Murray Bill To Extend Family Leave Benefits To Flight Crews Passes Congress

12/2/2009 3:30 PM ET TOP MARKET NEWSponsored By (RTTNews) - Senate HELP Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., announced Wednesday that her bill to provide flight crews with family leave has passed Congress and is on its way to President Barack Obama.

The legislation, called the Airline Flight Crew Technical Correction Act, will make flight attendants and pilots eligible for 12 weeks of unpaid leave time each year under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

The bill clarifies the FMLA to accommodate flight attendants and pilots who, because of their industries' unique calculation of work hours spent on overnights, layovers and waiting to be called to duty, currently do not qualify for leave time.

"This is a big victory for our nation's hard-working flight crews," Murray said. "Pilots and flight attendants deserve the same ability to balance work and family guaranteed to millions of Americans, and now they'll have it."