This report examines the estimated costs of implementing H.R. 925, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1987, as amended. This bill permits employees to take up to 10 weeks of unpaid leave over a 2-year period upon the birth or adoption of a child or serious illness of a child or parent and up to 15 weeks every 2 years for their own illness. Upon returning to work an employee is guaranteed the same, or an equivalent, job. In the first 3 years after enactment, firms employing 50 or more people are subject to the legislation, and thereafter firms employing 35 or more people must provide these benefits. Employers would be required to continue health benefits for a worker on unpaid leave on the same basis as if the employee were working. The GAO research entailed the review of studies of employer parental leave policies and practices in the United States and elsewhere to identify: (1) the extent that firms currently offer unpaid leave similar to this legislation; (2) the likely number of users of unpaid leave and the expected length of absence, and (3) how companies cope with the absence of workers taking such a leave. Study results indicate that for leave to care for new children the estimated cost to employers will be about $90 to $102 million annually. Estimated cost of leave to care for seriously ill children is between $10 and $11 million annually; estimated cost of leave to care for seriously ill parents is $35 to $38 million annually; and health insurance cost to employers for temporary medical leave is estimated to be about $53 to $61 million annually. The lower figures in these estimates are for firms having 50 or more employees while the higher figures include firms with between 35 and 49 employees. (RWB)