WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema joined Republican Senator Joni Ernst (Iowa) to introduce the FAIR Act—legislation that ensures married workers who work at the same company both have access to the full Family and Medical Leave Act benefits that they are due.
“Every Arizona worker deserves the opportunity to spend time with a new child, to care for a loved one, or to provide support to an injured or ill servicemember. Our bipartisan, commonsense bill fixes an error in current law that punishes married couples who work for the same company,” said Sinema.
The FAIR Act is supported by the Bipartisan Policy Center, Military Officers Association of America, A Better Balance, National Partnership for Women & Families, Independent Women’s Forum, 1000 Days, PL+US, American Federation of Teachers, and NEA.
The FAIR Act compliments Sinema’s work with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy (La.) on their first-of-its-kind bipartisan parental flexibility proposal. Sinema and Senator Cassidy recently unveiled their bipartisan plan that allows families to receive support after the birth or adoption of a new child to finance time off of work, offset the cost of infant care, or both. Sinema’s legislation allows parents to advance $5,000 from their Child Tax Credit and gives them the flexibility to decide how to use the benefit.
Sinema also recently cosponsored the bipartisan Paid Family Leave Pilot Extension Act, which extends a two-year tax credit for employers who offer paid parental and medical leave programs for their employees.