall apply. 22 (ii) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 23 this subparagraph: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3610 IH (I) COMMERCE.—The terms 1 ‘‘commerce’’ and ‘‘industry or activity 2 affecting commerce’’ have the mean- 3 ings given the terms in section 101 of 4 such Act (29 U.S.C. 2611). 5 (II) EMPLOYEE; PERSON.—The 6 terms ‘‘employee’’ and ‘‘person’’ have 7 the meanings given such terms in sec- 8 tion 3 of the Fair Labor Standards 9 Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203). 10 (C) PREDECESSORS.—Any reference in 11 this paragraph to an employer shall include a 12 reference to any predecessor of such employer. 13 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 14 the Secretary of Labor. 15 (5) SUPERVISOR.— 16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘supervisor’’ 17 has the meaning given the term in section 152 18 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 19 152). 20 (B) APPLICATION.—For purposes of apply- 21 ing this paragraph, a reference in such sec- 22 tion— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3610 IH (i) to an employee shall be considered 1 to be a reference to an employee, as de- 2 fined in this section; and 3 (ii) to an employer shall be considered 4 to be a reference to an employer, as de- 5 fined in this section. 6 SEC. 4. STATUTORY RIGHT TO REQUEST FLEXIBLE WORK 7 TERMS AND CONDITIONS. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—An employee may apply to the 9 employee’s employer for a temporary or permanent change 10 in the employee’s terms or conditions of employment if the 11 change relates to— 12 (1) the number of hours the employee is re- 13 quired to work; 14 (2) the times when the employee is required to 15 work or be on call for work; 16 (3) where the employee is required to work; or 17 (4) the amount of notification the employee re- 18 ceives of work schedule assignments. 19 (b) CONTENTS.—An application submitted under this 20 section shall— 21 (1) state that the application is an application 22 described in subsection (a); 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3610 IH (2) specify the change applied for and the date 1 on which the employee requests that the change be- 2 come effective; and 3 (3) explain what effect, if any, the employee 4 thinks the change applied for would have on the em- 5 ployer and how, in the employee’s opinion, any such 6 effect might be dealt with. 7 (c) SUBMISSIONS.— 8 (1) PERIOD BETWEEN SUBMISSIONS.—If an 9 employee, who has submitted an application under 10 this section to an employer, submits a further appli- 11 cation under this section to the same employer be- 12 fore the end of the period of 12 months beginning 13 with the date on which the previous application was 14 submitted, that further application shall not be cov- 15 ered by section 5. 16 (2) FORM AND TIMING.—The administrative of- 17 ficer shall, by regulation issued under section 13, 18 specify— 19 (A) the form of applications submitted 20 under this section; and 21 (B) when such an application shall be con- 22 sidered to be submitted. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3610 IH SEC. 5. EMPLOYER’S DUTIES IN RELATION TO APPLICA- 1 TIONS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—An employer to whom an em- 3 ployee submits an application under section 4 shall con- 4 sider the application, in accordance with regulations 5 issued under section 13. 6 (b) REGULATIONS.—Regulations described in sub- 7 section (a)— 8 (1) shall include provisions that provide— 9 (A) that the employer and the employee 10 shall hold a meeting to discuss such an applica- 11 tion; 12 (B) that the employer shall give the em- 13 ployee a written decision regarding the applica- 14 tion, within a reasonable period after the date 15 of the meeting; 16 (C) that a decision under subparagraph 17 (B) to reject the application shall state the 18 grounds for the decision, including whether 19 those grounds included— 20 (i) the identifiable cost of the pro- 21 posed change in a term or condition of em- 22 ployment requested in the application, in- 23 cluding the costs of loss of productivity, of 24 retraining or hiring an employee, or of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Jun 24, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3610.IH H3610 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3610 IH transferring an employee from one facility 1 to another facility; 2 (ii) the overall financial resources in- 3 volved; 4 (iii) for an employer with multiple fa- 5 cilities, the geographic separateness or ad- 6 ministrative or fiscal relationship of the 7 staffs at the facilities; 8 (iv) the effect of the change on the 9 employer’s ability to meet customer de- 10 mand; or 11 (v) another factor specified by the ad- 12 ministrative officer in regulation; 13 (D) that if the employer rejects the em- 14 ployee’s application, the employer may [Text truncated for display. 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