Summer 2008:

More than half of the corporations in the U.S. currently provide some form of paid parental leave benefit to their employees. Perhaps it is for that reason that people are often surprised to learn that federal employees receive no paid time off to care for their newborn infants or recently adopted children. Instead, they are only permitted to take unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) of 1993, and then use sick leave or annual leave, if available, to continue to be paid while they are out of the office. It is time to provide a paid parental leave benefit to federal employees.