Lawmakers reintroduce paid parental leave bill

House lawmakers reintroduced a bill on Thursday that would give federal employees six weeks of paid maternity or paternity leave for the birth or adoption of a child.

The Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2002 (H.R. 3915) would create a separate category of leave for maternity or paternity time off. Under current rules, federal employees can use a combination of paid annual leave, paid sick leave and unpaid leave under the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act for childbirth or adoption. 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.

"Losing pay for becoming a new parent is not acceptable," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who originally sponsored the bill along with Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., and Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and reintroduced it Thursday. "Federal employees deserve the right to spend time with their newborn or newly adopted child without financial burden. Private sector companies offer reasonable and fair parental leave policies."

"It's about time we provide federal employees with the same option already available to workers in most industrialized nations and at most leading U.S. companies," Davis said.

An April 2001 Society for Human Resource Management survey found that 18 percent of private sector employers offer paid maternity leave, while 14 percent offer paid paternity leave.

According to a study published by the Office of Personnel Management in November, the federal government's leave policies and programs compare favorably with benefits offered by private sector companies. OPM concluded that the government did not need to offer paid parental leave to employees in part because agencies can advance up to 30 days of sick leave to an employee for a medical emergency or adoption, and workers can receive donated leave under leave transfer or leave bank programs.

The cost of an additional paid parental leave benefit could be $1 billion from 2002 to 2006, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate.

The two largest federal employee unions, the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union, support the paid parental leave bill.