User:Anwesha.chatterjee04/Federal Employee Paid Leave Act

Introduction
Outside of states with paid family leave programs, paid family leave is not widely available in the United States. As of 2023, 73% of American workers did not have access to an employer-provided paid parental or family caregiving leave benefit, while 59% lacked access to personal medical leave. Furthermore, the benefits are not distributed equally.

With over two million workers nationwide, the federal government is the biggest employer in the United States. Most federal employees did not have access to paid family leave until relatively recently. However, since October 1, 2020, most federal employees became eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for the arrival of a new child, whether through birth, adoption, or foster care.

On December 20, 2019, President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20), which included the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act ("FEPLA"). FEPLA amended the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") (5 U.S.C. § 6382(d)) to allow employees to use up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for childbirth, adoption, or foster care placements. FEPLA does not require an employee to use any accrued annual or sick leave before using paid parental leave ("PPL").

In general, to claim the PPL benefit, the employee must:


 * Be eligible for leave under the FMLA.
 * Not have exhausted the leave available under the FMLA.
 * Follow FMLA notification and documentation requirements —and—
 * Agree in writing to return to work for at least 12 weeks after the PPL concludes.

History of FEPLA
In March 2019, Representative Carolyn Maloney introduced House Resolution 1534, also known as the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act ("FEPLA"), to the House of Representatives along with forty-seven cosponsors forty-five Democrats and two Republicans. FEPLA was introduced to the Senate by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai’i) in 2019. FEPLA proposed amending FMLA to provide twelve weeks of paid family leave for federal employees that fit a certain criterion. In other words, the FEPLA would allow federal employees to receive pay during their FMLA leave.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued an Interim Final Rule to implement FEPLA on August 10, 2020. OPM indicated that it would promulgate a final rule "as soon as practical" after receiving comments on the interim final rule, but a final rule has yet to be issued.

Eligibility under FEPLA
Paid parental leave granted in connection with a qualifying birth or placement under FEPLA replaces unpaid FMLA leave and is available for a 12-month period after the birth or placement. Each parent-employee has a separate 12-workweek entitlement. To be eligible for paid parental leave under FEPLA, a federal employee must be FMLA eligible under 5 U.S.C. 6382(a)(1)(A) or (B) and meet the FMLA eligibility requirements. It does not apply to employees of certain agencies because it is limited to federal employees under standard civil service laws. Employees who claim the PPL benefit must, in general, be at home with the child or otherwise spend time bonding with the child.

Under 5 U.S.C. 6381(a)(1) an employee means an individual who: (A) is an “employee”, as defined by section 6301(2), including any individual employed in a position referred to in clause (ix) of section 6301(2), but excluding any individual employed by the government of the District of Columbia any individual employed on a temporary or intermittent basis, and any employee of the Government Accountability Office or the Library of Congress; and

(B) has completed at least 12 months of service as an employee (as defined in section 2105) of the Government of the United States, including service with the United States Postal Service, the Postal Regulatory Commission, and a nonappropriated fund instrumentality as described in section 2105(c); Federal employees with at least 12 months of service are eligible for family and medical leave under the FMLA. Employees in the National Guard or Reserves can count active-duty service toward their 12-month service requirement, but past military service is not considered. FEPLA does not apply to employees of the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Aviation Administration, medical personnel of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and certain employees of the Transportation Security Administration.

To request paid parental leave, an employee must notify his or her employing agency of her or his intent to use FMLA leave at least 30 days before the expected leave date and employees must provide documentation that directly relates to a birth or placement. In general, an employee must notify the employer of their decision to substitute PPL for unpaid leave before paid leave begins. Examples of appropriate documentation are listed below :


 * 1) Childbirth: birth certificate, document naming employee as second parent, appropriate court documents such as declaration of paternity or order of filiation, consular report of birth abroad, documents from child’s healthcare provider, hospital documents regarding childbirth
 * 2) Adoption: documents from adoption agency confirming placement and date of placement, letter from birth parents confirming adoption, immigrant visa issued by USCIS, adoptive placement agreement.
 * 3) Foster care:  foster care placement record, other documentation from the foster care agency confirming the placement and date of placement, foster care placement letter issued by the relevant local department of social services or authorized voluntary foster care agency.

FEPLA Considerations

 * 1) FMLA Entitlement : The Act only allows federal employees to receive pay during their 12 weeks of FMLA leave, without providing additional leave time. The PPL benefit is only available after a child is born and must be claimed concurrently with FMLA-protected leave within the same 12-month period. If the employee used a portion of his or her entitlement before the birth of a new child within the 12-month period, he or she can only claim the PPL benefit for the remaining portion. For example, if the employee took two weeks of FMLA-protected unpaid leave for a serious health condition, she would have 10 weeks left on her FMLA entitlement when the child arrived, and she could then use up to 10 weeks of the PPL benefit in the remaining time.
 * 2) Return to work agreement : Federal employees must guarantee in writing that they will continue to work for their agencies for at least 12 weeks after the end of paid parental leave. If an employee does not return to work for the required 12 weeks, the employing agency "may" (but is not required to) recover from the employee an amount equal to the total amount of Government contributions paid by the agency under 5 U.S.C. 8906 on behalf of the employee to maintain the employee's health insurance coverage during the period of paid parental leave.
 * 3) It is important to remember that FEPLA does not provide a private right of action for federal employees or waive the federal government’s sovereign immunity.

Agency and Employee Responses to FEPLA
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) explained that qualitative benefits include more time for bonding between parent and child, better health for the birth mother and child, preservation of annual and sick leave balances for future family needs, and a positive impact on the US economy by addressing women's declining labor force participation.

According to the OPM 2022 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, approximately 4% of federal employees from surveyed agencies used PPL between October 1, 2020, and the date they responded to the survey. Among the estimated 4% who used PPL, 81% took the entire 12 weeks of paid leave. Those who used less could choose from a variety of reasons, with the top three reported reasons being employee concerns about being away from their job responsibilities for 12 weeks (57%), employee concerns about the impact of using the leave on career advancement (29%), and the employee did not require the full 12 weeks (29%).

= Criticism of FEPLA = Critics say that despite FEPLA's symbolic and practical victory, there is still plenty of room for additional family protections for American workers. For example, Democrats failed to secure paid family and medical leave for all federal employees. This would have included paid time off to care for a spouse, child, or parent suffering from a serious medical condition. Employees would have been able to take paid time off to care for themselves if they had a serious health condition. Nonetheless, the FEPLA represents a significant step in the right direction.

Critics further remarked even though FEPLA is an important step toward ensuring workplace equality for new parents, its coverage has not been as successful as hoped. Unfortunately, "tens of thousands of federal employees aren't covered under the new paid parental leave law" because it does not include "federal employees who aren't covered by Title 5".