DAILY BRIEFING
Gore pushes time off
for cancer screenings
Vice President Gore Wednesday suggested that federal workers should be allowed time off to obtain cancer screenings, the Associated Press reported.
The announcement took place during a White House visit with Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor and winner of the 1999 Tour de France, at which Gore applauded Armstrong and hailed advancements in cancer research.
Gore asked the Office of Personnel Management to study the possibility of offering federal workers time off for cancer screenings and to develop a program that promotes early cancer detection. OPM is to report back to Gore within 90 days.
Gore said the idea is based on a Boston program that gives city workers a half day off annually for cancer screenings. The time off is not subtracted from sick, annual or personal leave.
Under current OPM policy, federal employees are allowed excused absences for health needs if agency heads permit it.
"We must keep working to fight this disease, and to give more people the hope that they, like Lance Armstrong, will have the chance to fulfill their greatest dreams," Gore said.
Congress is currently considering a bill, the Organ Donor Leave Act, (H.R. 457), which would give federal employees who donate organs 30 days of paid leave separate from traditional annual or sick leave. Current law provides only 7 days of paid leave to serve as either a bone marrow or organ donor. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee recently approved the bill.