Lawmakers reintroduce paid parental leave bill

[The Straight Story]

Lawmakers reintroduce paid parental leave bill
By Brittany R. Ballenstedt [e-mail] January 22, 2009

House lawmakers on Thursday reintroduced legislation that would provide paid parental leave benefits to all federal employees.

The bill (H.R. 626), sponsored by Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.; Frank Wolf, R-Va.; Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; Danny K. Davis, D-Ill.; and Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., would provide all federal employees with four weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. A similar measure passed the House in the 110th Congress. Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate but did not make it out of committee.

Currently employees can use a combination of paid annual leave, paid sick leave and unpaid leave for childbirth or adoption under the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act. Federal parents can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid maternity or paternity leave and up to 13 days of paid sick leave to care for newborn or adopted children.

"Families should not have to choose between a paycheck and getting their newborn home and settled in, especially in these economic times," Maloney said. "With , the federal government can make family-friendly more than a buzzword and ensure that both newborns and the government benefit."

In addition to providing four weeks of paid leave, the measure would allow employees to use accumulated annual or sick leave to reach the 12 weeks of unpaid leave guaranteed under current law.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=41854&dcn=todaysnews

[AllyCat]

1. Can we have this for everyone? That'd be great.

[LakeSamish706]

2. Hmmmm Not as good as it is in Canada... New mothers get 12 months off....

and can draw Unemployment Insurance for that whole time.

[SoCalNative]

3. How about not limiting it to just "parents"?

How about for ALL working Americans to be able to be guaranteed paid leave if they have to take time off to care for a sick relative, etc.

[katandmoon]

4. Thank you. As a non-parent I'm sick of being expected to subsidize others' decision to procreate.

And as a retired Federal employee, I know what kind of HUGE resentment this special paid leave entitlement would cause among other employees who do not need paid time off for this particular purpose, but may need it for other socially desirable purposes for which it would not be available.