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Washington, D.C.—The reality of widespread paid parental leave took an important step forward today with the markup by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee of a measure that would provide federal employees with four weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. H.R. 626 now moves to the House floor.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), who has been a leader in the effort to establish this benefit in the federal sector, welcomed the committee’s action, and said it would help establish the federal government as a model employer.

“Not only would this have a positive impact on federal employees and improve the competitive position of agencies in their recruitment and retention efforts,” Kelley said, “the strong likelihood is that it would result in an expansion of its use in the private sector as well.”

Already, many leading U.S. companies offer paid parental leave; in addition, a Columbia University study found that 128 countries provide an average of 16 weeks of paid leave annually.

President Kelley added: “A proper work-life balance is widely-recognized as being vital to employees and employers alike, both public and private. Paid parental leave would go a long way toward alleviating the many problems caused by an employee having to choose between his or her paycheck and their family responsibilities.”

In previous testimony on the issue, the NTEU leader has presented stories about the hardships caused employees because of the lack of paid time off. More than a dozen NTEU members attended the markup to show their support for the bill.

Under the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)—a measure strongly supported by NTEU—employees may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a number of reasons, including the birth or adoption of a child. The bill the House committee marked up today would allow those caring for a newborn or adopted child to combine their paid and FMLA leave.

The bipartisan H.R. 626 was introduced by Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Frank Wolf (R-Va.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) President Kelley said NTEU will press for approval of that measure by the full House, as well as pursuing approval of a companion measure, S. 354, in the Senate, introduced by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.).

Establishment of paid parental leave was among a variety of recommendations intended to improve the federal workplace provided by NTEU to the incoming Obama administration.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.