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Friday, Jan. 1, 2021

Did US government employees gain new parental paid-leave benefits in 2020?

Mia Dillon, Gigafact Foundry
yes

Defense appropriations legislation for fiscal 2020, as signed by President Trump, included new provisions granting federal employees up to 12 weeks of paid leave following the birth, fostering or adoption of a new child. The leave became available to both men and women in October. Previously, federal employees only had the right to 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave.

Outside the federal government, paid parental leave is available to about 35% of all U.S. employees, according to a 2019 survey by KFF, a health-news and research group. Forty affluent countries mandate some form of paid parental leave.

In his Feb. 4 State of the Union address, President Trump lauded the added federal benefits and called on Congress to pass pending legislation offering advance tax credits for all new parents. That measure hasn't progressed.

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