Short-Term Disability Coverage Considered

OPM officials have said that the agency is looking into a short-term disability insurance benefit for federal employees, noting that such a benefit is of particular interest to new mothers since the government does not offer paid parental leave. The FECA program offers benefits for long-term disabilities, but only for those whose illnesses or injuries are job-related; in other situations, employees typically combine sick, annual and/or unpaid leave until they are able to return to work. However, such arrangements often are difficult for employees with low balances of paid leave time, either because they are relatively new to the government or because they used up their paid time off for other reasons.