2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
March 6, 2024 - Introduced by Representatives Hong,
Haywood, Joers, Conley, C.
Anderson, Moore Omokunde, Snodgrass, Stubbs, Clancy, Ohnstad,
Madison, Sinicki, Baldeh, Emerson, Neubauer, Shelton, Bare, Palmeri,
Vining, Ratcliff, Considine, Andraca, J. Anderson, Subeck and Billings,
cosponsored by Senators L. Johnson, Roys, Hesselbein, Wirch, Pfaff,
Spreitzer, Agard, Smith, Carpenter and Larson. Referred to Committee on
Insurance.
AB1156,2,5
1An Act to repeal 103.10 (1) (a) 1., 103.10 (1) (a) 2., 103.10 (1m) and 103.10 (14)
2(b);
to renumber and amend 103.10 (1) (a) (intro.);
to amend 103.10 (1) (b),
3103.10 (1) (c), 103.10 (3) (a) 1., 103.10 (3) (a) 3., 103.10 (3) (b) 1., 103.10 (3) (b)
42., 103.10 (3) (b) 3., 103.10 (6) (b) (intro.), 103.10 (6) (b) 1., 103.10 (7) (a), 103.10
5(7) (b) (intro.), 103.10 (7) (b) 1., 103.10 (12) (c), 103.10 (14) (a), 103.12 (2), 103.12
6(3), 111.322 (2m) (a), 111.322 (2m) (b) and 227.03 (2);
to repeal and recreate
7165.68 (1) (a) 3.; and
to create 20.445 (1) (w), 25.17 (1) (er), 25.52, 103.10 (1)
8(an), 103.10 (1) (ao), 103.10 (1) (db), 103.10 (1) (dm), 103.10 (1) (dp), 103.10 (1)
9(gm), 103.10 (1) (gr), 103.10 (1) (j), 103.10 (3) (b) 4., 103.10 (3) (b) 5., 103.10 (3)
10(b) 6., 103.10 (3) (b) 7., 103.10 (3) (b) 8., 103.10 (6) (c), 103.10 (7) (d), 103.10 (8m),
11103.10 (11) (d), 103.10 (14) (c) and (d), 103.105 and 103.12 (4) of the statutes;
12relating to: the establishment of a family and medical leave insurance
13program; family leave to care for a family member and for the active duty of a
14family member; the employers that must allow an employee to take family or
1medical leave; allowing a local government to adopt ordinances requiring
2employers to provide leave benefits; providing an exemption from emergency
3rule procedures; providing an exemption from rule-making procedures;
4granting rule-making authority; making an appropriation; and providing a
5penalty.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Introduction
This bill does all of the following: expands the family and medical leave law to
allow an employee covered under that law to take family leave to care for a family
member and for the active duty of a family member; lowers the threshold number of
employees above which an employer must allow an employee to take family or
medical leave; and establishes a family and medical leave insurance program under
which certain covered individuals may receive benefits while taking family or
medical leave. The bill defines “family member” as a spouse or domestic partner of
an employee or self-employed individual; a parent, child, sibling, brother-in-law,
sister-in-law, grandparent, stepgrandparent, or grandchild of an employee or
self-employed individual, or of an employee's or self-employed individual's spouse
or domestic partner; or any other person who is related by blood, marriage, or
adoption to an employee or self-employed individual, or to an employee's or
self-employed individual's spouse or domestic partner, and whose close association
with the employee, self-employed individual, spouse, or domestic partner makes the
person the equivalent of a family member of the employee, self-employed individual,
spouse, or domestic partner.
Family and medical leave expansion
Under current law, an employer, including the state, that employs at least 50
individuals on a permanent basis in this state must allow an employee who has been
employed by the employer for more than 52 consecutive weeks and who has worked
for the employer for at least 1,000 hours during the preceding 52 weeks to take up
to eight weeks of family leave in a 12-month period for the birth or adoptive
placement of a child or to care for a child, spouse, domestic partner, or parent of the
employee or a parent of the spouse or domestic partner of the employee who has a
serious health condition and up to two weeks of medical leave in a 12-month period
when the employee has a serious health condition that makes the employee unable
to perform the employee's employment duties.
