S. 2738 — 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 deem paraprofessionals and education support staff (i.e., classified school employees providing clerical, administrative, transportation, food and nutrition, custodial, maintenance, health and student, technical, or skilled trades services) at an educational agency or institution as satisfying the hours-of-service requirement (i.e., 1,250 hours in the prior 12 months) if they worked at least 60% of the total monthly hours expected for their job description and duties during the previous school year. Employers of such covered educational employees must maintain on file with the Secretary of Labor (per regulations) information specifying those expected hours for each school year. The section defines relevant terms, including paraprofessional (per section 8101(37) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) and educational agency or institution (per section 444(a)(3) of the General Education Provisions Act).

This section requires the Secretary of Labor to provide methods for calculating the 12 workweeks of Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave under subsection (a)(1)—which covers reasons such as birth or placement of a child, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, or the employee's own serious health condition—for covered educational employees (i.e., certain public school teachers and instructional employees), in accordance with FMLA section 108. (Thus, it parallels the existing regulatory authority in paragraph (5) for airline flight crews.)