Up next in 10
Two new bills in Congress could give federal employees 12 weeks of paid leave for FMLA situations that are currently unpaid — but the House and Senate versions aren't the same, and what they'd actually change for you depends on benefits you may already be undervaluing.
In this video, we break down both the House bill (H.R. 9261) and the Senate companion bill (S. 5168), compare the key differences between them, and look at what federal employees already have in their leave toolkit — including why using your accrued leave during a medical crisis might be costing you more than you think.
We also take an honest look at the odds of either bill becoming law.
Whether you're a current federal employee, considering federal employment, or nearing retirement, this is one to watch.
📩 Subscribe to our free email list for federal employee news updates: https://www.fedsmith.com/free-email-lists/
📖 Related articles on FedSmith.com:
Federal Employees Could Get 12 Weeks of Paid Leave Under New Senate Bill: https://www.fedsmith.com/2026/07/31/federal-employees-12-weeks-paid-leave-senate-bill/
Could Federal Employees Soon Get Paid FMLA Leave? This Bipartisan Bill Would Make It Happen: https://www.fedsmith.com/2026/06/12/could-federal-employees-soon-get-paid-fmla-leave/
Sick Leave vs. Annual Leave: Which Is More Valuable to Federal Employees in Retirement?: https://www.fedsmith.com/2025/11/17/sick-leave-vs-annual-leave-which-is-more-valuable-to-federal-employees-in-retirement/
Paid Parental Leave Granted to Most Federal Employees: https://www.fedsmith.com/2019/12/13/paid-parental-leave-granted-to-most-federal-employees/
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0:00
Hello everyone, I'm Ian Smith with
0:01
fedsmith.com
0:03
and I'm here to talk to you today about
0:05
two bills that were recently introduced
0:07
in Congress that would significantly
0:09
increase the amount of paid leave given
0:11
to federal employees.
0:13
The Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal
0:15
Employees Act has been introduced in
0:17
both the House and the Senate. One was
0:20
introduced by Congressman Don Beyer in
0:22
June and a companion version was
0:25
introduced more recently in late July by
0:27
Senator Brian Schatz.
0:29
Both bills would give federal employees
0:31
12 weeks of paid leave
0:33
for situations currently covered under
0:36
the Family um and Medical Leave Act.
0:39
That's FMLA.
0:41
And that that's leave that right now is
0:43
unpaid for most qualifying reasons. But
0:47
here's the thing, federal employees
0:49
already have a pretty robust set of
0:51
leave benefits. So in this video, I'll
0:54
break down what these bills would
0:55
actually do, where they differ from one
0:57
another,
0:58
what you already have in terms of leave
1:00
benefits and what gap this would
1:03
realistically fill. I'll also address
1:05
whether each bill has a realistic shot
1:07
of even becoming law. Now before we get
1:09
into the bills, let's do a just a brief
1:11
refresher on FMLA and again that stands
1:13
for the Family and Medical Leave Act.
1:16
FMLA entitles eligible federal employees
1:19
to up to 12 weeks of leave per year for
1:21
qualifying family and medical reasons.
1:24
And those reasons could include a
1:25
serious health condition that prevents
1:27
you from performing your job, caring for
1:30
a spouse, child, or parent with a
1:32
serious health condition, and also
1:33
qualifying situations tied to a family
1:36
member's military deployment. Things
1:38
like arranging child care, handling
1:40
legal and financial affairs during a
1:41
called active duty.
1:43
Here's the key point though, FMLA
1:45
already protects your job. Whether your
1:47
leave is paid or unpaid, you can't be
1:49
fired for taking it. But for most of
1:51
these qualifying reasons, everything
1:53
except parental leave, that leave is
1:55
unpaid. You can substitute your accrued
1:58
sick leave or annual leave during an
2:00
FMLA period, but you're drawing down
2:02
balances that have real financial value,
2:05
which we'll get to in a moment.
2:07
You need at least 12 months of federal
2:08
service to be eligible for FMLA.
2:13
So, what would these bills actually do
2:14
for you? Both the House and Senate
2:16
versions would make all 12 weeks of FMLA
2:19
leave paid. Right now, the only FMLA
2:22
situation that comes with paid leave is
2:24
parental leave for a birth, adoption, or
2:27
foster placement. These bills would
2:29
extend that to the remaining qualifying
2:31
reasons. So, again, your own serious
2:34
illness, caring for an ill family
2:35
member, and military deployment
2:37
situations.
2:39
The paid leave would supplement your
2:40
existing leave balances. You would not
2:43
be required to burn through your accrued
2:44
sick leave or annual leave before using
2:47
it.
