The establishment of a family and medical leave insurance program; family leave to care for a grandparent, grandchild, or sibling and for the active duty of a family member; the employers that are required to permit an employee to take family or medical leave; providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures; providing an exemption from rule-making procedures; granting rule-making authority; making an appropriation; and providing a penalty. (FE)

This bill requires an employer, including the state, that employs at least 25 employees on a permanent basis in this state to permit an employee to take family or medical leave as provided under current law. The bill also permits an employee to take family leave as provided under current law to care for a grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the employee who has a serious health condition. In addition, the bill requires an employer to permit an employee to take family leave because of any qualifying exigency, as determined by the Department of Workforce Development by rule, arising out of the fact that the spouse, child, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the employee is on deployment with the U.S. armed forces to a foreign country (covered active duty) or has been notified of an impending call or order to covered active duty.

Family and medical leave insurance program The bill creates a family and medical leave insurance program, to be administered by DWD, under which a covered individual who is on family or medical leave is eligible, beginning on January 1, 2022, to receive up to 12 weeks of family or medical leave insurance benefits as specified in the bill from the family and medical leave insurance trust fund created under the bill (trust fund). For purposes of the bill:

1. A “covered individual" is an individual who worked for an employer for at least 680 hours in the calendar year prior to the year in which the covered individual claims family or medical leave insurance benefits (application year) or a self-employed individual who elects coverage under the program, regardless of whether the individual is employed or unemployed at the time the individual files an application for family or medical leave insurance benefits.

2. “Family leave" means leave from employment, self-employment, or availability for employment for the birth or adoptive placement of a new child; to care for a child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling who has a serious health condition; or because of any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the family member is on covered active duty or has been notified of an impending call or order to covered active duty.

3. “Medical leave" means leave from employment when a covered individual has a serious health condition that makes the individual unable to perform his or her employment duties, leave from self-employment when a covered individual has a serious health condition that makes the individual unable to perform the duties of his or her self-employment, or leave from availability for employment when a covered individual has a serious health condition that makes the individual unable to perform the duties of any suitable employment.

Under the bill, the amount of family or medical leave insurance benefits for a week for which those benefits are payable is as follows:

1. For a covered individual who earned less than 30 percent of the state annual median wage in the calendar year before the individual's application year, 95 percent of that individual's average weekly earnings.

2. For a covered individual who earned at least 30 percent, but less than 50 percent, of the state annual median wage in the calendar year before the individual's application year, 90 percent of that individual's average weekly earnings.

3. For a covered individual who earned at least 50 percent, but less than 80 percent, of the state annual median wage in the calendar year before the individual's application year, 85 percent of that individual's average weekly earnings.

4. For a covered individual who earned at least 80 percent of the state annual median wage in the calendar year before the individual's application year, 66 percent of that individual's average weekly earnings.

In addition, the bill provides that family or medical leave insurance benefits are payable beginning on the sixth day of family or medical leave, except that if a covered individual uses ten or more days of family or medical leave insurance benefits in an application year, those benefits are also payable with respect to the first five days of family or medical leave. The bill also provides that no family or medical leave insurance benefits are payable for any period of family or medical leave in which a covered individual is substituting paid leave of any other type provided by his or her employer or in which a covered individual is receiving unemployment benefits or worker's compensation benefits. Finally, with respect to family or medical leave insurance benefits, the bill provides that those benefits are exempt from state income taxation.

Beginning on January 1, 2021, the bill requires each individual employed in this state, including an individual employed by the state, and each self-employed individual who elects coverage under the family and medical leave insurance program to contribute to the trust fund a percentage of his or her wages from employment or income from self-employment determined by DWD in consultation with the commissioner of insurance that is sufficient to finance the payments of benefits under the program and the administration of the program. The bill requires DWD to collect those contributions in the same manner as DWD collects contributions to the unemployment reserve fund under current law.

Finally, the bill:

1. Permits a covered individual whose claim for family or medical leave insurance benefits is denied by DWD to request a hearing on the denial and requires DWD to process the request for hearing in the same manner that requests for hearings on unemployment insurance claims are processed under current law.

2. Permits DWD to seek repayment of family or medical leave insurance benefits that are paid erroneously or as a result of willful misrepresentation in the same manner that DWD recovers erroneous payments of unemployment insurance benefits under current law or to waive recovery of an erroneous payment of those benefits if the erroneous payment was not the fault of the person who received it and if requiring repayment would be contrary to equity and good conscience.

3. Provides that if an individual willfully makes a false statement or representation, or willfully fails to disclose a material fact, to obtain family or medical leave insurance benefits, the individual is disqualified from receiving those benefits for one year after the date of the disqualification.

Because this bill relates to an exemption from state or local taxes, it may be referred to the Joint Survey Committee on Tax Exemptions for a report to be printed as an appendix to the bill.