4. Allow employees to use sick leave to care for dependents.(23) The director of OPM should issue regulations by spring 1994 that will allow employees to use accrued sick leave to care for sick or elderly dependents. OPM should also propose legislation that will allow employees to use accrued sick leave to make adoptive arrangements. The definition of child, spouse, and parent should be consistent with definitions contained in the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act. This policy indicates that the federal government recognizes the burden family illness places on employees and was recommended in part by the Merit Systems Protection Board in 1991.(24) The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that in the private sector, 36 percent of employees can use sick leave to care for a sick child.(25) OPM found that in the public sector: Forty-six State governments, whose sick leave accrual policies generally are more comparable to those of the federal government, allow use of sick leave for [family illnesses]. The State of New York, for example, implemented such a policy by regulation in 1957. New York State allows employees to use up to 15 days of sick leave each year in the event of family illness or death and reports that this benefit has not generated administrative problems or pressure to expand the circumstances under which sick leave may be used.(26) Endnotes 23. Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, sec. 610.401. 24. MSPB, Balancing Work Responsibilities and Family Needs, p. 79. 25. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Benefits in Medium and Large Private Establishments (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1991), p. 16. 26. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, "Options for Leave Reform," Washington, D.C., September 1991, p. 5.
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