Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Carol Miller (R-WV) led a group of bipartisan members in the House last week introducing H.R. 5885, the Federal Employee Parental Leave Technical Correction Act, to ensure more federal employees receive 12 weeks of paid leave for the birth, adoption, or fostering of a child.
In December 2019, Congress passed and the President signed the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act with language based on Chairwoman Maloney’s H.R. 1534, the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act, to provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave to federal employees but the measure didn’t cover everyone employed on full-time basis by the federal government.
The new H.R. 5885 would remedy this, and is a companion bill to one introduced by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) last year.
The Federal Employee Parental Leave Technical Correction Act would add employees who, because of statutory framing, were inadvertently not included, specifically:
- Federal Aviation Administration employees;
- Certain Veterans Affairs (VA) employees;
- District of Columbia Courts and Public Defender Services employees;
- Employees of the Executive Office of the President and White House employees;
- Employees who work as health providers at the VA;
- Non-screener personnel at the Transportation Security Administration; and
- Article I judges, including bankruptcy and magistrate judges.
The bill is supported by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union, and National Active and Retired Federal Employees.
To read the full text of the legislation, click here.
