On Tuesday, December 10, two Florida bills were filed that could be crucial for expecting parents, parents who are planning to foster and for those who are adopting. The “Florida Family Leave Act” referenced in the bills would require businesses to give new parents more paid family leave, and if the bills are passed, they will be implemented next year in July of 2020, according to Senate Bill 1194 and House Bill 899.

Florida bills SB 1194 and HB 899 would apply to all employees that are new parents after giving birth, adopting a child or fostering. They would be given the opportunity to take up to three months of paid family leave. To quality for the program, the employee will have to have been employed with the company for at least one and a half years.

According to HB 889, “When an employee does not receive income during a leave of absence, his or her family suffers as a result of the employee’s loss of income, increasing demand on the state’s reemployment assistance program and dependence on the state’s welfare system. Therefore, in an effort to assist employees in reconciling the demands of work and family, the Legislature intends to require employers to allow employees to take paid family leave to bond with their minor child during the first 3 months after the birth of the child or the placement of the child through the foster care system or by adoption.”