# 119-s-5280: Guaranteed Paid Vacation Act 119-s-5280, Guaranteed Paid Vacation Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] (I-VT); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-08-20). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5280 - As of: 2026-08-20 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-s-5280 - Congress: 119 - Title: Guaranteed Paid Vacation Act - Status: introduced - Introduced: 2026-08-06 - Sponsor: Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] (I-VT) - Cosponsors: 4 - Policy area: Labor and Employment - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-08-20 ## Summary **Creates a national earned paid annual leave right.** The bill would require most covered employers to let workers earn and use paid annual leave that can be taken for any reason and that continues employment benefits while used. ## Cosponsors (4) - Sen. Murphy, Christopher [D-CT] (D-CT), 2026-08-06T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (D-MA), 2026-08-06T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Gallego, Ruben [D-AZ] (D-AZ), 2026-08-06T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA), 2026-08-06T00:00:00.000Z ## Provisions PRIA read - State and contract leave protections preserved: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Act would not replace any State or local law, ordinance, regulation, contract, collective bargaining agreement, or employer plan that already gives more paid annual leave. Employers and agreements would not be allowed to give you less leave than you already have. The rule would take… - State waiver when accepting federal funds: benefit, medium. If enacted, a State that receives or uses federal financial assistance for a program would waive its sovereign immunity for lawsuits under this Act about that program. The waiver would apply to conduct on or after the day after the State first receives or uses the federal funds for that program or… - What counts as paid annual leave: benefit, medium. If enacted, "paid annual leave" would include paid vacation, paid personal leave, and other paid leave meant for days you would normally work. The bill would say many other leave types do not count, including FMLA leave, sick leave, bereavement, adoption or foster care leave, domestic violence or s… - Which employers must provide leave: benefit, medium. If enacted, your employer would be covered if it employs 1 or more employees each working day for 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or prior year. The bill would explicitly name the Government Accountability Office, the Library of Congress, public agencies, rail carriers, and air carrier… - Employer notices and leave tracking: benefit, low. If enacted, employers would have to tell each employee about the paid annual leave policy on or before the first day of work, include it in handbooks, and post it where employee notices are normally shown. Employers would also have to give employees a way to see their accrued leave balances, for ex… - How federal employees enforce rights: benefit, low. If enacted, federal employees in different job classes would use the existing enforcement process that already applies to them. The bill would map enforcement to existing frameworks for Presidential personnel, Congressional employees, and other specified federal staff. This makes it clearer which p… - Public awareness campaign on paid leave: benefit, low. If enacted, the Secretary would run a public campaign within 1 year to tell workers and employers about the earned paid annual leave right and where to get help. The bill would authorize "such sums as are necessary" to pay for the outreach. The campaign would explain rights and how to file complain… - Union contracts and paid leave: mixed, low. If enacted, the Act would generally start 180 days after enactment. For workplaces covered by a collective bargaining agreement in effect then, the Act would instead start on the earlier of the agreement's end date, any post‑effective-date amendment to the agreement, or 18 months after the Act's ge… ## Related bills - 119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026 - 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026 - 119-s-2823: FAMILY Act - 119-s-3869: Healthy Families Act - 119-s-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act - 119-s-5108: Right to IVF Act of 2026 ## Sources - [119-s-5280 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5280) ## Related - [119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5066) - [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990) - [119-s-2823: FAMILY Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2823) - [119-s-3869: Healthy Families Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3869) - [119-s-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-51) - [119-s-5108: Right to IVF Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5108) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5280 (as of 2026-08-20).