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HR 5222
Introduced Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.

ESP, Paraprofessional, and Education Support Staff Family Leave Act

To establish eligibility requirements for covered educational employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and for other purposes.

Introduced Sep 9, 2025

Latest action (Sep 9, 2025) Referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and Government Reform, and House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Referred to
Committee on House Administration Oversight and Government Reform Committee Education and Workforce Committee
Policy area
Labor and Employment
Issues
Education

Summary

This bill modifies the Family and Medical Leave Act to expand eligibility for paraprofessionals and education support staff members (ESPs) who work in schools. Instead of meeting the standard 1,250 hours-per-year requirement for FMLA eligibility, these employees would qualify if they have worked at least 60 percent of the expected total monthly hours for their job in the previous school year. The bill covers paraprofessionals and ESPs who provide administrative, transportation, food service, custodial, maintenance, health, technical, or skilled trade services in schools. Employers would be required to maintain documentation of the expected monthly hours for each employee's position. The Secretary of Labor would develop methods for calculating FMLA leave specifically for these covered educational employees.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)
72 cosponsors

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Sean Casten’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

  • NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY $15,800
  • UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO $13,975
  • CME GROUP $12,925
  • DUPAGE MEDICAL GROUP $12,900
  • MESIROW FINANCIAL $9,900

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Sean Casten → · Outside spending →

Actions (2)
  1. Sep 9, 2025 Referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and Government Reform, and House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. · house
  2. Sep 9, 2025 Introduced in House

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

  • S 2738 — ESP, Paraprofessional, and Education Support Staff Family Leave Act · Introduced Sep 9, 2025 · Cong. 119 90%
  • HR 1035 — Job Protection Act · Introduced Feb 5, 2025 · Cong. 119 69%
  • S 437 — Caring for All Families Act · Introduced Feb 5, 2025 · Cong. 119 67%
  • HR 8158 — Reproductive Healthcare Leave Act · Introduced Mar 30, 2026 · Cong. 119 64%
  • S 408 — Job Protection Act · Introduced Feb 5, 2025 · Cong. 119 64%
  • HR 3273 — Child Care Workforce Development Act · Introduced May 8, 2025 · Cong. 119 64%

Text versions (1)
  • Introduced in House · Sep 9, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 9, 2025

Mr. Casten (for himself, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Quigley, Mrs. Cherfilus- McCormick, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Budzinski, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Deluzio, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Simon, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Barragan, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. Chu, Ms. Titus, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Ms. Perez, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Sewell, Mr. DeSaulnier, Ms. Craig, Mr. Keating, Mr. Magaziner, Mrs. Hayes, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Sorensen, and Mr. Carson) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and Government Reform, and House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To establish eligibility requirements for covered educational employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “ESP, Paraprofessional, and Education Support Staff Family Leave Act”.

SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS AND SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF.

Section 101(2) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(F) Paraprofessionals and education support staff.—

“(i) Determination.—For purposes of determining whether a covered educational employee meets the hours of service requirement specified in subparagraph (A)(ii), the covered educational employee will be considered to meet the requirement if the employee has worked a number of hours equal to not less than 60 percent of the applicable total monthly hours expected for the employee’s job description and duties, as assigned for the previous school year.

“(ii) File.—Each employer of a covered educational employee shall maintain on file with the Secretary (in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe) information specifying the total monthly hours expected for the employee’s job description and duties for each school year.

“(iii) Definitions.—In this subparagraph:

“(I) Covered educational employee.—The term ‘covered educational employee’ means a ‘paraprofessional’ or an ‘education support staff member’ employed by an educational agency or institution.

“(II) Paraprofessional.—The term ‘paraprofessional’ has the meaning given the term in section 8101(37) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(37)).

“(III) Education support staff.— The term ‘education support staff member’ (also known as a ‘classified school employee’, ‘education support professional’, or ‘ESP’) means an employee of an educational agency or institution who provides clerical and administrative services, transportation services, food and nutrition services, custodial and maintenance services, health and student services, technical services, or services related to skilled trades.

“(IV) Educational agency or institution.—The term ‘educational agency or institution’ has the meaning given the term in section 444(a)(3) of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(3)).”.

SEC. 3. ENTITLEMENT TO LEAVE.

Section 102(a) of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(6) Calculation of leave for covered educational employees.—The Secretary shall provide methods for calculating the leave described in paragraph (1) with respect to covered educational employees, in accordance with section 108, as applicable.”. <all>

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