Leave Memo Both Less, More Than It Appears

A White House memo telling agencies to grant employees up to 30 days of advanced sick leave for certain child-related purposes goes farther in some ways and not as far in others than has been reported by online and print publications not especially well versed in federal employee benefit matters. The memo does not create new paid leave; employees have been allowed to use sick leave (and annual leave) for purposes related to pregnancy, childbirth and adoption under long-standing policy. Also, authority for agencies to grant advanced sick leave for such purposes is not new also has been allowed all along; so has the authority mentioned in the memo to advance annual leave specifically for foster care placement in an employee’s home or to bond with a healthy newborn or newly adopted child. What is different is that under traditional practice, grants of advance leave have been subject to agency discretion. The memo essentially makes advanced leave mandatory when an employee makes a request for those specified purposes, regardless of the person’s current leave balance, except in rare cases where law would prevent it. The sick leave advancement policy primarily will benefit those with relatively short federal service: full-time employees get 13 days of sick leave per year with no limit on accumulation and many build upenough after only a few years that they would not need advanced leave. Also, the sick leave advancement policy goes farther than has been reported by some in that it covers all situations in which advance sick leave has been at an agency’s discretion, not just those related to a new child.