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By: Reg JonesLast week I pointed out that the allowable uses of sick leave have expanded over the years. Now I want to go into more detail about two of those uses, which may surprise you.
Childbirth
If you are a federal employee who gives birth to a child, you are entitled to use your accrued sick leave for medical appointments, hospitalization, and a period of recuperation following your child’s birth. If you are the child’s father, you can take up to 12 weeks of accrued sick leave each year to accompany the birth mother to prenatal appointments, to be with her during her hospitalization, and/or to care for her during her recovery.
To take advantage of this benefit, all you need to do is provide your supervisor with evidence of the pregnancy and subsequent incapacitation.
After the child is born you can use up to 12 weeks of accrued sick leave each year to care for your child if he or she has a serious health condition. Further, each of you can use up to 13 days of that 12-week period to care for your unwell child or to go with the child to medical, dental or optical appointments. Note: Your agency may ask for evidence of your child’s illness or treatment.
If you don’t have enough sick leave to cover all the time you need to take off, you can ask your agency to advance you sick leave for the purposes mentioned above. In general, the maximum sick leave your agency can advance you is the amount you would earn between the time you request it and the end of the leave year.
If you run out of sick leave, you can apply for donated sick leave under your agency’s voluntary leave transfer or leave bank program. However, donated leave may only be used for a medical emergency.
Adoption
If you are adopting a child, you can use your accrued sick leave for matters relating to that adoption, such as appointments with an adoption agency, social workers and attorneys, court proceedings, required travel and any periods of time when you are required to care for your adopted child.
While your agency may require acceptable evidence of the need for you to use that sick leave, there is no limit on the amount of accrued sick leave you can use for adoption purposes.
On the other hand, if you don’t have enough sick leave, you can ask your agency to advance you some. The rules for advanced leave are the same as those for childbirth.
For either childbirth or adoption, you may not use sick leave to bond with a newborn or care for a healthy child. However, with supervisory approval, you can use annual leave or leave-without-pay (LWOP) for those purposes.
Note: A paid parental leave entitlement took effect in 2020, allowing employees to take up to 12 weeks of leave at their regular pay rates in situations where the Family and Medical Leave Act previously allowed only unpaid leave, on the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child. (Using paid parental leave time reduces the available unpaid time per year under the FMLA for other purposes, such as certain personal or family health conditions.)
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See also,
Calculating Service Credit for Sick Leave At Retirement
FERS Supplement vs The 10% Pension Bonus
How Your FERS, Social Security and TSP Payments Get Taxed
