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03/28/2024 08:31 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20210&cosponId=35485
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: April 23, 2021 10:17 AM
From: Senator Christine M. Tartaglione and Sen. Camera Bartolotta, Sen. John I. Kane
To: All Senate members
Subject: Pennsylvania Family Medical Leave Act
 
We will soon introduce legislation that would extend rights of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to siblings, grandparents and grandchildren in certain, specific cases.

This legislation has been circulated during the past several legislative sessions. It has been championed by a resident of West Goshen Township, Chester County, who has shared her personal experience of her sister Joanne, who was diagnosed in 2008 with late stage gynecologic cancer. Because Joanne was unmarried and without children, her father was deceased, and her mother was elderly with her own health conditions, her sister was the sole individual who could care for Joanne. Because she was a sibling, Joanne’s sister was not covered under FMLA, and she was denied coverage. Her only option was to leave her job of 16 years, which she did. Unfortunately, Joanne passed away in 2009.

Our legislation would provide up to six weeks of protected, unpaid leave to an employee to care for a sibling, grandparent or grandchild with a certified terminal illness if such sibling, grandparent or grandchild has no living spouse, no child over 17 years of age or no parent under 65 years of age.

This bill was SB 140 of the 2019-2020 session. Members who co-sponsored this legislation previously include Senators Killion, Dinniman, Brewster, Costa, Fontana, Haywood, Hughes, Leach, Santarsiero, Schwank, Yudichak, K. Ward, Kearney, Tartaglione and A. Williams.

Joanne’s sister presented testimony before the Senate Labor & Industry Committee during a public hearing held on April 17, 2018. SB 140, in its amended form, was unanimously approved by the Senate Labor & Industry Committee on May 7, 2019, but received no further legislative action.

Please join us in supporting this important legislation.



Introduced as SB617