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NARFE Joins Congressional Leaders in Supporting PaidParental Leave for Federal Employees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jessica Klement
January 26, 2015 703-838-7760
  jklement@narfe.org


Alexandria, VA – Today, U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-NY, reintroduced the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act (FEPPLA), which would provide six weeks of paid leave to federal employees for the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child. Richard G. Thissen, National President of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), will join Maloney and other congressional leaders at a press conference today at the U.S. Capitol in supporting the legislation.

“More and more private employers around the world are offering parents paid time off so they can take care of their newborns. However, America is the only industrialized nation whose civil service employees do not receive a single week of paid parental leave after the birth or adoption of a child,” Thissen said.

“With more than half of private-sector employers offering paid parental leave in this country, federal agencies can’t compete with the private sector for talented younger workers who, if electing federal employment, would have to use accrued vacation or sick time, which may be only a few days, or forgo pay in order to take time off after the birth of a child. This is a big problem for federal agencies facing a substantial retirement wave. With only 7 percent of federal employees currently under age 30 and with more than 30 percent of the federal workforce eligible to retire in the next three years, the government must offer comparable benefits to compete with the private sector for top talent,” Thissen continued.

“I thank Congresswoman Maloney and all the members of Congress here today for their leadership on this issue,” Thissen said. “NARFE urges Congress to support federal employees by affording them paid parental leave. According to the Congressional Budget Office, passage of this legislation would not increase the federal budget deficit. This commonsense piece of legislation should be acted on swiftly to enact paid parental leave for federal employees into law,” Thissen concluded.

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The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), one of America’s oldest and largest associations, was founded in 1921 with the mission of protecting the earned rights and benefits of America’s active and retired federal workers. The largest federal employee/retiree organization, NARFE represents the interests of nearly five million current and future federal annuitants, spouses and survivors.