Statement of Administration Policy: S. 5 - Family and Medical Leave Act of 1991

(Senate)
(Dodd (D) CT and 39 others)

The Administration's position on mandated family and medical leave remains unchanged since the President's veto of H.R. 770 on June 29, 1990. Accordingly, if S. 5 or any similar legislation, including the amendment that will be offered by Senators Dodd and Bond, were presented to the President, his senior advisers would recommend a veto.

S. 5 would require public and private employers with 50 or more employees, including the Federal Government, to provide their employees with mandatory leave. Specifically, S. 5 would mandate up to 12 workweeks of family or medical leave in any 12-month period. The bill would also require employers to maintain health insurance coverage for the duration of the leave.

The Administration supports and encourages family and medical leave policies designed to meet the specific needs of individual companies and their employees. The Administration believes, however, that this objective can best be 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. 5 would:

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

—   Encourage employers to reduce overall employee benefits by limiting voluntary benefits in order to afford new, mandatory family 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 small business would be onerous.