The bill expands the definition of “family leave” to include leave to obtain
services or care for, to move the residence of, or to prepare for a civil or criminal action
for an employee or the employee's family member who is a victim of domestic abuse,
sexual abuse, or stalking.
The bill requires an employer, including the state, to allow an employee to take
family leave for up to 12 weeks for the birth, adoption, or placement of a child for
foster care and up to 14 weeks in the aggregate for any kind of family leave. The bill
also allows an employee to take family leave as provided under current law to care
for a family member of the employee who has a serious health condition. In addition,
the bill requires an employer to allow an employee to take family leave because of any
qualifying exigency, as determined by the Department of Workforce Development by
rule, arising out of the fact that the family member of the employee is on deployment
with the U.S. armed forces on covered active duty or has been notified of an
impending call or order to covered active duty.
Family and medical leave insurance program
The bill creates a family and medical leave insurance program, to be
administered by DWD, under which a covered individual who is on family or medical
leave is eligible, beginning on January 1, 2026, to receive up to 12 weeks of family
or medical leave insurance benefits as specified in the bill from the family and
medical leave insurance trust fund created under the bill. For purposes of the bill:
1. A “covered individual" is an individual who worked for any employer and
earned at least $1,000 in the calendar year prior to the year in which the covered
individual claims family or medical leave insurance benefits (application year) or a
self-employed individual who elects coverage under the program, regardless of
whether the individual is employed or unemployed at the time the individual files
an application for family or medical leave insurance benefits.
2. “Family leave" means leave from employment, self-employment, or
availability for employment for the birth, adoptive placement, foster placement, or
pre-placement activities of a child; to care for a family member who has a serious
health condition; because of any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the
family member is on covered active duty or has been notified of an impending call or
order to covered active duty; to obtain services or care for, to move the residence of,
or to prepare for a civil or criminal action for an employee or family member who is
a victim of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, or stalking; or for bone marrow and organ
donation.
3. “Medical leave" means leave from employment when a covered individual
has a serious health condition that makes the individual unable to perform his or her
employment duties, leave from self-employment when a covered individual has a
serious health condition that makes the individual unable to perform the duties of
his or her self-employment, or leave from availability for employment when a
covered individual has a serious health condition that makes the individual unable
to perform the duties of any suitable employment.
Under the bill, the amount of family or medical leave insurance benefits for a
week for which those benefits are payable is as follows:
1. For a covered individual, for the amount of the individual's wages that are
up to 50 percent of the state average weekly wages in the calendar year before the
individual's application year, 90 percent of that individual's average weekly
earnings.
2. For a covered individual, for the amount of the individual's wages that are
more than 50 percent of the state average weekly earnings in the calendar year
before the individual's application year, 50 percent of that individual's average
weekly earnings.
The weekly benefits payable to a covered individual cannot exceed the state
average weekly wages.
In addition, the bill provides that family or medical leave insurance benefits are
payable beginning on the first day of family or medical leave. The bill also provides
that no family or medical leave insurance benefits are payable for any period of
family or medical leave in which a covered individual is receiving unemployment
benefits or worker's compensation benefits.
Beginning on January 1, 2025, the bill requires each individual employed in
this state, including an individual employed by the state, and each self-employed
individual who elects coverage under the family and medical leave insurance
program to contribute to the trust fund a percentage of his or her wages from
employment or income from self-employment determined by DWD in consultation
with the commissioner of insurance that is sufficient to finance the payments of
benefits under the program and the administration of the program. The bill requires
DWD to collect those contributions in the same manner as DWD collects
contributions to the unemployment reserve fund under current law. Under the bill,
an employer with more than 50 employees must contribute one-half of the
employee-required contribution. The bill requires DWD to implement tiered rates
for contributions by an employer with 50 or fewer employees.
The bill further does the following:
1. Allows a covered individual whose claim for family or medical leave
insurance benefits is denied by DWD, or who believes the amount of approved
benefits is less than what the individual is entitled to, to request a hearing on the
denial or benefits approved and requires DWD to process the request for hearing in
the same manner that requests for hearings on unemployment insurance claims are
processed under current law.
2. Requires employers to place employees who return from family or medical
leave, and who received family or medical leave insurance benefits, in the same
position or a similar position upon returning from leave and to maintain any health
insurance coverage that was in place before the employee took the leave.