2:48
That's a significant detail because, as
2:50
we'll discuss, those accrued balances
2:52
carry real retirement value.
2:54
Both versions require 12 months of
2:56
federal service to qualify, which
2:58
matches the existing FMLA eligibility
3:01
threshold.
3:03
Now, let's talk about where these two
3:05
bills diverge because the differences
3:07
are meaningful. The House version,
3:09
introduced by Congressman Beyer, has
3:11
bipartisan sponsorship. Congressman
3:14
Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican from
3:16
Pennsylvania, is a co-sponsor.
3:19
The Senate version, introduced by
3:20
Senator Schatz,
3:22
has seven co-sponsors, and every one of
3:24
them is a Democrat or caucuses with
3:26
Democrats.
3:27
But, the bigger differences are what's
3:29
in actually covered.
3:32
The House bill explicitly covers leave
3:34
for an employee or family member who is
3:36
a survivor of dating violence, domestic
3:38
violence, sexual assault, sex
3:41
trafficking, or stalking. That could
3:43
include time off to seek medical care,
3:45
legal services, safe housing, or
3:47
counseling. The Senate bill has no
3:49
comparable provision.
3:52
The House bill also covers pregnancy
3:55
loss, an unsuccessful fertility
3:57
treatment cycle, a failed adoption match
3:59
or surrogacy arrangement, and the death
4:01
of death of an infant during the birth
4:03
parents recovery period. Again, the
4:05
Senate bill doesn't address these
4:07
situations.
4:09
And finally, they differ on the work
4:11
obligation requirement. Under the
4:13
existing paid parental leave program,
4:15
you have to agree in writing to return
4:17
to your agency for 12 weeks after using
4:20
the leave. The Senate bill keeps that
4:22
12-week requirement for parental leave,
4:24
but it does not extend it to the newly
4:27
paid categories.
4:28
The House bill takes a different
4:29
approach. It replaces the flat 12-week
4:32
requirement with an obligation equal to
4:35
however much paid leave you actually
4:36
used.
4:37
So, if you use 6 weeks of paid leave,
4:39
your return-to-work obligation would be
4:42
6 weeks.
4:43
Now, before you get too excited about
4:45
these bills, let's take a step back and
4:47
look at some of the benefits federal
4:48
employees already have, because it's a
4:50
lot.
4:52
First, there's paid parental leave.
4:54
Since October of 2020, federal employees
4:56
have been entitled to 12 weeks of paid
4:58
leave for the birth, adoption, or foster
5:00
placement of a child.
5:02
A 2-week paid parental
5:04
bereavement leave benefit was added in
5:06
2022 for the death of a child. So,
5:09
parental situations are already covered
5:11
by paid leave.
5:13
Second, there's sick leave. Federal
5:15
employees accrue sick leave at 4 hours
5:17
per pay period, which is 13 days per
5:20
year,
5:21
and there is no cap on how much you can
5:23
accumulate.
5:24
Over a long career, that balance can
5:26
grow to be quite large. And here's the
5:28
part many employees don't fully
5:30
appreciate until they're closer to
5:31
retirement. Unused sick leave is
5:33
converted into additional creditable
5:35
service time in your annuity
5:37
calculation. That means a substantial
5:40
sick leave balance at retirement can add
5:42
months, or even more than a year,
5:44
perhaps, to your pension calculation.
5:47
And third, there's annual leave. Your
5:50
accrual rate depends on your years of
5:51
service. It ranges from 4 hours per pay
5:54
period for newer employees
5:56
up to 8 hours per pay period or 26 days
5:59
per year after 15 years.
6:02
Most employees can carry over up to 240
6:05
hours into the following year. And
6:07
unlike sick leave, unused annual leave
6:09
is paid out as a lump sum when you
6:11
separate from federal service. So, it's
6:13
a real financial asset. And of course,
6:16
there are 11 paid federal holidays per
6:18
year on top of all of this. So, what
6:20
would actually change for you if one of
6:22
these bills became law? Since paid
6:24
parental leave already exists, the
6:25
practical gap these bills fill is
6:27
everything else. Your own serious
6:29
illness, caring for a seriously ill
6:31
spouse, child, or parent, and military
6:33
deployment situations.
6:36
The House bill would also add coverage
6:37
for domestic violence and
6:38
stalking-related needs, and for
6:40
pregnancy loss and fertility-related
6:42
situations.
6:43
You might be thinking, "I can already
6:46
use my sick leave or annual leave for
6:47
those things." And that's true, you can.
