House Bill Would Extend Paid Parental Leave Benefit to More Federal Employees

A recently introduced bill would extend the new paid parental leave benefit to more federal employees who are excluded under the new law.

If the number of bills coming out of Congress addressing the issue is any indication, it appears increasingly likely that most, if not all, federal employees will ultimately be covered by the new paid parental leave law before it goes into effect later this year.

Another bill that has recently been introduced is from Congressman Troy Balderson (R-OH). His legislation (H.R. 5993) would extend the new paid family leave benefit to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and Veterans Health Administration (VHA) employees.

Congressman Phil Roe (R-TN) also introduced legislation addressing the loophole in the new law, however, it was only applicable to employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Senate has introduced similar legislation. When word broke about some federal employees not being covered under the law, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced legislation to extend the coverage to more federal workers.

And another House bill quickly followed Schumer’s Senate bill as companion legislation that would expand coverage to federal employees which Maloney says were “inadvertently not included” in the new law when it was passed.

The Federal Employee Paid Leave Act was signed into law in December as part of the National Defense Authorization Act and is set to take effect on October 1, 2020. The Office of Personnel Management is currently working on creating the regulations necessary to implement the new law.

About the Author

Ian Smith is one of the co-founders of FedSmith.com. He has over 20 years of combined experience in media and government services, having worked at two government contracting firms and an online news and web development company prior to his current role at FedSmith.