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WASHINGTON, DC -- Representative George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, today urged committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) to support a Senate measure that would encourage U.S. employers to give employees more flexibility to use earned leave time to care for their families while a loved one is called to active duty for the U.S. Armed Forces.
“We should do anything and everything we can to ease the tremendous burden that families face when a father or mother or other loved one is deployed,” sad Miller. “When it comes to helping military families, we should always be asking what more we can do. We should be giving military families all the support they need while their loved ones are courageously serving our country.”
The Senate measure would be voluntary for private-sector employers, but it would require federal agencies to allow employees to use leave time to care for dependents of active-duty troops. Miller said that the measure was the minimum Congress should do.
Miller made his request in a letter to McKeon today. The measure was included in the Senate’s version of the main defense legislation for 2007, but it was not included in the House version. Miller is urging McKeon to support the Senate provision during House-Senate negotiations over a final bill.
The text of Miller’s letter to McKeon is below.
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September 6, 2006
The Honorable Howard P. ‘Buck’ McKeon
Chairman
Committee on Education and the Workforce
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman McKeon:
I am writing to urge you to join me in supporting the desperately needed military family caregiver leave provision in Section 1104 of S. 2766, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2007. As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drag into their fourth and sixth years, families of active duty servicemembers face the day-to-day strain of not having a father or mother, husband or wife, or son or daughter present. The problem only appears to be getting worse. Just last month, even while we already have 138,000 American troops deployed in Iraq, the President authorized the U.S. Marine Corps to begin involuntary call-ups of reservists for the first time since the early days of the war. At a time when most families are two-income-earning families and illness or child care emergencies can devastate a family, the very least this Congress can do is encourage employers to provide compassionate leave policies for military family caregivers on the homefront and ensure that the federal government serves as a model employer in this regard.
Section 1104 provides critical help to military families when a family member is deployed for active duty. It sets up two pilot programs – one for federal sector employees and one for private sector employees – to allow workers who are caregivers for a servicemember’s family to use any leave they have already earned, including sick leave, to care for their family during that period of deployment.
This provision is unassailable. It is sorely needed. When we deploy servicemembers to war zones, their families carry a great burden. While in service to our country, these men and women miss births and school events. They are unavailable to help their family with an illness or with a child’s issues at school. As a result, spouses and other family caregivers who stay behind see their burdens and stresses increase.
The federal government, as an employer, should understand the stresses of those family members left behind during a deployment and try to accommodate them. All employers should be encouraged to do the same. As the Department of Defense has explained, the enhanced leave flexibility offered by this language “would enable designated caregivers to more effectively fulfill their roles, and would thereby help maintain the readiness of the Armed Forces by helping to ensure adequate caregiver coverage during potential periods of prolonged deployments. This benefit will enable our Armed Forces to prepare for their family’s well-being and security during their deployment, and will go a long way in easing the stress and burden associated with deployment.” In other words, providing greater leave flexibility for caregivers during deployment periods not only benefits those military families – it benefits our Armed Forces as a whole.
The provision is supported by a variety of organizations, including the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS), the National Military Family Association (NMFA), the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS), the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), and the National Partnership for Women and Families.
The provision’s pilot programs do not constitute any great burden on the federal government. Both are temporary, terminating on December 31, 2007. While the federal sector pilot requires the Office of Personnel Management to set up the program for federal employees, the private sector pilot merely authorizes the Department of Labor to set up a program to encourage private sector employers to provide such leave flexibility for military family caregivers.
The pilot programs do not constitute any great burden on employers. This provision does not require private sector employers to do anything. At most, the Department of Labor would simply encourage employers to adopt this sort of caregiver leave policy. And, for both federal and private sector employees, the provision does not grant workers any additional leave to which they would not otherwise be entitled.
The only weakness of this provision is that it could go much further than it does. The Department of Labor should be required, not merely encouraged, to establish this pilot program. Employers should be required, not merely encouraged, to participate as well. Nevertheless, this provision, as voluntary as it is, is the least the Congress could do to ease the burdens we impose on military families when we send one of their loved ones off to fight for our country.
Please stand with me in ensuring that the military family caregiver leave provision, Section 1104, remains a part of the defense authorization bill and part of the final conference report on S. 2766.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
GEORGE MILLER
Senior Democratic Member
Committee on Education and the Workforce
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