Lawmakers in the 111th Congress continue to introduce employment-related legislation. The following bills appeared on the docket within the past week:

Family and Medical Leave

A bill passed by the House on February 9 by voice vote would close a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) loophole for airline pilots and flight attendants. The Airline Flight Crew Family and Medical Leave Act (H.R. 912) would change the hours of service requirement to enable more airline industry employees to take such leave.

Under current law, employees are eligible to take FMLA leave if they have worked for their employer for at least 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours during the previous 12 months (which would equal at least 60 percent of a standard 40-hour workweek). This requirement inadvertently penalizes pilots and flight attendants whose time spent on the job between flights or on mandatory standby do not count towards the requisite number of hours. Under the proposed legislation, an airline flight crew member would be eligible to take FMLA leave if he or she had worked or been paid for 60 percent of the applicable monthly guarantee, or the equivalent amount annualized over the preceding 12-month period, and if he or she had worked or been paid for at least 504 hours during that previous 12-month period. The Secretary of Labor would have the option of prescribing, via regulation, a method of calculating these hours.

A similar bill cleared the House in May 2008 by an overwhelming majority (402-9), but the Senate did not act on it before the 110th Congress adjourned.

401(k) Reporting and Disclosure Requirements

Another bill introduced this week in the Senate would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to provide special reporting and disclosure rules for individual account plans. The Defined Contribution Fee Disclosure Act of 2009 (S. 401) requires 401(k) providers to disclosure to employees all management fees related to such plans.

Specifically, this bill would increase the amount of fee information given to employers who sponsor 401(k) plans so that they could provide this information to participants who request it. Such fee information includes charges for investment management, recordkeeping and administration, sales charges, including commissions, and charges for advisory services. Additionally, participants would be provided with information about the overall levels of fees when they chose investment options and on their quarterly statements. The pre-selection notice would include other information such as historical returns, the level of risk, and basic investment guidance. S. 401 also mandates disclosure of relationships between all parties who have a financial interest in the plan.

The Secretary of Labor would be charged with creating a model statement that may be used for satisfying the disclosure requirements.

This bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. 

Employer Tax Credit for Ready Reserve-National Guard Duty

A bill introduced on February 3 would provide a tax credit to employers for the value of the service not performed during the period employees are serving as members of the Ready Reserve or the National Guard. This bill (H.R. 810) would amend the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to allow a credit of up to $2,000 per employee for the amount of compensation which would have been paid or incurred by the employer had the employee not been called to perform Ready Reserve or National Guard duties (excluding training duty) during normal work time.

This bill was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.