Core Provisions:  This act would create a federal insurance fund similar to the unemployment benefits scheme to provide twelve weeks of pay for employees taking leave (1) because of a serious health condition, (2) upon the birth or adoption of a child, (3) in order to care for a family member, (4) due to any qualifying emergency arising from the fact that a spouse, child, or parent of the employee is on active military duty, or (5) in order to care for a family member who is a covered service member.Employees would contribute 0.2 percent of their annual earnings, and employers would match employee payments. Benefit amounts would be tiered progressively according to income level, and indexed for inflation under the Social Security wage index. The bill would allow employers with an equivalent or better paid-leave plan to opt out of participating in the insurance fund.

The legislation explicitly includes caring for a sick or injured “domestic partner” and, for those states that do not acknowledge same-sex domestic partnerships, defines domestic partner to include “a single, unmarried adult person of the same sex as the employee who is in a committed, intimate relationship with the employee, . . . and who is designated to the employer by such employee as that employee’s domestic partner.” The bill also prohibits an employer from interference, discrimination, or retaliation concerning an employee’s exercise of rights under the benefit scheme, and would give employees a corresponding private right of action. 

The bill grants the Secretary of Labor investigative authority, as well as authority to bring an administrative or civil action. The bill also provides criminal penalties for knowingly submitting or helping another to submit a false certification in order to fraudulently collect benefits. 

Status: H.R. 5873 was introduced by Rep. Stark (D-CA) on April 22, 2008, and referred to the House Committees on Education and Labor, Oversight and Government Reform, and Ways and Means.