Senate File 95 - Introduced
SENATE FILE 95
BY BOULTON, KNOX, DOTZLER,
DONAHUE, WEINER, CELSI,
BENNETT, GIDDENS, JOCHUM,
T. TAYLOR, TRONE GARRIOTT,
WAHLS, PETERSEN, QUIRMBACH,
BISIGNANO, and WINCKLER
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to a family leave and medical leave insurance
2 program that provides for paid, job-protected leave for
3 certain family leave and medical leave reasons for eligible
4 employees of specified employers.
5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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1 Section 1. Section 7E.5, subsection 1, paragraph h, Code
2 2023, is amended to read as follows:
3 h. The department of workforce development, created
4 in section 84A.1, which has primary responsibility for
5 administering the laws relating to unemployment compensation
6 insurance, job placement and training, employment safety, labor
7 standards, workers’ compensation, the family leave and medical
8 insurance program, and related matters.
9 Sec. 2. Section 84A.1, subsection 1, Code 2023, is amended
10 to read as follows:
11 1. The department of workforce development is created to
12 administer the laws of this state relating to unemployment
13 compensation insurance, job placement and training, employment
14 safety, labor standards, and workers’ compensation, and the
15 family leave and medical leave insurance program.
16 Sec. 3. NEW SECTION. 96A.1 Short title.
17 This chapter may be cited as the “Iowa Family and Medical
18 Leave Act”.
19 Sec. 4. NEW SECTION. 96A.2 Definitions.
20 As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise
21 requires:
22 1. “Child” means a biological, adopted, or foster child,
23 a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in
24 loco parentis, regardless of the child’s age or dependency
25 status.
26 2. “Covered employer” means a private sector employer who
27 has ten or more employees for each working day during each of
28 twenty or more calendar workweeks in the current or previous
29 calendar year, and a public employer without regard to the
30 number of employees employed.
31 3. “Department” means the department of workforce
32 development.
33 4. “Director” means the director of the department of
34 workforce development.
35 5. “Employee” means a natural person who is employed in
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1 this state for wages by an employer. “Employee” also includes
2 a commission salesperson who takes orders or performs services
3 on behalf of a principal and who is paid on the basis of
4 commissions but does not include persons who purchase for
5 their own account for resale. “Employee” shall not include an
6 independent contractor, a self-employed person, or a patient or
7 inmate employed by a state or local institution to which the
8 patient or inmate has been sentenced or committed, or any of
9 the following persons engaged in agriculture:
10 a. The spouse of the employer and a relative of either the
11 employer or the employer’s spouse who resides on the premises
12 of the employer.
13 b. A person engaged in agriculture as an owner-operator
14 or tenant-operator, and the spouse or a relative of either
15 an owner-operator or a tenant-operator who resides on the
16 premises while exchanging labor with the owner-operator or the
17 tenant-operator for mutual benefit.
18 c. A neighboring person engaged in agriculture who is
19 exchanging labor or other services.
20 6. “Employer” means the same as defined in 91A.2.
21 “Employer” includes a temporary staffing agency or employment
22 agency.
23 7. “Employment benefits” means all benefits provided or
24 made available to an employee by an employer, including group
25 life insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, sick
26 leave, annual leave, educational benefits, and pensions except
27 benefits that are provided by a practice or written policy of
28 an employer or through an employee benefit plan as defined in
29 29 U.S.C. §1002(3).
30 8. “Family leave” means a leave taken from work by an
31 employee for any of the following reasons:
32 a. To participate in providing care, including physical or
33 psychological care, for a family member of the employee made
34 necessary by a serious health condition of the family member.
35 b. To bond with the employee’s child after the child’s
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1 birth, or with a child under the age of eighteen placed with
2 the employee for adoption or foster care.
3 c. Because of a qualifying exigency for a family member as
4 permitted under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of
5 1993, as amended, and federal regulations as provided in 29
6 C.F.R. §825.126.
7 9. “Family member” means a child, parent, or spouse of an
8 employee.
9 10. “Gross earnings” means the same as defined in section
10 85.61.
11 11. “Health care provider” means a physician or other
12 health care practitioner licensed, accredited, registered, or
13 certified to perform specified health care services consistent
14 with state law.
15 12. “In loco parentis” means an individual who has
16 day-to-day responsibilities to care for or financially support
17 a child.
18 13. “Inpatient care” means an overnight stay in a hospital,
19 hospice, or residential medical care facility, including any
20 period of incapacity, or any subsequent treatment in connection
21 with such inpatient care.
