A group of House Democrats on Tuesday introduced a bill that would require the federal government to offer employees 12 weeks of paid family leave.
The bill was introduced by Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Representatives Jennifer Wexton and Don Beyer, and it would allow men and women to take paid leave after the birth, adoption or fostering of a child, as well as to take care of a spouse or parent suffering from a serious health condition.
Supporters of the measure say it is necessary to make the government more competitive in hiring since many of the private companies already offer more extensive benefits and childcare can be costly.
“Currently, employees in the federal government are required to take unpaid parental leave, often exhausting the vacation and sick leave they have to get the time they need for their newborns or newly adopted children,” said Hoyer.
He added that the United States and Papua New Guinea are the only two nations that do not offer paid family leave, and stressed that by passing the bill, the U.S. would “join other countries who value families.”
Hoyer’s office said the bill would affect more than 2 million federal workers, who today have only unpaid leave, The Washington Examiner reports.
For now, no Republicans have supported the bill, but Maloney is hopeful it will get bipartisan support. She will send the bill, knowns as Federal Employee Paid Leave Act, or FEPLA, to Ivanka Trump, who has previously called for such reforms.
“It’s a win-win situation and it’s also one of the policies the president spoke of in his State of the Union – he spoke of paid family leave,” Maloney told reporters. “So, let’s help him keep at least one promise and pass this bill.”
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