3. Allows DWD to seek repayment of family or medical leave insurance benefits
that are paid erroneously or as a result of willful misrepresentation in the same
manner that DWD recovers erroneous payments of unemployment insurance
benefits under current law or to waive recovery of an erroneous payment of those
benefits if the erroneous payment was not the fault of the individual who received
it and if requiring repayment would be contrary to equity and good conscience.
4. Provides that if an individual willfully makes a false statement or
representation, or willfully fails to disclose a material fact, to obtain family or
medical leave insurance benefits, the individual is disqualified from receiving those
benefits for up to one year after the date of the disqualification.
Finally, the bill allows a city, village, town, or county to enact and enforce
ordinances requiring employers to provide leave from employment to their
employees if those ordinances are more generous than those provided under state
law.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
AB1156,1
1Section 1
. 20.445 (1) (w) of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,5,62
20.445
(1) (w)
Family and medical leave insurance trust fund. From the family
3and medical leave insurance trust fund, all moneys deposited in that fund under s.
4103.105 (9) for the payments of family or medical leave insurance benefits under s.
5103.105 (3) and for the administration of the family and medical leave insurance
6program under s. 103.105.
AB1156,2
7Section 2
. 25.17 (1) (er) of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,5,88
25.17
(1) (er) Family and medical leave insurance trust fund (s. 25.52);
AB1156,3
9Section 3
. 25.52 of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,5,13
1025.52 Family and medical leave insurance trust fund. There is created
11a separate nonlapsible trust fund designated as the family and medical leave
12insurance trust fund, to consist of all moneys deposited in that fund under s. 103.105
13(9).
AB1156,4
14Section 4
. 103.10 (1) (a) (intro.) of the statutes is renumbered 103.10 (1) (a)
15and amended to read:
AB1156,5,1816
103.10
(1) (a) “Child" means a natural, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild,
a
17child for whom the individual stood or stands in the place of a parent, or a legal ward
18to whom any of the following applies:.
AB1156,5
1Section
5. 103.10 (1) (a) 1. of the statutes is repealed.
AB1156,6
2Section 6
. 103.10 (1) (a) 2. of the statutes is repealed.
AB1156,7
3Section 7
. 103.10 (1) (an) of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,6,44
103.10
(1) (an) “Covered active duty" means any of the following:
AB1156,6,65
1. For a member of a regular component of the U.S. armed forces, duty during
6the deployment of the member with the U.S. armed forces.
AB1156,6,97
2. For a member of a reserve component of the U.S. armed forces, duty during
8the deployment of the member with the U.S. armed forces under a call or order to
9active duty under a provision of law specified in
10 USC 101 (a) (13) (B).
AB1156,8
10Section
8. 103.10 (1) (ao) of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,6,1111
103.10
(1) (ao) “Domestic abuse” has the meaning given in s. 968.075 (1) (a).
AB1156,9
12Section 9
. 103.10 (1) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB1156,6,1513
103.10
(1) (b) Except as provided in
sub. (1m) (b) 2. and s. 452.38, “employee"
14means an individual employed in this state by an employer
, except the employer's
15parent, spouse, domestic partner, or child.
AB1156,10
16Section 10
. 103.10 (1) (c) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB1156,6,2217
103.10
(1) (c)
Except as provided in sub. (1m) (b) 3., “employer" “Employer”
18means a person engaging in any activity, enterprise
, or business in this state
19employing at least 50 individuals on a permanent basis. “
Employer" includes the
20state and any office, department, independent agency, authority, institution,
21association, society
, or other body in state government created or authorized to be
22created by the constitution or any law, including the legislature and the courts.
AB1156,11
23Section
11. 103.10 (1) (db) of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,7,524
103.10
(1) (db) “Family member” means a spouse or domestic partner of an
25employee; a parent, child, sibling, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, grandparent,
1stepgrandparent, or grandchild of an employee or of an employee's spouse or
2domestic partner; or any other person who is related by blood, marriage, or adoption
3to an employee or to an employee's spouse or domestic partner or whose close
4association with the employee, spouse, or domestic partner makes the person the
5equivalent of a family member of the employee, spouse, or domestic partner.
