Hello,

As many of you know on December 20, 2019, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020, the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA) amended the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to grant federal government employees up to 12 weeks of paid time off for the birth, adoption or foster of a new child. However this does not go into effect until October 1st, 2020.

I am a six year Federal employee for the Department of Justice, working for the Federal Bureau of Prisons as a Correctional Officer. I am currently 7.5 months pregnant due with my first child in July 2020. The father of my child unexpectedly passed away in December 2019. At that time I not only lost my significant other and father of my child but my home as well due to financial struggles.

I exhausted all of my accrued paid leave during that devastating time,  and I am now forced to take FMLA leave without pay during the birth and care of my child. As I am still dealing with all of the trauma from my situation, the last thing I need to worry about is not having any income coming in when my baby arrives.

I strongly feel it is only right for ALL Federal Employees who fall into the category as originally mentioned above to receive retroactive pay from the day this law was signed into effect on December, 20th 2019 through October 1st, 2020.

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/benefits/2020/05/house-democrats-call-for-retroactive-expansion-of-paid-parental-leave-to-federal-employees/