GAO recommends expanding family-friendly benefits for service members
Most military personnel benefits are comparable to those offered by private sector employers, but improvements could be made in the armed service's spousal support programs and extended leave for new parents, according to a new report from the General Accounting Office.
"We found no significant gaps between the types of benefits offered to active-duty service members as part of the military's benefit package and those offered by private sector employees," said the GAO report, "Military Personnel: Active Duty Benefits Reflect Changing Demographics, but Opportunities Exist to Improve" (02-935). Most importantly, according to GAO, Defense matches private sector companies by offering benefits in four core areas: retirement, health care, life insurance and paid leave.
In response to concerns by service members that their retirement and health care benefits were not comparable to those offered in the private sector, the Defense Department expanded those benefits, the report found. GAO said the department should do the same for spousal assistance and leave for new parents.
Many spouses of military members are underemployed and make less than their civilian counterparts, Defense studies have found. GAO said Defense has made strides in recent years to help military spouses find jobs by developing job training programs and forming partnerships with other federal agencies and private sector companies to employ military spouses. Still, GAO found Defense doesn't gauge the effectiveness of those programs.
Defense offers new mothers six weeks paid leave after the birth of a child, but any additional time off counts against annual leave. Similarly, new fathers can take time off after a child's birth but it also is counted as annual leave. In contrast, the 1993 Family Medical Leave Act requires all private sector employers with more than 50 workers to allow their employees take up to 12 weeks of unpaid annual leave for family obligations, such as the birth of a child. The law covers federal civilian agency workers, but does not apply to uniformed personnel.
According to GAO, Defense has and will increasingly lose female personnel if it does not improve its new parent benefits. The report recommended that the Defense Department study the Coast Guard's newborn child benefit, which allows newborn parents to leave the seafaring service for up to two years without pay and benefits to care for a child. In two years, parents are eligible to return to service at the same rank. About half of all Coast Guard members who left under the program returned to active duty, the report said.
Defense told GAO it was examining parental leave programs, including the Coast Guard's program, and may consider extending the benefit. Defense also said that it is reviewing the effectiveness of spousal support programs.