H.R. 5222 — ESP, Paraprofessional, and Education Support Staff Family Leave Act

This section amends the definition of eligible employee under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) to address paraprofessionals and education support staff (i.e., classified school employees or education support professionals providing clerical, administrative, transportation, food and nutrition, custodial and maintenance, health and student, technical, or skilled trades services) employed by an educational agency or institution, as follows: (1) deems such covered educational employees to meet FMLA's hours-of-service requirement (1,250 hours over 12 months) if they worked at least 60% of the total monthly hours expected for their job description and duties, as assigned for the previous school year; (2) requires employers to maintain on file with the Secretary of Labor the expected total monthly hours for each school year; and (3) defines relevant terms, including cross-references to existing definitions of paraprofessional (Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965), and educational agency or institution (General Education Provisions Act). (Thus, the provision facilitates FMLA eligibility—up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected family and medical leave annually—for school support staff whose hours vary with the academic calendar.)

This section directs the Secretary of Labor to provide regulatory methods for calculating the 12 workweeks of family and medical leave under FMLA subsection (a)(1) for covered educational employees, in accordance with section 108, as applicable. (This provision parallels the existing regulatory authority in subsection (a)(5) for airline flight crews.)