Title 2 — The CongressRelease 119-73
§1312 Rights and protections under Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
Title 2 › Chapter CHAPTER 24— - CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - EXTENSION OF RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS › Part Part A— - Employment Discrimination, Family and Medical Leave, Fair Labor Standards, Employee Polygraph Protection, Worker Adjustment and Retraining, Employment and Reemployment of Veterans, and Intimidation › § 1312
Summary
Makes the Family and Medical Leave Act leave rights apply to covered employees who work in an employing office. An "employer" here means any employing office. An "eligible employee" means a covered employee who has worked in any employing office for 12 months and at least 1,250 hours in the prior 12 months. If these rights are violated, the same kinds of remedies and money damages that apply under the FMLA enforcement rules are available. Allows a covered employee to choose to use paid leave instead of unpaid leave for parental or similar leave. Paid leave includes paid parental leave equal to the number of administrative workweeks allowed under 5 U.S.C. 6382(d)(2)(B)(i), plus any other paid vacation, personal, family, medical, or accrued sick leave the office gives during the same 12-month period. An office cannot force an employee to use other paid leave before the paid parental leave. Paid parental leave comes from salary or expense funds, does not roll over past the 12-month period, and applies despite certain limits in other laws. The Board must write rules to put these rights into effect, generally following the Labor Department’s rules unless it shows a good reason to change them. Subsections (a) and (b) took effect 1 year after January 23, 1995; subsection (c) took effect 1 year after Congress received the study under section 1371.
Full Legal Text
Title 2, §1312
The Congress — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)(1)The rights and protections established by sections 101 through 105 of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611 through 2615) shall apply to covered employees. In applying section 102 of such Act [29 U.S.C. 2612] with respect to leave for an event described in subsection (a)(1)(A) or (B) of such section to covered employees, subsection (d) of this section shall apply. Paragraphs (1) and (4) of section 102(a) of such Act [29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1), (4)] shall be subject to subsection (d) of this section.
(2)For purposes of the application described in paragraph (1)—
(A)the term “employer” as used in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 means any employing office, and
(B)the term “eligible employee” as used in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 means a covered employee who has been employed in any employing office for 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours of employment during the previous 12 months.
(b)The remedy for a violation of subsection (a) shall be such remedy, including liquidated damages, as would be appropriate if awarded under paragraph (1) of section 107(a) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2617(a)(1)).
(c)
(d)(1)A covered employee may elect to substitute for any leave without pay under subparagraph (A) or (B) of section 102(a)(1) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)) any paid leave which is available to such employee for that purpose.
(2)The paid leave that is available to a covered employee for purposes of paragraph (1) is—
(A)the number of weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth or placement involved that corresponds to the number of administrative workweeks of paid parental leave available to employees under section 6382(d)(2)(B)(i) of title 5; and
(B)during the 12-month period referred to in section 102(a)(1) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)) and in addition to the administrative workweeks described in subparagraph (A), any additional paid vacation, personal, family, medical, or accrued sick leave provided by the employing office to such employee.
(3)Nothing in this section or section 102(d)(2)(A) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(d)(2)(A)) shall be considered to require or permit an employing office to require that an employee first use all or any portion of the leave described in paragraph (2)(B) before being allowed to use the paid parental leave described in paragraph (2)(A).
(4)Paid parental leave under paragraph (2)(A)—
(A)shall be payable from any appropriation or fund available for salaries or expenses for positions within the employing office;
(B)if not used by the covered employee before the end of the 12-month period (as referred to in section 102(a)(1) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1))) to which it relates, shall not accumulate for any subsequent use; and
(C)shall apply without regard to the limitations in subparagraph (E), (F), or (G) of section 6382(d)(2) of title 5 or section 104(c)(2) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2614(c)(2)).
(e)(1)The Board shall, pursuant to section 1384 of this title, issue regulations to implement the rights and protections under this section.
(2)The regulations issued under paragraph (1) shall be the same as substantive regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Labor to implement the statutory provisions referred to in subsection (a) except insofar as the Board may determine, for good cause shown and stated together with the regulation, that a modification of such regulations would be more effective for the implementation of the rights and protections under this section.
(f)(1)Subsections (a) and (b) shall be effective 1 year after January 23, 1995.
(2)Subsection (c) shall be effective 1 year after transmission to the Congress of the study under section 1371 of this title.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, referred to in subsec. (a)(2), is Pub. L. 103–3, Feb. 5, 1993, 107 Stat. 6, which enacted section 60m and 60n of this title, sections 6381 to 6387 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, and chapter 28 (§ 2601 et seq.) of Title 29, Labor, amended section 2105 of Title 5, and enacted provisions set out as notes under section 2601 of Title 29. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 2601 of Title 29 and Tables. Subsection (c) of this section, referred to in subsec. (f)(2), amended section 6381 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, and section 2611 and 2617 of Title 29, Labor. Codification Section is comprised of section 202 of Pub. L. 104–1. Subsec. (c) of section 202 of Pub. L. 104–1 amended section 6381 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, and section 2611 and 2617 of Title 29, Labor.
Amendments
2021—Subsec. (d)(2)(B). Pub. L. 116–283 inserted “accrued” before “sick leave”. 2019—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 116–92, § 7603(a)(1), inserted at end “In applying section 102 of such Act with respect to leave for an event described in subsection (a)(1)(A) or (B) of such section to covered employees, subsection (d) of this section shall apply. Paragraphs (1) and (4) of section 102(a) of such Act shall be subject to subsection (d) of this section.” Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 116–92, § 7603(b), which directed insertion of “The requirements of subparagraph (B) shall not apply with respect to leave under subparagraph (A) or (B) of section 102(a)(1) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)).” at end of par. (2), was executed by inserting sentence as concluding provisions of par. (2) to reflect the probable intent of Congress. Subsecs. (d) to (f). Pub. L. 116–92, § 7603(a)(2), (3), added subsec. (d) and redesignated former subsecs. (d) and (e) as (e) and (f), respectively. 2004—Subsec. (e)(2). Pub. L. 108–271 substituted “Government Accountability Office” for “General Accounting Office” in heading.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2021 Amendment Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title XI, § 1103(g)(2), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 3889, provided that: “The amendment made by this subsection [amending this section] shall apply with respect to any event for which leave may be taken under subparagraph (A) or (B) of section 102(a)(1) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1995 [probably means Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993] (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)) and occurring on or after October 1, 2020.”
Effective Date
of 2019 Amendment Pub. L. 116–92, div. F, title LXXVI, § 7603(c), Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 2307, provided that: “The
Amendments
made by this section [amending this section] shall not be effective with respect to any birth or placement occurring before October 1, 2020.” Clarification for Members of the National Guard and Reserves: Congressional Employees Pub. L. 116–92, div. F, title LXXVI, § 7605(b), Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 2308, provided that: “For purposes of determining the eligibility of a covered employee (as such term is defined in section 101[(a)](3) of the Congressional Accountability Act [2 U.S.C. 1301(a)(3)]) who is a member of the National Guard or Reserves to take leave under section 102(a) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 [29 U.S.C. 2612(a)] (pursuant to section 202(a)(1) of the Congressional Accountability Act [2 U.S.C. 1312(a)(1)]), any service by such employee on active duty (as defined in section 101[(a)](14) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 [2 U.S.C. 1301(a)(14)]) shall be counted as time during which such employee has been employed in an employing office for purposes of section 202(a)(2)(B) of the Congressional Accountability Act [2 U.S.C. 1312(a)(2)(B)].”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
2 U.S.C. § 1312
Title 2 — The Congress
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73