Statement of Administration Policy: S. 345 - Family and Medical Leave Act

(Senate)
(Dodd (D) CT and 20 others)

The Administration strongly opposes S. 345. This bill would require public and private employers with 20 or more employees, including the Federal Government, to provide their employees with mandatory leave. S. 345 would mandate up to 10 workweeks of family leave during any 24-month period, up to 13 workweeks of temporary medical leave in any 12-month period, and other employment protections. If this or any other mandated leave legislation, such as H.R. 770 as passed by the House, 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 employee-employer negotiations or the normal collective bargaining process between management and labor, not by the Federal Government mandating employee benefits.

In addition, S. 345 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.