OOC AWAITS CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL OF ITS ADOPTED FMLA REGULATIONS

Washington, DC – The Office of Compliance (OOC) submitted for congressional approval its adopted Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations which would place legislative branch employing offices in line with the private sector and other governmental entities in providing unpaid leave to eligible employees for specified family and medical reasons, and for certain circumstances relating to a family member’s military service. The OOC’s adopted FMLA regulations are available on the agency’s website and appeared in the Congressional Record on June 22, 2016 (House-Senate).

“Our goal in passing these regulations is simple – to provide legislative branch workers with the same FMLA rights and protections available to workers in the private sector and other government entities,” said OOC Board Chair, Barbara L. Camens. “We took into account valuable input from our partners at the U.S. Capitol Police, the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, and the House and Senate to prepare these regulations, and we look forward to Congressional approval.”

The Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA) established the OOC and tasked the small, independent agency with adopting regulations implementing many federal workplace laws that cover approximately 30,000 legislative branch workers and visitors on Capitol Hill and in district and state offices around the country. The CAA generally requires that the OOC’s regulations mirror the FMLA regulations issued by the Department of Labor, which uniformly apply to the private sector, executive branch, and local and state government employers. Although adopted by the Board of Directors of the OOC, the regulations must still be approved by Congress to be effective.