House female Republicans offer paid leave plan

House Republicans unveiled a proposal Thursday to create a federal paid leave policy that would be covered by employers.

GOP Reps. Mimi Walters (Calif.), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) introduced the Workflex in the 21st Century Act.

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The bill, drafted with the help of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), would exempt businesses from having to comply with state paid leave laws if they offer a minimum level of paid time off and at least one flexible working arrangement like a compressed work schedule, biweekly work program, telecommuting program, job-sharing program, or a flexible or predictable schedule.

To be eligible for a workflex arrangement, SHRM said an employee would have to have been with the company at least a year and worked at least 1,000 hours in the past 12 months.

As for the paid leave, the trade group for human resource professionals said that will depend on an employee’s tenure and size of the company they work for.

Employers with 250 to 999 employees would be required to provide employees who have been at the company less than five years with 14 paid days off, while those with five or more years of service would receive 18 days.

According to SHRM, employees could accrue the leave over the course of a plan year or employers can offer it in a lump sum. New employees, however, would have to wait until they’ve worked at least 90 days to use the time.

“As our personal and professional responsibilities continue to grow, hard-working Americans should have access to scheduling options that will provide better options to help them meet their work and family needs,” Walters said.

“Workflex will allow employees the opportunity to spend more time with their families and in their communities, without increasing taxes or creating new mandates,” she continued. “This innovative legislation will provide the flexibility employees need.”

A copy of the bill was not immediately available.