The letter from the paid family leave working groups in both the House and Senate, noted that the benefit became available more than three years ago. Image: Inked Pixels/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA bipartisan group of members of Congress has urged OPM to move quickly to improve the information it provides regarding the federal employee paid parental leave benefit, in light of a GAO report finding that some information from OPM and from individual agencies it reviewed is outdated.
The letter from the paid family leave working groups in both the House and Senate, noted that the benefit became available more than three years ago, in October 2020, under the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act. However, it noted that the GAO report “detailed that perhaps the most important communication channels, the public-facing webpages of the selected agencies, ‘did not reflect current paid parental leave policies.”
“The report also found that OPM’s Leave Administration webpage is out of date as well. Even worse, the page includes a handbook on paid leave that is nearly a decade out of date and no fact sheets on FEPLA,” the members wrote. “We are deeply concerned that when asked about this, OPM officials said they had not completed updating the Handbook on Leave and Workplace Flexibilities for Childbirth, Adoption, and Foster Care because ‘they had competing priorities and limited staff available.’”
“In our view, this explanation is inadequate to justify this long delay, and it is essential that OPM prioritize updating its handbook,” they wrote, noting data in the report that 55 percent of federal employees under age 40 view paid parental leave as a reason to remain in the government.
While OPM told GAO that it plans to put out updated guidance by the end of this year, they said that “should be seen as a floor and not a ceiling” for updating the information and asked for a status update by July 31.
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