CLEVELAND, August 6 — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the United Transportation Union are jointly supporting a House bill to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to clarify eligibility requirements for railroad workers.
The Family and Medical Leave Act currently does not address the unique working conditions of railroad operating employees. Through no fault of their own, rail workers may not always meet the minimum criteria of 1,250 hours worked per year set forth in the current FMLA regulations.
Under the proposed changes to the FMLA, the time that railroad operating crews are required to be available for work will be included in the total hours worked per year, thus making them more likely to meet the FMLA eligibility criteria.
H.R. 5944, was introduced July 29 by Representatives Tim Bishop (D-NY), Bob Filner (D-CA), Mark Critz (D-PA) and Steven LaTourette (R-OH). The bill is the result of joint efforts by the BLET and the UTU. It has been referred to the House Education and Labor Committee.
“BLET Vice President and National Legislative Representative John Tolman, the BLET State Legislative Board Chairmen, and their UTU counterparts all throughout the country worked very hard over the past year to get this legislation introduced,” BLET National President Dennis Pierce said. “The next step will be to get this legislation passed and enacted so that it can begin to help our Brothers and Sisters who need to take leave but might not otherwise qualify.”
The bill would clarify FMLA eligibility requirements with respect to railroad workers subject to hours-of-service limitations, accounting for periods when such employees must be available for work. In short, the proposed legislation would include this availability time when calculating railroad worker eligibility for FMLA benefits.
If enacted into law, the bill would allow employees to be eligible for FMLA if the employee has worked at least 60 percent of the applicable total guaranteed time for the previous 12-month period; and has worked or been paid for not less than 504 hours (not counting personal commute time or time spent on vacation leave or medical or sick leave) during the previous 12-month period.
BLET Vice President Tolman said the legislation would go a long way toward improving the quality of life for BLET members.
“While this problem does not impact a large number of BLET members, its impact on the members it does affect is so dire that it is vital that we get this legislation passed,” Vice President Tolman said. “The National Division and National Legislative Office used, anonymously, several extremely moving, poignant letters and other communications to show Congress how important this problem is to our members and their families. It is a tragedy when any of our members can’t take time off work to deal with a health problem or a family member’s health problem. There is nothing more important.”