What is paternity leave at the USAO like for new hires? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I just had a final round interview with the US Attorney for an AUSA position. I expect an offer to come soon.

I also happen to be expecting a child in November, which is awkward timing. My current job offers 4 weeks of paid leave through state disability.

Should I aim to start at the USAO after I return from leave? Alternatively, I could just start at the USAO (I'll probably get through the background check around early October?) and then go on parental leave whenever my wife gives birth. Does the federal government have leave?

Any considerations that should factor into my decision? Is it a bad look to go out on leave in the first year?

[Anonymous User]

You’re kind of screwed. The feds implemented parental leave a few years ago (Google federal paid parental leave) but it’s a form of FMLA and to access it, you have to have worked at least 12 months in a qualifying job. So you won’t be eligible for it.

On top of that, you accrue leave as you work - that is, you get paid X amount of hours per bi-weekly pay period (for you it will be 4 hours sick leave and 4 hours annual). So you will start work with no leave available to you at all and have to wait to build it up. (Later in your career this gets much better, but it sucks when you start.)

And unfortunately even worse is the fact that you can borrow against future leave, but only within the same calendar year. So if you started work at the USAO after your kid was born you’d have no leave accrued and would have access to something like a whole whopping 8-12 hours each of annual sick leave you could borrow against in 2023. (A friend of mine started in November or December and had to take unpaid leave to have any time off over the winter holidays because they hadn’t built up enough leave and didn’t have enough time left in the year to accrue enough to borrow against.) You could make it to January 1 and borrow against the leave you’d accrue during 2024, although that obviously doesn’t help you in November and also uses up all your leave really early in the year.

Another possible bad option is that you can take PPL within the first 12 months of the child’s birth, so if you were able to start at the USAO at some point before the child was born, in theory you might be able hit 12 months and then put in for the leave before your kid turns one. But I realize that doesn’t help much now.

USAOs have a leave bank where if you exhaust other avenues you can apply for donated leave, but I think this is only available to you if you qualify for FMLA again.

I don’t think it’s a bad look exactly to go out on leave in your first year (I know a couple of people who’ve gone out on parental leave pretty early if not literally in the first year), it just kind of sucks for you logistically. If you think you’re unlikely to be able to start until October, you might be best off using your current job’s leave and then starting at the USAO after that. Offices often like to get people to start as soon as possible but if you can’t access leave through the USAO and the alternative is you taking leave (of whatever kind) right after you start, an office might well work with you to have you start later, after your child is born. Most management people I’ve dealt with would be very understanding about this situation and they might not be able to offer any real helpful options, but they would be happy to discuss it and try to work something out. (No guarantees of course that that applies across all offices but I think the overall government culture does encourage being supportive of family stuff.)

[Anonymous User]

Thank you, this was tremendously helpful.

Sounds like the best option is try to use my current job's leave.

I'm going to be moving for this job so I anticipate that the office knows that I'm not able to start immediately after getting clearance in ~October. Even if I wasn't going out on leave, I'd have to find a place to live, move-in, possibly sell my current home, and my spouse would have to find a new job too. This would all prevent me from starting right away anyways.

[Anonymous User]

Just letting you know that their estimates for how long clearance take are not always accurate. I'm currently waiting for my clearance for DoJ, and they quoted me about 4 months. It seems it is taking most people more like 6 currently from talking to other in the process