A paid leave incentive hidden deep in the $1.9 trillion COVID Aid Bill that promises to compensate government employees to stay home if at least one of their children attends a school that has not returned to full-time in-person service.
The U.S. House posted the Albatross 591-page document over the weekend. It is a first draft version of the "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021," which contains a $1.9 trillion emergency aid package to help America recover from the coronavirus pandemic and a unique government employee benefit is sure to draw fire from conservatives.
Currently, the amendment moves through Congress, but since its presentation in the House last Friday, it has been roundly criticized by Republicans as unnecessary and loaded with "bailouts, pork, and unrelated policy changes."
Meanwhile, it is essential to note that The "Emergency Federal Employee Leave Fund," illustrated on page 305 of the House version of the bill, supports the initiative. As stated, $570 million scheduled to be deposited into the fund is to keep government employees because of the pandemic who care for themselves or those "unable to work."
What does COVID Aid Bill offer to government employees?
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, federal employees already have up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. (A law enacted in 2019 gives most federal workers up to 12 weeks of paid leave for the birth, foster placement, or adoption of a new child-what the sponsors report is 2.1 million federal employees.)
Now with COVID Aid Bill, those federal employees who are "caring for a son or daughter" out of school due to COVID-19 precautions are among those eligible for the increased paid leave.
What's more, for the employee to obtain the paid leave payment, the school need not be entirely closed to in-person teaching. Instead, the school requires some form of instruction other than full-time, in-person education to "make optional" This is what the text of the bill states, specifically:
"Amounts in the Fund shall be available for payment to an agency for the use of paid leave by any employee of the agency who is unable to work because the employee ... is caring for a son or daughter of such employee if the school or place of care of the son or daughter has been closed, if the school of such son or daughter requires or makes optional a virtual learning instruction model or requires or makes optional a hybrid of in-person and virtual learning instruction models, or the child care provider of such son or daughter is unavailable, due to COVID-19 precautions."
A simple estimate reveals that, under the recommended measure, federal workers will earn up to $21,000 in paid leave because under the currently drafted bill, full-time federal employees can take up to 600 hours in paid leave of up to $35 an hour until September 30. That's 15 weeks for a 40-hour employee. Part-time and 'seasonal' employees are eligible, too, with equivalent hours established by their agency.
With all that being said, the measure is labeled "a personal bailout for democrats" by the critics.
