By Stephen Barr
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Federal employee benefits include medical insurance, life insurance and long-term care insurance -- but not short-term disability insurance.

That missing link rarely gets much attention, in large part because most federal employees have built up enough sick leave and vacation time to cover ailments and injuries that require modest time off. New employees, though, may be short on paid leave.

To close the benefits gap, the Office of Personnel Management submitted a proposal to Congress this month calling for a short-term disability insurance program that would provide coverage on a voluntary basis and with premiums paid by the employees, not the government.

"We believe this proposal will make the federal government more competitive in the employment marketplace by allowing employees the opportunity to enhance their financial protections whether due to planned maternity or due to unexpected illness or injury," Linda M. Springer, OPM director, wrote in a letter to Congress.

The OPM proposal provides an alternative to legislation that would provide federal employees with eight weeks of paid parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) has championed paid parental leave, and Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) have proposed providing paid family leave to workers of the nation's largest employers and the government.

At a hearing this month on parental leave, Nancy H. Kichak, an OPM associate director, said the OPM's proposal offered a more comprehensive approach that would make it more attractive to employees.

The OPM has not designed a specific short-term disability benefit, she said. The agency will review benefits offered by companies, such as replacing 60 percent of an employee's wages for up to 12 weeks. Federal employees would pay about $1,000 annually for that coverage, she estimated.

Private-sector disability benefits vary in coverage and cost. Many cover workers for up to 26 weeks, though the duration of benefits can range from 13 to 52 weeks. Premiums may be linked to an employee's salary and may involve waiting periods before benefits can be collected.

The OPM's proposal is in keeping with a model established by the agency earlier for federal long-term care insurance and federal dental and visions benefits: Employees pay for the costs of the benefits that are provided through contracts that the OPM has negotiated with insurance companies.

The premiums are based on group coverage, which keeps costs down, according to the OPM.

It appears unlikely that the OPM proposal can make it through Congress soon because Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), chairman of the House federal workforce subcommittee, said he plans to order a study on disability benefits.

Davis said he will add an amendment to Maloney's bill that would direct the Government Accountability Office to study the feasibility of providing disability benefits to federal employees and analyze disability benefits currently offered by state and local governments and the private sector.

With demand for passports rising, the Government Printing Office has announced plans to build a plant in Mississippi to produce blank passport books.

The GPO has been making passport books for the State Department since the 1920s. Last year, it produced about 20 million blue-cover books, with the most recent version including an electronic chip embedded in the cover that contains the information printed in the passport, such as name and date of birth.

The agency's main production facility is in Washington, and the State Department had requested a secure production site for blank passports outside the Washington area. The GPO, with assistance from the Army Corps of Engineers, will renovate about 80,000 square feet in a vacant building on the grounds of Stennis Space Center.

The new plant is scheduled to open this spring and will create more than 50 federal jobs in the Gulf Coast region, the GPO said.

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.