22 14. “Medical leave” means a leave from work taken by an
23 employee made necessary by the employee’s own serious health
24 condition.
25 15. “Parent” means a biological, adoptive, step, or foster
26 father or mother, or any other individual who stands in
27 loco parentis to an employee or who stood in loco parentis
28 when the employee was a child. “Parent” does not include a
29 parent-in-law.
30 16. “Period of incapacity” means an inability to work,
31 attend school, or perform other regular daily activities due
32 to a serious health condition, treatment of a serious health
33 condition, or recovery from a serious health condition.
34 17. “Premium” or “premiums” means the payments required by
35 section 96A.12 and paid to the department for deposit in the
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1 family and medical leave insurance account pursuant to section
2 96A.22.
3 18. “Public employer” means the state of Iowa, its
4 boards, commissions, agencies, departments, and its political
5 subdivisions including school districts and other special
6 purpose districts.
7 19. “Serious health condition” means an illness, injury,
8 impairment, physical condition, or mental condition that
9 involves inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, medical care
10 facility, or continued treatment or continuing supervision by
11 a health care provider.
12 20. “Spendable weekly earnings” means the amount remaining
13 after payroll taxes are deducted from an employee’s gross
14 weekly earnings.
15 21. “Spouse” means the person with whom an individual has
16 entered into marriage as defined or recognized under state law
17 for purposes of marriage in the state in which the marriage
18 was entered into or, in the case of a marriage entered into
19 outside of any state, if the marriage is valid in the place
20 where the marriage was entered into and the marriage could have
21 been entered into in at least one state, including a common law
22 marriage.
23 22. “Wages” means the same as defined in section 91A.2.
24 Sec. 5. NEW SECTION. 96A.3 Benefit eligibility.
25 An employee is eligible for family leave and medical leave
26 as provided in this chapter after working for a covered
27 employer for both a minimum of twelve consecutive months
28 immediately preceding the employee’s request for leave and a
29 minimum of one thousand two hundred fifty hours during that
30 twelve-consecutive-month period.
31 Sec. 6. NEW SECTION. 96A.4 Leave entitlement for a defined
32 twelve-month period.
33 1. An employee is entitled to a maximum of twelve weeks
34 of family leave during a defined period of twelve consecutive
35 months.
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1 2. An employee is entitled to a maximum of twelve weeks of
2 medical leave during a defined period of twelve consecutive
3 months unless the employee experiences a serious health
4 condition, which is pregnancy-related, that results in a longer
5 period of incapacity in which case any extended medical leave
6 beyond twelve weeks shall conform with section 216.6.
7 3. An employee is entitled to a maximum combined total of
8 paid family leave and medical leave of sixteen weeks during a
9 defined period of twelve consecutive months.
10 4. An employee is not entitled to family leave or medical
11 leave of less than eight consecutive hours.
12 Sec. 7. NEW SECTION. 96A.5 Calculating the defined
13 twelve-month period.
14 The defined period of twelve consecutive months for
15 calculation of an eligible employee’s family leave or medical
16 leave entitlement begins on any of the following:
17 1. The date of birth of the employee’s child, or the date
18 of placement of a child for adoption or foster care with the
19 employee.
20 2. The first day of family leave that the employee takes for
21 a family member’s serious health condition or a family member’s
22 qualifying exigency.
23 3. The first day of the employee’s medical leave.
24 Sec. 8. NEW SECTION. 96A.6 Disqualification from leave
25 entitlement.
26 An eligible employee is disqualified for family leave or
27 medical leave benefits under this chapter for any of the
28 following reasons:
29 1. An absence due to the employee’s willful intention to
30 injure or cause a sickness to the employee or to the employee’s
31 family member.
32 2. An injury or sickness caused by the employee engaging in
33 an illegal act.
34 3. The employee’s absence due to an employer taking any
35 disciplinary action against the employee.
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1 Sec. 9. NEW SECTION. 96A.7 Employee notice to employer of
2 intent to take leave.
3 1. If leave for the birth of a child or placement of a child
4 for adoption or foster care with an employee is foreseeable,
5 the employee shall provide written notice to the employer not
6 less than thirty calendar days before the date the leave is to
7 begin.
8 2. If the birth of a child or placement of a child for
9 adoption or foster care with an employee requires leave to
10 begin in less than thirty calendar days, the employee shall
11 provide written notice to the employer as far in advance as is
12 practicable.
