Tucked inside of recently introduced legislation is a clause that would offer paid parental leave to employees of the US Postal Service (USPS).
The bill is known as the Postal Service Improvement Act (H.R. 3077) and was introduced in the House this week by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).
A press release about the legislation says that it will “help the Postal Service more efficiently and effectively manage mail-in ballots in federal elections by requiring all mail-in ballots to include a Postal Service trackable barcode and other stylistic requirements to make ballots easier to sort and track.”
However, a section is also included in the bill that would give 12 weeks of paid parental leave to Postal Service employees and Postal Regulatory Commission employees.
Maloney notes this in a statement about the bill, saying that it will “…create equity for postal employees by giving them access to 12 weeks of paid parental leave.”
She added, “These provisions will make the Postal Service more effective and help attract employees who want to build a career in public service.”
Maloney has been an advocate of paid parental leave for federal employees, a benefit that recently came to fruition as part of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. However, Postal Service employees are excluded from the current benefit, something she hopes to change through the new legislation to expand the benefit to more of the federal workforce.
Maloney is also the co-sponsor of another recently introduced bill in the House that would expand parental leave for members of the military.
