Congress expands family leave to domestic partners, grandparents, and school involvement.

What it does

This bill expands the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to cover care for domestic partners, in-laws, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and anyone with a 'close association equivalent to a family relationship,' and adds up to 24 hours per year of new paid leave for employees to attend their children's school activities and handle routine family medical appointments. The bill applies to both private-sector workers covered by FMLA and federal employees.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core function is to expand FMLA protections and add new paid leave entitlements for family care and school involvement. It is a straightforward worker-protection measure with no hidden mechanisms or narrow beneficiaries.

What the text implies

• The 'close association equivalent to a family relationship' language is intentionally broad and undefined, delegating to employers and courts the task of determining who qualifies—creating potential for inconsistent application and litigation.
• The bill does not specify whether the new parental involvement leave (4 hours per 30 days) is paid or unpaid for private-sector workers, leaving that to employer discretion and existing paid-leave policies.
• Federal employees gain explicit paid leave substitution rights (annual or sick leave), but private-sector workers' ability to use paid leave is conditioned on employer policy and the bill's language about 'substitution'—creating a two-tier system.
• The 7-day notice requirement for parental involvement leave may be impracticable for emergencies, but the bill's 'if impracticable' language gives employers discretion to deny leave retroactively.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Ordinary workers gain new rights to take unpaid leave for care of a broader circle of family members and domestic partners, plus 24 hours per year of additional leave for school involvement and routine medical care. These are protections and flexibility that reduce the conflict between work and family obligations, with no offsetting cost to workers.

Named in the bill

Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, Title 5, United States Code, Federal employees, Private-sector employers, Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Head Start Act, Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

Where it stands

10 cosponsors: 10 Democrats.

• Feb 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Feb 5, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text: CR S668-671)”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $20,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 105 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Richard Durbin, the sponsor, reported $-29,800 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• National Council of Jewish Women — $20,000 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.