ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 13, 1997 TAG: 9704140082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES
The action allows federal workers leave time to attend parent-teacher conferences or to take a relative to the doctor.
President Clinton Saturday granted the United States' 1.9 million federal employees up to 24 hours of unpaid leave each year for family matters and emergencies, and he urged Congress to extend the same benefit to all American workers by expanding the popular Family and Medical Leave Act.
Clinton's action will allow the federal workers leave time for such duties as attending parent-teacher conferences or taking a child or an elderly relative to a doctor's appointment.
Addressing Republican congressional opponents of expanding the plan, Clinton said in his weekly radio address: ``Don't ask people to choose ever between being good workers and good parents. We can help them to do both.''
He urged Congress to act soon on the legislation, saying ``families occasionally need these small pieces of time to take care of their own.''
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and other GOP leaders have opposed expansion of the 1993 act on grounds the federal government should not intrude into decisions involving businesses and their workers.
The law, the first one signed by Clinton as president, has proved highly popular, and Clinton promised during his re-election campaign last year that he would seek to expand it. More than 12 million employees have taken advantage of its current provisions allowing up to 12 weeks off without pay to care for a newborn or adopted child, to attend to their own health needs or to care for a seriously ill parent or other family member.
The White House has contended the act is revenue neutral, having no adverse effect on efforts to balance the federal budget.
Clinton's action in granting new unpaid leave provisions to federal workers was accomplished in a memo sent to all federal department and agency heads. Clinton told his radio audience that expanding the act's provisions to everyone would help Americans perform ``the toughest job any person can have.''
``It's not a job you can quit, show up late for or do just enough to get by. In every way, it's a lifetime commitment - it's being a parent,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB