Dear Ms. Sapin:
I provide the following comments on behalf of the Architect of the Capitol (“AOC”) in response to the Proposed Rulemaking published by the Office of Compliance (“OOC” or “Board”) in the Congressional Record on September 16, 2015 (“Proposed Rules”).
I. BACKGROUND
The Congressional Accountability Act (“CAA”) applies certain provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) to employing offices in the legislative branch. See 2 USC § 1312(a). The CAA further directs the Board to issue regulations to implement the rights and protections of the provisions of the FMLA that apply to the legislative branch. See 2 USC §1312(d)(1). The CAA states that the Board’s regulations “shall be the same” as regulations issued by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) to implement these same sections of the FMLA. See 2 USC §1312(d)(2). However, the CAA states that the Board may depart from DOL regulations if the Board determines, “for good cause shown,” that such a departure “would be more effective for the implementation of the rights and protections” of the FMLA, as applied by the CAA. See Id.
In accordance with the CAA‘s requirements and following resolutions passed by the House and the Senate, the Board issued FMLA regulations on April 19, 1996. The Board has not since revised its FMLA regulations. After the Board issued its FMLA regulations in 1996, DOL revised its own FMLA regulations on several occasions. See 73 Fed. Reg. 67,934 (Nov. 17, 2008); 78 Fed. Reg. 8,834 (Feb. 6, 2013): 80 Fed. Reg. 9,989 (Feb. 25,2015). Most recently, DOL revised its regulations to change the definition of “spouse.” Prior to that, DOL also revised its regulations to incorporate FMLA statutory changes concerning military leave entitlements enacted by the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) of 2008 and 2010. These changes to DOL regulations also made additional substantive changes. In particular, DOL’s 2008 amendments made several substantive changes to DOL’s FMLA regulations.