AB1156,12
6Section 12
. 103.10 (1) (dm) of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,7,77
103.10
(1) (dm) “Grandchild" means the child of a child.
AB1156,13
8Section 13
. 103.10 (1) (dp) of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,7,99
103.10
(1) (dp) “Grandparent" means the parent of a parent.
AB1156,14
10Section
14. 103.10 (1) (gm) of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,7,1311
103.10
(1) (gm) “Sexual abuse” means conduct that is in violation of s. 940.225,
12944.30 (1m), 948.02, 948.025, 948.05, 948.051, 948.055, 948.06, 948.085, 948.09, or
13948.10 or that is in violation of s. 940.302 (2) if s. 940.302 (2) (a) 1. b. applies.
AB1156,15
14Section 15
. 103.10 (1) (gr) of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,7,1615
103.10
(1) (gr) “Sibling" means a brother, sister, half brother, half sister,
16stepbrother, or stepsister, whether by blood, marriage, foster status, or adoption.
AB1156,16
17Section
16. 103.10 (1) (j) of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,7,1918
103.10
(1) (j) “Stalking” means to engage in a course of conduct, as defined in
19s. 940.32 (1) (a), that meets the criteria of s. 940.32 (2) (a).
AB1156,17
20Section 17
. 103.10 (1m) of the statutes is repealed.
AB1156,18
21Section 18
. 103.10 (3) (a) 1. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB1156,7,2322
103.10
(3) (a) 1. In a 12-month period no employee may take more than
6 12 23weeks of family leave under par. (b) 1.
and, 2.
, and 4. to 8.
AB1156,19
24Section
19. 103.10 (3) (a) 3. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB1156,8,2
1103.10
(3) (a) 3. In a 12-month period no employee may take more than
8 14 2weeks of family leave for any combination of reasons specified under par. (b).
AB1156,20
3Section
20. 103.10 (3) (b) 1. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB1156,8,54
103.10
(3) (b) 1. The birth of the employee's natural child, if the leave begins
5within
16 52 weeks of the child's birth.
AB1156,21
6Section
21. 103.10 (3) (b) 2. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB1156,8,107
103.10
(3) (b) 2. The placement of a child with the employee for adoption or as
8a precondition to adoption under s. 48.90 (2), but not both,
or for foster care, including
9pre-placement activities, if the leave begins within
16 52 weeks of the child's
10placement.
AB1156,22
11Section 22
. 103.10 (3) (b) 3. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB1156,8,1412
103.10
(3) (b) 3. To care for the employee's
child, spouse, domestic partner, or 13parent, family member if the
child, spouse, domestic partner, or parent family
14member has a serious health condition.
AB1156,23
15Section 23
. 103.10 (3) (b) 4. of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,8,1916
103.10
(3) (b) 4. Because of any qualifying exigency, as determined by the
17department by rule, arising out of the fact that the family member of the employee
18is on covered active duty or has been notified of an impending call or order to covered
19active duty.
AB1156,24
20Section
24. 103.10 (3) (b) 5. of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,8,2521
103.10
(3) (b) 5. Because the employee or the employee's family member is the
22victim of domestic abuse, stalking, or sexual abuse, and the employee is using leave
23to seek medical attention or obtain psychological or other counseling for the
24employee or the employee's family member to recover from any health condition
25caused by domestic abuse, sexual abuse, or stalking.
AB1156,25
1Section
25. 103.10 (3) (b) 6. of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,9,62
103.10
(3) (b) 6. Because the employee or the employee's family member is the
3victim of domestic abuse, stalking, or sexual abuse, and the employee is using leave
4to obtain services for the employee or the employee's family member from an
5organization that provides services to victims of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, or
6stalking.
AB1156,26
7Section
26. 103.10 (3) (b) 7. of the statutes is created to read:
AB1156,9,118
103.10
(3) (b) 7. Because the employee or the employee's family member is the
9victim of domestic abuse, stalking, or sexual abuse, and the employee is using leave
10to relocate the residence of the employee or the employee's family member due to
11domestic abuse, sexual abuse, or stalking.
AB1156,27
12Section
27. 103.10 (3) (b) 8. of the statutes is created to read: