Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 912) to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to clarify the eligibility requirements with respect to airline flight crews.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on H.R. 912 into the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking Chairman Miller for supporting this bill and for helping to bring it to the floor so quickly. I would also like to thank Representative McCotter for being the lead Republican cosponsor of the bill, as well as my colleagues who have cosponsored this bill. In the 110th Congress, this bill passed by an overwhelming majority, 409-2. This legislation submitted today is identical to the measure that passed in the 110th Congress, and I hope it

once again receives the strong support it did in the last Congress.

H.R. 912 simply states that an airline crew member will be eligible for Family Medical Leave Act benefits if they have been paid for or completed 60 percent of their company's monthly hour or trip guarantee and have worked 504 hours.

The Family Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, has been a great program for working families in this country since it was passed in 1993. No one can question the benefit it has provided for working men and women by being able to take time off from work to care for themselves or for their family members.

The intent of the law was to provide for 12 weeks of unpaid leave if an employee had worked 60 percent of a full-time schedule over the past year, which equates to about 1,250 hours per year. Therefore, in order to qualify for FMLA coverage, an employee has to have logged in at least 1,250 hours over a 12-month period to be eligible.

While 1,250 hours adequately reflects 60 percent of a normal full- time schedule for the vast majority of employees in this country, that equation does not work for flight attendants and pilots. Flight attendants and pilots work under the Railway Labor Act rather than the Fair Labor Standards Act, which covers most 9:00 to 5:00 workers.

Time between flights, whether during the day or on overnight/ layovers, is based on company scheduling requirements and needs but does not count towards crew member time at work. Flight attendants and pilots can spend up to 4 to 5 days a week away from home and family due to the nature of their job; however, all of these hours will not count towards qualification.

The courts have strictly interpreted the law and insisted that crew members must abide by the 1,250 hours for qualification, even though the intent of the law was to work 60 percent of a full-time schedule.

Thus, airline flight crews have been left out of what was once a legislation that was intended to cover them. Therefore, a technical correction is needed to ensure that FMLA benefits are extended to these employees. This legislation seeks to clarify the original intent of the law.

This legislation brings these transportation workers in line with the intent of the original legislation and as promised when the law was passed.

Last year, during a committee hearing, we heard from Jennifer Hunt, a flight attendant for U.S. Airways. Jennifer was denied FMLA benefits when she applied to take time off to care for her ill husband, an Iraq War vet. Jennifer, unfortunately, like many other flight attendants and pilots as well, did not meet the hourly requirements and, thus, was denied coverage.

Again, I thank the chairman for his support in bringing this legislation to the floor, and I urge the support of my colleagues.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Does the gentleman from Kentucky have any further speakers?

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me just say that the extent to which the two sides cooperated on this bill I think serves as a model for the way that legislation can go forward in this Chamber. We worked together very cooperatively both at the staff level and at the member level to work out issues that existed that were sources of concern to various members. We were able to do that. And as I say, in the last Congress, we only had two dissenting votes.

I am hopeful that we will have similar support in this Congress, and I am also very hopeful that this measure, which last Congress was stalled in the Senate, this year will receive a somewhat better fate in the Senate so that we can act to correct this very narrow omission, if you will, in what is an otherwise very good law.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge the support of my colleagues.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 1422) to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to clarify the eligibility requirements with respect to airline flight crews.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for 5 legislative days in which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous materials on S. 1422 into the Record.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in strong support of S. 1422, the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act, which is almost identical to H.R. 912 which the House passed in February. I am proud to be the principal author and principal sponsor of H.R. 912, and I was delighted to see it garner such support in the House of Representatives.

The Family Medical Leave Act has been a great program for working families in this country since it was passed in 1993. No one can question the benefit as provided for working women and men by being able to take time off from work to care for themselves or family members.

The intent of the law was to provide for 12 weeks of unpaid leave if an employee has worked 60 percent of a full-time schedule over the past year, which is about 1,250 hours. In order to qualify for FMLA coverage, therefore, an employee has to have logged in 1,250 hours over 12 months to be eligible. While 1,250 hours adequately reflects 60 percent of a full-time schedule for the vast majority of employees in this country, that equation does not work for flight attendants and pilots.

Flight attendants and pilots work under the Railway Labor Act rather than the Fair Labor Standards Act, which covers most 9 to 5 workers. Time between flights, whether during the day or on overnight layovers, is based on company scheduling requirements and needs but does not count towards crewmember time at work. Flight attendants and pilots can spend up to 4 to 5 days a week away from home and family due to the nature of their job. However, all those hours will not count towards qualification.

The courts have strictly interpreted the law and insisted that crewmembers must abide by the 1,250 hours for qualification even though the intent of the law was 60 percent of a full-time schedule.

Airline flight crews have been left out of what was intended to cover them. Therefore, a technical correction is needed to ensure that FMLA benefits are extended to these employees. This legislation seeks to clarify the intent of the law.

This legislation simply states that an airline crewmember will be eligible for FMLA benefits if they have worked or been paid at least 60 percent of the applicable total monthly guarantee or the equivalent for the previous 12-month period and a minimum of 504 hours.

In keeping with current law, any sick, vacation, or commuting time does not count towards the required number of hours. This brings these transportation workers in line with the intent of the original legislation, and as promised, when the law was first passed.

Last Congress, during an Education and Labor Committee hearing, we heard from Jennifer Hunt, a flight attendant for U.S. Airways. Jennifer was denied FMLA coverage when she applied to take time off to care for her ill husband, an Iraq war vet. Jennifer, unfortunately, like many other flight attendants and pilots as well, did not meet the hourly requirement.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation so that flight attendants like Jennifer can qualify for the FMLA.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, may I ask if the gentleman from Kentucky has any further speakers?

