PAID PARENTAL BEREAVEMENT LEAVE
(CT:PER-1114; 12-6-2022)
(OFFICE OF ORIGIN: GTM/ER/WLD)
3 FAM 3491 AUTHORITIES
(CT:PER-1114; 12-6-2022)
(Applies to Foreign Service & Civil Service Employees)
Authorities include:
(1) 5 U.S.C. Section 6329d
(2) National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022
3 FAM 3492 PURPOSE
(CT:PER-1114; 12-6-2022)
(Applies to Foreign Service & Civil Service Employees)
Covered employees may take up to two workweeks (80 hours) of bereavement leave for the loss of a child to be used within a 12-month window that commences on the date of the death of a child.
3 FAM 3493 APPLICABILITY
(CT:PER-1114; 12-6-2022)
(Applies to Foreign Service & Civil Service Employees)
a. The provisions in this subchapter apply to the following employees:
(1) All full-time and part-time employees serving under permanent appointments who have completed at least 12 months of qualifying Federal Government service (not required to be consecutive or at the same agency);
(2) Employees serving under temporary appointments of more than 1 year provided they have completed at least 12 months of qualifying Federal Government service (as defined in 3 FAM 3494), (not required to be consecutive or at the same agency); and
(3) Employees serving on family member appointments who have completed at least 12 months of qualifying Federal Government service, (not required to be consecutive or at the same agency).
b. The provisions in this subchapter do not apply to:
(1) Employees hired under Personal Services Agreements (PSAs), and Personal Services Contracts (PSCs).
(2) Employees with intermittent schedules, including Reemployed Annuitants (REAs).
(3) Employees on temporary appointments of one year or less.
(4) Locally Employed Staff, as defined in 3 FAM 7120.
(5) Employees with a seasonal work schedule during their off-season.
(6) Employees on furlough periods or during periods of suspension or separation from Federal service.
3 FAM 3494 DEFINITIONS
(CT:PER-1114; 12-6-2022)
(Applies to Foreign Service & Civil Service Employees)
Child means a biological, adopted, or foster child; a stepchild; a legal ward; or a child of a person standing in loco parentis who is under 18 years of age, or a child who is 18 years of age or older and incapable of self-care due to a mental or physical disability. Please note that the term “adopted child” includes a child who has been placed with an employee for the purpose of adoption pending finalization of the adoption process.
Employee means the individual is covered under the title 5 annual and sick leave program as defined in 5 U.S.C. 6301(2)) and meets the definition of “employee” in the title 5 FMLA provision in 5 U.S.C 6381 at the time of the child’s death.
Foster care means 24-hour care for children in substitution for, and away from, their parents or guardian. Such placement is made by or with the agreement of the State as a result of a voluntary agreement by the parent or guardian that the child be removed from the home, or pursuant to a judicial determination of the necessity for foster care, and involves agreement between the State and foster family to take the child. Although foster care may be with relatives of the child, State action is involved in the removal of the child from parental custody.
In loco parentis refers to the situation of an individual who has day-to-day responsibility for the care and financial support of a child or, in the case of an employee, who had such responsibility for the employee when the employee was a child. A biological or legal relationship is not necessary.
Intermittent leave or leave taken intermittently means leave taken in separate blocks of time, rather than for one continuous period of time, and may include leave periods of as little as one quarter hour. Intermittent leave schedules must be mutually agreed upon by employee and their supervisor.
Qualifying Federal Government service means service as an employee (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 2105) of the U.S. Government, including service with the United States Postal Service, the Postal Regulatory Commission, and a non-appropriated fund instrumentality as described in 5 U.S.C. 2105(c). This also includes time spent on a temporary appointment of 1 year or less.
3 FAM 3495 LEAVE ENTITLEMENT
(CT:PER-1114; 12-6-2022)
(Applies to Foreign Service and Civil Service Employees)
a. A covered employee may take up to two workweeks (80 hours) of parental bereavement leave due to the death of a child.
(1) The bereavement leave must be used within a 12-month window that commences on the date of the death of a child. For example, if a parent suffers the loss of their child on June 1, 2022, they have until May 31, 2023, to use the two weeks of bereavement leave.
