Scott Powers
Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Webster is seeking to give parents who are grieving the death of a child the same kind of break from work that parents can get after a child’s birth.
On Thursday Webster announced he is co-introducing a bipartisan bill that would mandate family bereavement leave be available for parents who lose children.
House Resolution 983, the “Parental Bereavement Act of 2019” or the “Sarah Grace-Farley-Kluger Act” would add “death of a child” as a life event that would qualify for unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, allowing a grieving parent up to 12 weeks to mourn a child’s loss and then return to work.
The FMLA currently mandates up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain family events, including the birth of a child, during which an employer cannot terminate an employee who qualifies for such leave.
Webster, of Clermont, joined Republican U.S. Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Paul Cook of California, and Democratic U.S. Reps. Brad Schneider of Illinois, Don Beyer of Virginia and Tom Suozzi of Illinois to introduce the bill.
“Family and life are some of our most precious gifts,” Webster stated in a news release. “As a father and grandfather, I cannot fathom the grief that comes with the loss of a beloved son or daughter. Updating the Family and Medical Leave Act to allow employees protected time-off to grieve their tragic loss is the right thing to do.”
Similar bills have been introduced in the previous several Congresses but went nowhere. The bill is named after a 12-year-old girl who died from leukemia; her father was forced to return to work just days later.
“On behalf of grieving parents, and in memory of Noah and Katie Farley and Erica Kluger, we thank the sponsors of this bill for their compassion and common-sense approach to American workers who suffer the loss of a child,” Kelly Farley and Barry Kluger, authors of the Farley-Kluger Initiative, stated in the release.
