Maternal/paternal leave for feds?
For many working parents, scraping together leave and money for maternal and paternal leave is one of the more difficult tasks of bringing a child home. As many federal employees find out the hard way, the voluntary leave transfer program (VLTP) is the only practical way to get enough paid leave to cover the the 3 or so months that it takes to get the child and parents ready for daycare, and it’s rare that people get more than a few days of donated leave. We’ve certainly witnessed coworkers forced to put their infants into daycare at 6 weeks to keep the paychecks coming, and this can be hard on both the babies and parents, especially given the number of viruses floating around the average daycare facility. It’s questionable whether these stressed out, sleep deprived, and sick workers benefit the government.
Today, the House of Representatives voted 278 to 146 to provide federal employees with four weeks of paid parental leave. Senator Jim Webb has introduced corresponding legislation in the Senate. However, it’s possible that the White House may veto the legislation due the assumed cost, which is in excess of $100 million per year. In times of tight budgets, that amount of money is not a small amount to ask taxpayers to pay. On the other hand, providing parental leave similar to that offered by some companies in the private sector can be a good recruiting and retention benefit that can result in improved productivity (which is one reason the corporations offer the benefit).