(2) If an additional child or children of an employee die, at a later time during a 12-month period associated with the earlier death of another child of the employee, each later death will result in the commencement of a corresponding 12-month period. For example, if the parent in the example above suffers another loss of an additional child on December 1, 2022, that parent will have until November 30, 2023, to use two weeks of bereavement leave for that death. Thus, an employee may have overlapping 12-month periods. However, there is a limitation to the leave benefit in that an employee may not take more than two workweeks of bereavement leave in any 12-month period. That is, any use of bereavement leave during an overlap period including parts of more than one 12-month period will count against the two-week limit for each affected 12-month period. For example, if the parent in these examples used their bereavement leave from the loss of their first child from June 1 – June 14, 2022, they would not be able to take the two weeks of bereavement leave for their second child’s death until after June 1, 2023 (the end of the overlapping 12-month period) and would have until November 30, 2023, to complete using those two weeks.
b. Parental bereavement leave is a stand-alone paid leave entitlement that is used separately from other leave or time off. It does not affect the accrual or balances of other paid leave or prevent an employee from requesting additional types of leave, as appropriate. For example, employees may still request up to 104 hours of sick leave per 3 FAM 3423 to make arrangements necessitated by the death or to attend the funeral.
c. Once parental bereavement leave begins, it must be used continuously unless there is a mutual agreement between the supervisor and the employee to allow intermittent use. When parental bereavement leave is taken continuously, a holiday or other non-workday is not considered to be an interruption in continuous use and does not count as a day of bereavement leave taken. For employees assigned overseas, this includes local holidays.
d. Stillbirths and miscarriages are not covered under this provision. Employees may apply for accrued or advanced sick or annual leave as well as the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for recovery purposes and/or caring for a spouse with a serious medical condition.
e. Disqualification from the entitlement: An employee is not entitled to parental bereavement leave if the employee is found to have deliberately caused the death of the child. Any parental bereavement leave that was provided to the employee prior to this finding must be retroactively canceled.
f. The two-workweek leave entitlement must be converted to hours based on the number of hours in the employee’s scheduled tour of duty. For example, for a full-time employee scheduled to work 80 hours per biweekly pay period, the hours equivalent of two workweeks is 80 hours.
g. For an employee with an uncommon tour of duty, the hours equivalent of two workweeks is equal to the number of hours in the employee’s biweekly scheduled tour of duty. For example, if an employee has an uncommon tour consisting of six 24-hour shifts (144 hours) per biweekly pay period, the bereavement leave entitlement would be 144 hours.
h. Bereavement leave is paid at the same hourly rate as other paid leave that is not subject to the 8-hour rule governing the inclusion of night pay.
3 FAM 3496 CHANGE IN EMPLOYING AGENCY OR SEPARATION FROM FEDERAL SERVICE
(CT:PER-1114; 12-6-2022)
(Applies to Foreign Service & Civil Service Employees)
a. If an employee transfers between eligible positions (including from one federal agency to another), the parental bereavement leave balance transfers with the employee if they are within the 12-month eligibility period.
(1) If an employee transfers from a different federal agency to the State Department, the Department must determine whether the employee is within the 12-month period and how many hours of bereavement leave remain.
(2) Any agreement between the employee and their previous agency regarding intermittent use of parental bereavement leave is not binding on the State Department.
b. If an employee has an unused bereavement leave balance when they separate from the Department, they lose the right to the unused amount of leave unless they return to an eligible Federal position within the 12-month eligibility period. No cash payment may be made for unused bereavement leave at any time.
c. When the Department prepares a Standard Form 1150, Record of Leave Data, for a transferring employee who is in the middle of a parental bereavement leave 12-month period, it should record in the Remarks section (block 24): a) the start date of the 12-month period and b) the amount of bereavement leave used by the employee (as of the time of transfer).
3 FAM 3497 CHARGING PARENTAL BEREAVEMENT LEAVE: RECORDS AND REPORTING
(CT:PER-1114; 12-6-2022)
(Applies to Foreign Service & Civil Service Employees)
a. The minimum charge for parental bereavement leave is taken in quarter hour increments and additional charges are in multiples thereof.
b. Employees must only use bereavement leave during scheduled hours.
c. Bereavement leave will be reported as administrative leave (XA) until OPM establishes a new leave data element in its Enterprise Human Resources Integration database.
d. The Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services (CGFS) will designate and account for parental bereavement leave under this subchapter as a category of leave separate from all other types of leave.
e. Bereavement leave is requested via a DS-7100 form utilizing the comments section. The employee must provide a written self-certification or other documentation (e.g., death certificate) to verify that the request for bereavement leave is being used for bereavement purposes.
3 FAM 3498 THRU 3 FAM 3499 UNASSIGNED