A Plea for Paid Parental Leave

OPM is working on how to design the benefit, she said, and estimated the insurance would cost an employee about $40 per pay period. Kichak said this kind of program would be attractive to a broad range of employees because it would provide income when they could not work because of non-job-related accidents, illnesses and childbirth.

Costantino, who works for the Health and Human Services Department, said her supervisors did everything permitted by law to help her cope with the premature arrival of her sons, who she said are healthy and active.

She had accrued enough leave to take off for two months with pay, she said, noting that taking unpaid leave under the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act was not an option for her family financially.

The twins have required a substantial amount of follow-up care, including three surgeries, Costantino said. Paid parental leave becomes even more critical if a child requires follow-up care, she said.

Asked by Davis whether the legislation proposing eight weeks of paid parental leave would have led her to make different decisions, Costantino responded with a "yes."

She would have used paid leave to be with her sons in intensive care, and her accrued leave to be with them after they came home, she said.

In other words, she would not have been forced to make a choice.

Talk Shows

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) will be the guest on "Inside Government," sponsored by the American Federation of Government Employees, at 10 a.m. today on FederalNewsRadio.com and WFED radio (1050 AM).

Art Gordon, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, and Jon Adler, the group's executive vice president, will be the guests on "FedTalk" at 11 a.m. today on FederalNewsRadio.com and WFED radio (1050 AM).

Francis C. Spampinato Jr., chief acquisition officer at the Energy Department, will be the guest on the IBM "Business of Government Hour" at 9 a.m. Saturday on WJFK radio (106.7 FM).