MEDIA ADVISORY:
JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE AND HOUSE FEDERAL WORKFORCE SUBCOMMITEE TO WEIGH BENEFITS OF PAID PARENTAL LEAVE FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
Joint Economic Committee and House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce to Explore the Benefits of Paid Parental Leave and Highlight Federal Government’s Competitive Disadvantage in Not Offering this Benefit
Washington, D.C. – Joint Economic Vice Chair Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) and Chairman Danny K. Davis (D-IL), Subcommittee of Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia will hold a hearing examining the merits of the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2007 (HR 3799) on Thursday, March 6, 2008 at 9:30am. The Hearing, entitled “Investing in the Future of the Federal Workforce: Paid Parental Leave to Improve Recruitment and Retention,” will highlight the benefits of providing all federal employees with eight weeks of full pay for leave taken for the birth or adoption of a child. Currently, the federal government only provides employees with access to 12 weeks of unpaid leave through the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, which many workers cannot afford to take. Witnesses will include representatives from the federal government, leading policy analysts specializing in paid family and medical leave, unions that represent federal workers, and an employee who will recount the challenges she has faced because of the unpaid leave policy currently in place.
WHAT: Joint Economic Committee and House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia Hearing “Investing in the Future of the Federal Workforce: Paid Parental Leave Improves Recruitment and Retention”
WHEN: Thursday, March 6, 2008 – 9:30 am
WHERE: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2154
WHO: Panel I:
Dr. Daniel Beard, Chief Administrative Officer, U.S. House of Representatives
Ms. Nancy Kichak, Associate Director for Strategic Human Resources Policy, U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Panel II:
Dr. Jane Waldfogel, Professor of Social Work, Columbia University
Ms. Sharyn Tejani, Senior Policy Counsel, National Partnership for Women & Families
Dr. Vicky Lovell, Director of Employment and Work/Life Programs, The Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Panel III:
Ms. Colleen Kelley, President, National Treasury Employees Union
Ms. Mary Jean Burke, First Executive Vice-President, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIOMs.
Amy Costantino, Federal Employee, Washington, D.C.
The Joint Economic Committee, established under the Employment Act of 1946, was created by Congress to review economic conditions and to analyze the effectiveness of economic policy.
###
