District Employee Paid Parental, Family, and Medical Leave Amendment Act of 2025

COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
1350 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20004

Phil Mendelson Office: (202) 724-8032
Chairman Fax: (202) 724-8085

July 11, 2025

Nyasha Howard, Secretary to the Council
Council of the District of Columbia
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004

Dear Secretary Howard:

Today I am introducing the District Employee Paid Parental, Family, and Medical Leave
Amendment Act of 2025. This bill is identical to the Mayor's Title I, Subtitle F of the introduced
version of the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Support Act of 2025 (Bill 26-265). Members think the
issue is sufficiently complex to warrant consideration and review through the regular legislative
process.

The District Employee Paid Parental, Family, and Medical Leave Amendment Act of 2025
would make several changes to the District of Columbia Government Comprehensive Merit
Personnel Act of 1978, including modifying the definition of “eligible employee”, reducing the
number of paid leave workweeks for qualifying family leave events from 8 to 2, and requiring a
non-probationary employee to enter into a continuation of service agreement and continue to serve
as a District employee for 12 weeks after use of paid parental, family, or medical leave.

Pulling this legislative proposal out of the Budget Support Act will enable fuller
consideration of th e policy ramifications. In this regard, t he Committee on Executive
Administration and Labor has committed to holding a hearing on the bill early in the fall of 2025.

Sincerely,

Phil Mendelson

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Chairman Phil Mendelson 2
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A BILL 6
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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 12
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To amend the District of Columbia Government Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act of 1978 to 17
modify the definition of “eligible employee”; to reduce the number of paid leave 18
workweeks for qualifying family leave events from 8 to 2; to require that, when 19
practicable, an eligible employee provide written notice to their personnel authority when 20
paid leave is going to be used; to require that a probationary employee who voluntary 21
violates the one-year continuation of service agreement is indebted to the District for 22
salary paid during the leave period; and to require a non-probationary employee to enter 23
into a continuation of service agreement and continue to serve as a District employee for 24
12 weeks after use of paid parental, family, or medical leave. 25
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 27
act may be cited as the “District Employee Paid Parental, Family, and Medical Leave 28
Amendment Act of 2025”. 29
Sec. 2. The District of Columbia Government Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act of 30
1978, effective March 3, 1979 (D.C. Law 2-139; D.C. Official Code § 1-601.01 et seq.), is 31
amended as follows: 32
(a) Section 1204 (D.C. Official Code § 1-612.04) is amended as follows: 33
(1) Paragraph (4) is amended to read as follows: 34
“(4)(A) “Eligible employee” means a District government employee, including an 35
employee of an independent agency; provided, that for the purposes of using paid family leave or 36

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paid medical leave, the term “eligible employee” means a District government employee, 37
including an employee of an independent agency, has worked for the District government for at 38
least 180 days, without a break in service, as of the date on which the paid family leave or paid 39
medical leave will be used. 40
“(B) The term “eligible employee” does not include: 41
“(i) A temporary employee appointed for less than 90 days; or 42
“(ii) An employee with intermittent employment.”. 43
(2) Paragraph (5) is amended as follows: 44
(A) Subparagraph (B) is amended by striking the semicolon at the end and 45
inserting the phrase “; or” in its place. 46
(B) Subparagraph (C) is amended to read as follows: 47
“(C) A spouse or domestic partner.”. 48
(C) Subparagraphs (D) and (E) are repealed. 49
(b) Section 1204a (D.C. Official Code § 1-612.04a) is amended as follows: 50
(1) Subsection (a)(1)(B) is amended by striking the phrase “8 workweeks” and 51
inserting the phrase “2 workweeks” in its place. 52
(2) A new subsection (c-1) is added to read as follows: 53
“(c-1)(1) To the extent practicable, an eligible employee shall, before using paid leave, 54
provide written notice to their personnel authority or agency of the need for the use of paid leave 55
and of the expected date or dates on which the employee intends to use paid leave. 56
“(2) If the employee plans to use paid leave on an intermittent basis, the written 57
notice shall, to the extent practicable, include a schedule of the expected hours during which the 58
employee intends to use paid leave. 59

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“(3) The written notice shall include a reason for the use of paid leave, within the 60
parameters of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, approved August 61
21, 1996 (Pub. L. No. 104-191; 110 Stat. 1936). 62
“(4) If the use of paid leave is foreseeable, the written notice shall be provided at 63
least 10 days, or as early as possible, in advance of the use of the paid leave. 64
“(5) If the use of paid leave is unforeseeable, a notification, either oral or written, 65
shall be provided before the start of the work shift for which the paid leave is being used. 66
“(6) In the case of an emergency resulting in the use of paid leave without the 67
opportunity to provide prior notification, the eligible employee, or another individual on behalf 68
of the eligible employee, shall notify the Mayor, either orally or in writing, within 48 hours after 69
the emergency occurs. 70
“(7) If the agency determines that the use of paid leave is likely to interfere with 71
the operations of the agency, the agency and eligible employee shall engage in good-faith 72
negotiations on alternate dates or hours for the use of the paid leave. The agency may deny the 73
use of paid leave under this section if an employee does not agree to a reasonable request to 74
revise the dates or hours for the use of the paid leave.”. 75
(3) Subsection (d)(2) is amended to read as follows: 76
“(2) If a probationary employee voluntarily separates in violation of the 1-year 77
continuation of service agreement, the individual shall be indebted to the District government for 78
the salary paid during the leave period. Indebtedness incurred pursuant to this paragraph may be 79
treated in whole or in part as an erroneous payment pursuant to section 2901 of the District of 80
Columbia Government Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act of 1978 (D.C. Law 2-139; D.C. 81
Official Code § 1-629.01 et. seq.). 82
(4) A new subsection (d-1) is added to read as follows: 83

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“(d-1)(1) An employee, other than an employee serving in a probationary capacity, using 84
paid parental, family, or medical leave shall be required to enter into a continuation of service 85
agreement. The continuation of service agreement shall require the employee to continue to 86
serve as a District employee for 12 weeks after the use of the paid parental, family, or medical 87
leave. 88
“(2) If the employee voluntarily separates in violation of the continuation of 89
service agreement, the individual shall be indebted to the District government for the salary paid 90
during the leave period. Indebtedness incurred pursuant to this paragraph may be treated in 91
whole or in part as an erroneous payment pursuant to section 2901 of the District of Columbia 92
Government Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act of 1978 (D.C. Law 2-139; D.C. Official Code 93
§ 1-629.01 et. seq.). 94
Sec. 3. Fiscal impact statement. 95
The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement of the Budget Director as the fiscal impact 96
statement required by section 4a of the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975, approved 97
October 16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2038; D.C. Official Code § 1-301.47a). 98
Sec. 4. Effective date. 99
This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the 100
Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto) and a 30-day period of congressional review 101
as provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 102
24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(1)). 103