Senate committee advances amendment to expand bereavement and safe-leave uses in H.461 amid small-business concerns

At a meeting of the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee, members considered a draft amendment to H.461 that would add a new safe-leave subsection to allow leave to respond to a fatality or near fatality related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, and would specify how bereavement leave may be taken.

The change "is just we've added in another subsection into the safe leave provision, and it reads to respond to a fatality or near fatality related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Right. Either for themselves or for a family member," Sophie Sedatny, legislative counsel, Office of Legislative Council, told the committee.

The amendment (described in the meeting as version 4.1 and proposed as draft 5) adds the new item as a romanette under the safe-leave list, and inserts bereavement-use language into section 472(a)(2). The bill text described in the meeting would permit two weeks of bereavement leave "within the 12 weeks with no more than 5 workdays to be taken consecutively," and would allow an employer to request documentation "identifying a qualifying family relationship" if the leave is for a family member.

Committee members and counsel emphasized the amendment expands the permissible reasons an employee may use existing leave but does not change the total unpaid-leave limit or employer/employee definitions. "All it's doing is expanding the the ability to use it. What you can use the lead for ... the size of the employee, the length of time, none of that is changing from what's currently in the law," Sophie Sedatny said. The committee and counsel also said the underlying maximum unpaid leave remains 12 weeks in a year, consistent with federal Family and Medical Leave Act rules discussed in the meeting.

Several members expressed concern about impacts on small employers. One committee member identified in the transcript as David (role not specified) said the bill could impose a heavy burden on small businesses because it applies at the 10-employee threshold and — if every eligible employee used all available leave categories in a year — could amount to months of lost work time. "So I'm going to vote no," David said, while also saying he supports compliance with federal law and assistance for victims.

Other members acknowledged the trade-offs between employee protections and small-business operational challenges. A senator who voted against the motion during roll call identified as Senator Weeks recorded a "no" on the motion; other recorded votes during the roll call included Senators Brock, Chindell and Clark registering "yes." The clerk left one seat open because a member was returning from testimony; the committee kept the motion open after the partial roll call.

Committee members mentioned previously received testimony, including from an advocate named Carrie Brown, and discussed the lack of systematic data about how unpaid leave affects small Vermont employers. Several senators said they would like better data if the Legislature revisits broader paid-leave proposals in the future, but the committee expressed reluctance to impose a new data-collection requirement on employers at this time.

A motion was made to move positively draft 5 of H.461; the clerk called the roll and recorded partial votes but the committee left the vote open pending an absent member’s return.

The committee chair then moved on to the next agenda item, cannabis policy.

Ending: The committee advanced proposed language that would let employees use existing family/medical leave for response to fatal or near-fatal domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking and clarified bereavement timing and documentation. The amendment, described as draft 5 of H.461, was put forward for a positive move and a partial roll call was taken; the final disposition was left open pending an absent member’s vote.