Paid parental leave (PPL)
TTS has paid parental leave (PPL) for the birth or placement (adoption or foster care) of a child.
About PPL
- You are entitled to 12 weeks of paid time off for the birth, adoption or placement of a new child. It can be taken all at once or intermittently. (Supervisor approval is needed for the intermittent option).
- You must use the PPL within a year of the child’s birth or placement
- You need to have been a federal employee for 12 months in order to access Paid Parental Leave (note: most veterans are immediately eligible). If you are a new federal employee, check out the , external,TTS-only, recommendations for those who have less than 1 year of federal service.
- You need to be approved for PPL before being able to use it.
- You will need to sign an agreement, stating that you will return to work for at least 12 weeks after your final day on PPL.
- The 12 week agreement is in place regardless of how many weeks of PPL you take. If you take PPL intermittently, the 12 week period still begins after your final day of PPL, even if you have been working in between periods of PPL.
- GSA implements PPL via Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave. If you previously used FMLA within the past 12 months of your parental leave period, those hours would be subtracted from the 12 weeks you can take for PPL.
Using PPL
Intermittent PPL
You do not need to take all 12 weeks at once; you can space the leave out for up to one year after your child’s birth or placement. You can take the leave full-time or have a reduced work schedule. Talk with your supervisor about taking intermittent leave, as it requires supervisor approval.
Combining paid parental leave with other leave
Other paid leave
You can also use annual, award, and sick leave for parental leave reasons. This includes advanced annual and sick leave, as well as the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP). We highly recommend you talk with your , external,TTS-only, Workforce Relations HR Specialist about recommended ways to combine leave types.
Unpaid leave
You can request Leave Without Pay (LWOP) of less than four weeks at any time, if you want to extend your parental leave.
Requesting paid parental leave
Prior to birth/placement
To request PPL, you’ll need to email the following items to your , external,TTS-only, Workforce Relations HR Specialist:
- The , external,TTS-only, Paid Parental Leave Request and the Paid Parental Leave Service Agreement form PDFs.
- You can use Docusign templates for Paid Parental Leave to fill out the forms and request the right signatures.
- A timesheet report for the last 12 months.
Your Workforce Relations HR Specialist reviews your forms and may request more information.
After birth/placement
To use your PPL, you must submit documentation about the birth or placement of your child:
- Send a message (email, text, call, or Slack) to your , external,TTS-only, Workforce Relations HR Specialist, letting them know the date of birth/placement.
- Send supporting documentation to show childbirth, adoption, or foster placement to your , external,TTS-only, Workforce Relations HR Specialist.
Birth-supporting documentation
You’ll need a medical note from your doctor. The medical note will be used as a supporting document for PPL, as well as Advanced Sick Leave and/or VLTP if you are using them.
The medical note should include:
- Date of birth
- Diagnosis
- Prognosis
- Duration - The duration of time for care (how long will the parent and/or child need medical care? 6 weeks? 8 weeks?)
Placement-supporting documentation
Your Workforce Relations HR Specialist can advise which type of official paperwork needed, in order to complete your PPL request for adoption or foster care placement.
Submitting paid parental leave requests in HR Links
After your Workforce Relations HR Specialist reviews your supporting documentation, you will see a new leave option in HR Links called Paid Parental Lv Birth Balance.
You will submit a leave request, using the same general steps that you use for annual and sick leave. There is also step-by-step HR Links guidance on , external,TTS-only, how to enter paid parental leave requests. Your supervisor can also enter in your leave hours.
If you needed to use other leave before PPL appeared in HR Links, you can always , external,TTS-only, amend your timesheet.