13 3. If leave for a family member’s serious health condition
14 or an employee’s serious health condition is foreseeable based
15 on planned medical treatment, the employee shall do all of the
16 following:
17 a. Make a reasonable effort to schedule such medical
18 treatment, subject to the recommendation of the employee’s or
19 family member’s health care provider as appropriate, to not
20 unduly disrupt the operations of the employer.
21 b. Provide the employer with not less than thirty calendar
22 days prior written notice of the employee’s intention to take
23 leave for a family member’s serious health condition or the
24 employee’s serious health condition.
25 4. If leave for a family member’s serious health condition
26 or an employee’s serious health condition is not foreseeable,
27 the employee shall provide written notice to the employer as
28 far in advance as is practicable.
29 Sec. 10. NEW SECTION. 96A.8 Weekly claim, certification,
30 and verification.
31 Beginning January 1, 2028, family leave or medical leave
32 insurance benefits are payable to an employee during a period
33 in which the employee is unable to perform the employee’s
34 regular or customary work because the employee is on family
35 leave or medical leave if the employee meets all of the
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1 following requirements:
2 1. The employee files a weekly claim for benefits with the
3 department as required per rules adopted by the director.
4 2. The employee meets the eligibility requirements pursuant
5 to section 96A.3 or the elective coverage requirements pursuant
6 to section 96A.14.
7 3. The employee consents to the disclosure of information or
8 records that may be deemed private or confidential under state
9 or federal law. Disclosure of such information and records by
10 another state agency or an employer to the department shall
11 be solely for purposes related to the administration of this
12 chapter. Information and records disclosed by an employee
13 under this chapter shall not be public records as defined in
14 section 22.1.
15 4. The employee authorizes the health care provider of the
16 employee’s family member or of the employee, as applicable, to
17 complete a certification of a serious health condition in a
18 form as required by the director.
19 5. The employee attests that written notice has been
20 provided to the employee’s employer per section 96A.7.
21 6. The employee provides documentation of a family member’s
22 qualifying exigency if requested by the employee’s employer.
23 Sec. 11. NEW SECTION. 96A.9 Waiting period for leave
24 benefits.
25 Family leave or medical leave insurance benefits shall be
26 payable to an eligible employee following a waiting period
27 consisting of the first seven calendar days of the employee’s
28 leave. However, no such waiting period applies to a leave for
29 the birth or placement of a child with an eligible employee.
30 Sec. 12. NEW SECTION. 96A.10 Weekly leave benefit amount.
31 1. The basis for the calculation of a leave benefit amount
32 shall be the weekly earnings of an eligible employee on the
33 day the leave is granted. “Weekly earnings” means the gross
34 earnings of an employee to which the employee would have been
35 entitled had the employee worked the employee’s customary hours
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1 for the full pay period in which the employee is on family
2 leave or medical leave. Weekly earnings shall be computed as
3 follows, rounded to the nearest dollar, for an employee who is
4 paid on the following basis:
5 a. On a weekly pay period basis, the weekly earnings are the
6 weekly gross earnings.
7 b. On a biweekly pay period basis, the weekly earnings are
8 one-half of the biweekly gross earnings.
9 c. On a semimonthly pay period basis, the weekly earnings
10 are the semimonthly gross earnings multiplied by twenty-four
11 and then divided by fifty-two.
12 d. On a monthly pay period basis, the weekly earnings
13 are the monthly gross earnings multiplied by twelve and then
14 divided by fifty-two.
15 e. On a yearly pay period basis, the weekly earnings shall
16 be the yearly earnings divided by fifty-two.
17 f. On a daily or hourly basis, or by the output of an
18 employee, the weekly earnings shall be computed by dividing by
19 thirteen the earnings, including shift differential pay but
20 not including overtime or premium pay, of the employee earned
21 in the last completed period of thirteen consecutive calendar
22 weeks immediately preceding the start day of the leave. If
23 the employee was absent from employment for personal reasons
24 during part of the thirteen calendar weeks preceding the
25 leave, the employee’s weekly earnings shall be the amount the
26 employee would have earned had the employee worked when work
27 was available to other employees of the employer in a similar
28 occupation. A week that does not fairly reflect the employee’s
29 customary earnings shall be replaced by the closest previous
30 week with earnings that fairly represent the employee’s
31 customary earnings.
32 2. If on the date that an employee’s leave begins the
33 employee’s hourly earnings cannot be ascertained, the earnings
34 for the purpose of calculating the benefit amount shall be the
35 usual earnings for similar services where such services are
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