| 1 | 1 | | I |
|---|
| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
|---|
| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
|---|
| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 656 |
|---|
| 5 | 5 | | To improve parental leave for members of the Armed Forces. |
|---|
| 6 | 6 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
|---|
| 7 | 7 | | JANUARY23, 2025 |
|---|
| 8 | 8 | | Mrs. B |
|---|
| 9 | 9 | | ICE(for herself and Ms. HOULAHAN) introduced the following bill; |
|---|
| 10 | 10 | | which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services |
|---|
| 11 | 11 | | A BILL |
|---|
| 12 | 12 | | To improve parental leave for members of the Armed Forces. |
|---|
| 13 | 13 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
|---|
| 14 | 14 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
|---|
| 15 | 15 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
|---|
| 16 | 16 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Military 4 |
|---|
| 17 | 17 | | Parental Leave Evaluations Act’’. 5 |
|---|
| 18 | 18 | | SEC. 2. IMPROVED PARENTAL LEAVE FOR MEMBERS OF 6 |
|---|
| 19 | 19 | | THE ARMED FORCES. 7 |
|---|
| 20 | 20 | | (a) F |
|---|
| 21 | 21 | | INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 8 |
|---|
| 22 | 22 | | (1) In December 2022, Congress expanded the 9 |
|---|
| 23 | 23 | | paid parental leave for members of the Armed 10 |
|---|
| 24 | 24 | | Forces to 12 weeks during the 12 months after the 11 |
|---|
| 25 | 25 | | ‘‘birth or adoption of a child of the member and in 12 |
|---|
| 26 | 26 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H656.IH H656 |
|---|
| 27 | 27 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
|---|
| 28 | 28 | | •HR 656 IH |
|---|
| 29 | 29 | | order to care for such child’’ or the ‘‘placement of 1 |
|---|
| 30 | 30 | | a minor child with the member for adoption or long- 2 |
|---|
| 31 | 31 | | term foster care’’ (10 U.S.C. 701(h)(1)(A)). 3 |
|---|
| 32 | 32 | | (2) The expansion of parental leave raises con-4 |
|---|
| 33 | 33 | | cerns that members who take such leave may receive 5 |
|---|
| 34 | 34 | | lower evaluations compared to those who do not. 6 |
|---|
| 35 | 35 | | (3) There is currently no provision to exempt 7 |
|---|
| 36 | 36 | | members from evaluations due to parental leave, po-8 |
|---|
| 37 | 37 | | tentially deterring eligible members from taking this 9 |
|---|
| 38 | 38 | | leave. 10 |
|---|
| 39 | 39 | | (4) Each Secretary of a military department 11 |
|---|
| 40 | 40 | | has been given authority to implement the leave poli-12 |
|---|
| 41 | 41 | | cies but have not provided explicit guidance on how 13 |
|---|
| 42 | 42 | | to characterize such leave for the purposes of evalua-14 |
|---|
| 43 | 43 | | tions. 15 |
|---|
| 44 | 44 | | (5) All Armed Forces have non-rated codes or 16 |
|---|
| 45 | 45 | | not observed evaluations to exempt members from 17 |
|---|
| 46 | 46 | | evaluations during periods where their performance 18 |
|---|
| 47 | 47 | | is not observed, but these do not align across the 19 |
|---|
| 48 | 48 | | Armed Forces and do not specifically apply to paren-20 |
|---|
| 49 | 49 | | tal leave. 21 |
|---|
| 50 | 50 | | (6) Members who are parents face unique hard-22 |
|---|
| 51 | 51 | | ships, and the 12 weeks of paid family leave for both 23 |
|---|
| 52 | 52 | | mothers and fathers, for birth and adoption, is de-24 |
|---|
| 53 | 53 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H656.IH H656 |
|---|
| 54 | 54 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
|---|
| 55 | 55 | | •HR 656 IH |
|---|
| 56 | 56 | | signed to balance the care needs of their children 1 |
|---|
| 57 | 57 | | with the demands of their unit. 2 |
|---|
| 58 | 58 | | (7) Excessive paperwork required to extend the 3 |
|---|
| 59 | 59 | | use of the 12 weeks of military family leave beyond 4 |
|---|
| 60 | 60 | | one year additionally burdens members and de-5 |
|---|
| 61 | 61 | | creases flexibility. 6 |
|---|
| 62 | 62 | | (b) R |
|---|
| 63 | 63 | | EQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 180 days after 7 |
|---|
| 64 | 64 | | the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 8 |
|---|
| 65 | 65 | | Defense shall— 9 |
|---|
| 66 | 66 | | (1) prescribe regulations— 10 |
|---|
| 67 | 67 | | (A) that exempt a member of the Armed 11 |
|---|
| 68 | 68 | | Forces who is taking parental leave, under sub-12 |
|---|
| 69 | 69 | | paragraph (A) of paragraph (1) of section 13 |
|---|
| 70 | 70 | | 701(h) of title 10, United States Code, that ex-14 |
|---|
| 71 | 71 | | ceeds 31 consecutive days, from a performance 15 |
|---|
| 72 | 72 | | evaluation; and 16 |
|---|
| 73 | 73 | | (B) under subparagraph (B) of such para-17 |
|---|
| 74 | 74 | | graph, to authorize a member to take leave 18 |
|---|
| 75 | 75 | | under such section during the two-year period 19 |
|---|
| 76 | 76 | | beginning on the birth, adoption, or placement 20 |
|---|
| 77 | 77 | | described in such paragraph without having to 21 |
|---|
| 78 | 78 | | request a waiver from the Secretary concerned; 22 |
|---|
| 79 | 79 | | and 23 |
|---|
| 80 | 80 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H656.IH H656 |
|---|
| 81 | 81 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
|---|
| 82 | 82 | | •HR 656 IH |
|---|
| 83 | 83 | | (2) submit to the Committees on Armed Forces 1 |
|---|
| 84 | 84 | | of the Senate and House of Representatives a report 2 |
|---|
| 85 | 85 | | regarding the implementation of this section. 3 |
|---|
| 86 | 86 | | Æ |
|---|
| 87 | 87 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H656.IH H656 |
|---|
| 88 | 88 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
|---|