6:50
But supporters of the bill argue that
6:52
substituting accrued leave is not
6:54
cost-free. Drawing down your sick leave
6:57
balance costs you creditable service at
6:59
at retirement. As I said, that is an
7:02
important benefit with respect to
7:05
um computing your retirement annuity.
7:07
Using annual leave costs you money from
7:09
the lump sum payout you'd receive at
7:11
separation. And if you're a newer
7:13
federal employee, you may not have much
7:15
accrued leave to draw on in the first
7:17
place.
7:18
Supporters also point to federal
7:20
workforce data. According to Senator
7:23
Schatz,
7:24
roughly 40% of the federal workforce is
7:26
eligible to retire within the next 3
7:29
years, while only about 6% of federal
7:31
employees are under age 30.
7:34
The sponsors cite research estimating
7:36
paid leave could save the government at
7:38
least $50 million annually in turnover
7:41
and replacement costs.
7:42
Schatz framed it as preventing federal
7:44
workers from having to choose between
7:46
caring for their families and keeping
7:47
their jobs. On the other side, however,
7:50
the critics, including Republican
7:52
members of the House Oversight
7:53
Committee, when earlier versions were
7:55
debated, have argued that federal
7:57
employees already have a generous
7:58
benefits package.
8:00
One argument that has been raised by
8:02
House Oversight Committee Chairman James
8:04
Comer, a Republican from Kentucky,
8:06
is that when you add up all the leave
8:08
categories plus federal holidays, a
8:10
federal employee could theoretically
8:12
only work about 8 months out of the year
8:14
under this legislation.
8:16
That characterization may be an
8:18
oversimplification,
8:20
but it gives you a sense of the
8:21
political headwinds. So, will either of
8:23
these bills actually pass?
8:26
To be honest, probably not, at least not
8:29
in this session of Congress. This
8:31
legislation has been introduced in
8:33
various forms going back to at least
8:35
2021. It's never reached a floor vote in
8:37
either chamber.
8:39
The current Congress is controlled by
8:40
Republicans, and the political appetite
8:42
for expanding federal employee benefits
8:45
has historically been limited on that
8:47
side of the aisle.
8:49
The House version does have one
8:51
Republican sponsor in Brian Fitzpatrick,
8:54
which gives it a bipartisan label, but
8:56
the Senate version doesn't have any
8:57
Republican support at all.
9:00
But, that doesn't mean these bills are
9:01
pointless. Each reintroduction keeps the
9:04
issue on the legislative radar,
9:06
and political dynamics can shift.
9:09
Parental leave itself took years of
9:11
failed attempts before it passed in 2019
9:14
with bipartisan support as part of the
9:16
defense spending bill.
9:18
And that's something that you'll see
9:19
happen a lot, too, is you have these
9:21
separate bills, and then when a big
9:24
uh bill that's considered must-pass
9:26
legislation, like the National Defense
9:29
Authorization Act, comes up, a lot of
9:31
times bills like this can get rolled
9:34
into that. Also, before I close, I
9:36
wanted to get your opinion. I've covered
9:39
these bills in articles I've written
9:41
about them before, and the feedback from
9:43
FedSmith readers was mixed. Some people
9:45
liked the idea, and they were supportive
9:47
of of the extra paid leave, but other
9:50
people said, "I don't think this is a
9:51
good idea. As federal employees, we
9:54
already have a lot of paid benefits and
9:56
paid leave benefits. So, why do we need
9:59
this extra legislation?"
10:01
And some people even said they were
10:03
concerned it might create a negative
10:04
opinion uh or perception of federal
10:07
employees among the public if something
10:08
like this was to become law. So, I
10:11
wanted to put the question to you, our
10:13
YouTube viewers, are you in favor of
10:15
this legislation? Do you think it's a
10:16
good idea or not? Would you like to see
10:19
additional paid leave for federal
10:20
employees? Please let me know in the
10:22
comments.
10:24
We'll continue to track both bills and
10:25
report on any developments. So, for full
10:28
details on everything I've covered
10:29
today, head over to fedsmith.com. We've
10:32
got in-depth articles there on both the
10:34
House and Senate versions, as well as
10:36
many other topics that affect your pay
10:38
and benefits as a current or former
10:40
federal employee.
10:41
I've left links to uh related articles
10:44
in the description with more details, so
10:46
please check those out. Also, while
10:48
you're there on fedsmith.com, you can
10:50
subscribe to our free email list to get
10:52
our latest articles and news updates
10:54
delivered straight to your inbox.
10:56
And if you found this video helpful, I'd
10:57
really appreciate it if you could
10:59
subscribe to our YouTube channel. It
11:01
helps us reach more federal employees
11:03
just like you. Thank you for watching
11:05
and have a good day.
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