Does the federal government offer maternity benefits?
Or paternity benefits? The answer is no — it’s one of the few places the federal government lags behind industry, at least for white collar professionals. However, you can piece together a maternity leave using a few approaches:
- Save up your sick leave. Federal sick leave accumulates at 4 hours per biweekly pay period, so you can steadily save up enough to cover a few weeks. But don’t use up all of your sick leave if you can, as babies get a lot of colds as they tune up their immature immune systems.
- Take advantage of the Family Medical Leave Act, which can give you up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Sometimes only 6 weeks will be offered, but a note from a sympathetic doctor can help.
- Sign up for the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program. This lets coworkers who have excess annual leave transfer like “use it or lose it” leave to it transfer it to you as sick leave. In the application be sure to describe what you are going to use the leave for, as many donors will be strangers.
If your clock isn’t ticking, there may be help arriving. Recently, a subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved a bill that will allow four weeks of paid leave for birth or adoption of a child.
