Take Action to Support Paid Family Leave for Federal Employees

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This week, the Senate is likely to vote on legislation that would include paid family leave for federal employees in the National Defense Authorization Act. We need you to share your thoughts with Senators right now!

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) already passed the House with bipartisan support. It includes FEPLA, the Federal Employees Paid Leave Act. The Act is now in conference committee where a group of senators and representatives will determine which pieces to keep from the House and Senate versions.

Today or tomorrow, Senator Schatz is expected to introduce a motion to include FEPLA in the conference agreement. There may also be a separate motion asking the conference committee to focus on comp time and tax incentives instead of a paid family leave program. These tax incentives don’t encourage new businesses to provide paid family leave, however – they usually just go towards businesses that already have it.

Please call, email, and tweet at your Senators to share your thoughts. Specifically, we urge you to ask your Senators to support FEPLA. The federal government is our nation’s largest employer, and FEPLA would ensure that 2 million workers and their families now have access to time to care for their loved ones during serious injury or illness.

Here are some sample tweets. You can also use these as sample scripts for calling your Senator (202-224-3121 reaches the Congressional Switchboard):

@Senator -- The lack of paid leave puts a huge burden on federal workers, which impacts their job performance and creates higher rates of turnover. Paid leave would improve the functioning of our federal government and the lives of our nation’s public servants. Vote yes on the Schatz MTI! #paidleave4all

@Senator --, the FEPLA provision was fully paid for in the House-passed NDAA, & has a minimal cost compared to the huge benefits to our country. Thank you for supporting our 2 million federal workers - they deserve paid family and medical leave. They care for us every day! Vote yes on the Schatz MTI!

@Senator-, tax incentives don’t increase access to paid leave. They subsidize large companies that already provide paid leave. Small businesses can’t afford to provide paid leave on their own, and they say tax incentives don’t make up the gap. Please support the Schatz MTI in this critical vote!

@Senator --, we're watching how you vote on the FEPLA instructions in the NDAA! We urge you to remember that comp time is not the same as paid leave. Vote YES on the Schatz MTI, vote yes for America's families. #paidleave4all.

Click here to read the letter of support from nearly 100 organizations.

Thank you for taking action today!

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