Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 770 - Family and Medical Leave Act of 1989

(Final)

(House Rules)
(Clay (D) MO and 151 others)

The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 770. This bill would require public and private employers with 50 or more employees, and the Federal Government, to provide their employees with mandatory leave. H.R. 770 would mandate up to 10 workweeks of family leave in any two calendar years, up to 15 workweeks of temporary medical leave in any one year (18 and 26 weeks, respectively, for Federal employees), and other employment protections. If this or any other mandated leave legislation were presented to the President, his senior advisers would recommend that it be vetoed.

The Administration supports and encourages parental and medical leave policies designed to meet the specific needs of individual companies and their employees. This objective can be best achieved voluntarily through the normal collective bargaining process between management and labor, not by the Federal Government mandating employee benefits.

In addition, H.R. 770 would:

—  Reduce the flexibility necessary to meet the needs of a changing workforce and undermine the current trend toward flexible benefit policies.

—  Induce employers to reduce overall employee benefits by limiting voluntary benefits in order to afford new, mandatory parental and medical leave benefits.

—  Impose the costs of leave on employers regardless of their ability to absorb such costs, thus reducing their productivity and U. S. competitiveness — the impact on smaller businesses would be particularly substantial.