Madam Speaker, let me just observe that we have been working on this bill now for approximately 2 years. I am delighted that we are now at the point where we are on the verge of passage and moving this bill to the President for his signature.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and with that, I yield back the balance of my time as well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 912, the ``Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act.'' I thank my colleague Congressman Timothy Bishop from New York, for sponsoring this important resolution, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 912, the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act, is an amendment to the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. This resolution addresses the hours-of-service requirement airline flight crews must meet to be eligible for leave under such Act.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a law that helps many workers be compensated when they must leave their work for an emergency. But airline workers do not meet the qualifications to get these benefits because their hours are calculated differently than most wage earners'.

Flight attendants spend only a part of their job in the skies, but that time in the sky is all that is recorded for determining their FMLA benefits. Flight attendants need H.R. 912, the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act, to be enacted so that they can be covered by the FMLA. Importantly, the bill would expand an existing private-sector mandate on employers by requiring them to allow additional employees to take up to 12 work-weeks of unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons.

As a member of the Committee on Homeland Security and Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection, I am familiar with the pressures and expectations placed upon flight crews. Crewmembers work long inconvenient hours with little to no consistency in their workday.

H.R. 912, the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act, will give them that consistency that their career fails to provide. This legislation will set a standard for granting flight crew leave based on a measurable hours of service standard. Flight crew members will meet eligibility requirements if they meet 60% of the applicable monthly guarantee, or the equivalent annualized over the preceding 12-month period, or a total of 504 during that same period.

This would give flight crews a fair opportunity to receive the same benefits that are afforded to all other parties covered previously in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. In the past weeks, Americans have seen and heard firsthand from the crew of flight 1549 and how they can react when all odds are against them. The flight crew's ability to react in time of emergency is clear and it is our job as members of Congress to ensure them that if and when they should be struck by personal crisis they will be able to take the necessary time off in order to fully tend to their family or their own situation. Situations already described in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 are as follows: For the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee; for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care; to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

How do we tell these employees that their hard work does not give them the ability to care for their families in time of need? This is a promise we must keep.

Mr. Speaker, as a strong supporter of the rights of Transportation Security Administration employees I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act. This bill will make the benefits given to flight crew members equal to those already covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I might consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 1422, the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act. This bill is a companion to H.R. 912, which this House approved in February on a voice vote. The bill we consider today contains a few minor changes to the House-passed legislation made in the other body and is equally deserving of support.

As we have heard, this legislation is needed to address a very narrow, very specific concern. At issue is the fact that some airline personnel are subject to a unique scheduling process in which they are paid for being on-call, but in some cases are not credited with those hours in the calculation used for Family and Medical Leave Act eligibility. The practical impact of this technicality is that some flight crew personnel may work a full-time schedule but fail to qualify for family and medical leave. This is a real concern for those grappling with health conditions or family obligations.

Many Members have been uneasy about efforts to open up the Family and Medical Leave Act for small changes when it is clear that broader reforms are necessary. The FMLA has worked well for 16 years, offering workers the flexibility to tend to their own health or care for a loved one in their time of need without fear of losing their job. But despite the law's many successes, it has also become clear that changes are needed. The realities of today's workplaces are different from those of a decade and a half ago. Courts have offered evolving interpretations, and, as is often the case with such a sweeping change to employment law, there have been unintended consequences for both employers and employees.

I know the majority has worked with Members on our side of the aisle to craft legislation carefully and avoid some of the pitfalls that could come with piecemeal reform of FMLA. I want to thank them for ensuring this bill does exactly what it intends, no more and no less. The bill before us today, in fact, clarifies further several narrow points contained in the House-passed bill and ensures that these are truly technical corrections.

I hope Members will join me in supporting this bill and sending it to the President for his signature.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, we have no further speakers, and with that, I will yield back.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 912, the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act, and I yield myself such time as I consume.

Mr. Speaker, we just heard this bill is needed to address a very narrow, very specific concern. At issue is the fact that some airline personnel are subject to a unique scheduling process in which they are paid for being on-call but, in some cases, are not credited with those hours in the calculation used for Family Medical Leave Act eligibility. The practical impact of this technicality is that some flight crew personnel may work a full-time schedule but fail to qualify for family and medical leave. This is a real concern for those grappling with health conditions or family obligations.

Many Members have been uneasy about efforts to open the Family Medical Leave Act for small changes when it is clear that broader reforms are necessary. The FMLA has worked well for 16 years, offering workers the flexibility to tend to their own health or to care for a loved one in their time of need without fear of losing their job.

But despite the law's many successes, it has also become clear that changes are needed. The realities of today's workplaces are different than those of a decade and a half ago. Courts have offered evolving interpretations, and as is often the case with such a sweeping change to employment law, there have been unintended consequences for both employers and employees.

I know the majority has worked with Members on our side of the aisle to craft this legislation carefully and to avoid some of the pitfalls that could come with piecemeal reform of the FMLA. I want to thank them for ensuring this bill does exactly what it intends, no more and no less.

Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today is an important opportunity to extend the protections of the FMLA to flight crew who might otherwise be denied benefits under the law. I hope we can follow the example set with this legislation and work together to find sensible solutions to the challenges facing all of America's working families.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

No, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I support this narrowly crafted legislation and urge my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes.''

I yield back the balance of my time.