After four years in the Trump administration, Vanessa Ambrosini was looking forward to three months of parental leave when she and her husband welcomed a baby a week before Christmas. The Commerce Department’s human resources office had given her approval for it. But then she was surprised to find out the benefit was no longer available because of the change in administration.
“I got completely screwed,” she said in an interview. “There were no caveats in that language saying anything about if the administration turns, you get nothing and of course, that happened and so I got nothing.”
Ambrosini is among a number of ex-Trump political officials who lost their parental leave when Joe Biden was sworn into office. It’s a byproduct of the field they’re in: Their boss (the president) may have been the one let go, but his departure has meant that they, too, lose their jobs and benefits. Still, they argue that the Biden administration should have honored their leave by keeping them on payroll until the end of it — a request that, emails reviewed by POLITICO show, the Biden transition did not grant.
The Biden White House declined to speak about the issue on record. Instead, an official noted anonymously that political appointees “do not enjoy the promise of federal employment past the end of the administration in which they choose to serve.” The official blamed the fact that the Trump administration dragged its heels on a quick and orderly transition as a reason why some on his team were caught off guard by the benefits ending.
“We understand that a few Trump appointees, including a handful currently on parental leave, submitted last minute requests to remain on government payroll,” the official said. “Because these requests were received so close to Inauguration Day… there was no way to implement an exception to the rule in a way that is fair to all outgoing appointees, including many who resigned as expected without making requests for extraordinary benefits.”
The official added that “appointees have been advised that they have options including COBRA and the Affordable Care Act.”
I think the Biden Administration would look good by extending this benefit for a couple weeks. It's certainly not something I would see the previous doing in their petty vindictiveness.
I'd like to point out that 3 months of paid maternity leave (and a guarantee of a job when you return) is something available to only a very few parents.
FMLA gives you the guaranteed return to "an equivalent job" (not necessarily the same job), but the leave is unpaid. Private companies may or may not choose to pay, or ask their employees to use up vacation and sick leave, leave donations, short-term disability, etc. They will also bridge your benefits (primarily health care, which is the biggie here).
I think a reasonable compromise would be to provide 3 months of bridged health care (not COBRA). How many people could we possibly be talking about here?
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