As the Biden administration pushes for the government to be a \u201cmodel employer,\u201d inclusive and able to recruit competitively, lawmakers say they\u2019re concerned that not enough federal employees are taking advantage of an important workplace benefit: paid family leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a letter to Kiran Ahuja, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, more than a dozen Democratic, Republican and Independent lawmakers urged the agency to update websites, handbooks and fact sheets on parental leave, which are nearly a decade old and make no mention of changes that vastly expanded paid leave for the workforce that went into effect in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 4% took advantage of the benefit from 2020 to 2022, a percentage point higher than OPM forecasted, according to the Government Accountability Office. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlthough OPM plans to have the guidance updated \u2018by the end of 2024,\u2019 we stress that as [the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act] has now passed its fourth anniversary of enactment, this deadline should be seen as a floor and not a ceiling,\u201d wrote Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., alongside members of the House<\/a> and Senate<\/a> Paid Family Leave Working Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\t