Federal Leave without Pay Status
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Anonymous
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Hi all,
I have looked on OPM, and maybe I just don't understand the guidance....and my HR really is no help. I am interested in how long one can be a federal employee in LWOP status - I had heard that it's a year - and be able to keep your job. I never took FMLA so I still have that if necessary. However, I am unable to find any reliable child care (like 14 day care wait lists for over a year so far - our respective agencies do not sponsor a site) and paying a nanny to care just for our child only brings me $1000 every month. We are in the process of considering selling our home vs using it as a rental, which would give us a large sum of money at once (we don't know where we want to live long term, so we are renting downtown for a year while we figure it out). If we use that money to 1) pay down the car loan, which isn't that big to begin with 2) put some money away for our child and 3) pay off a significant part of the mortgage of our investment property, I feel like between the cash we would have on hand and the money we would save in child care would be MORE than worth it in the short term. I am not prepared to leave my job just yet. I'm not satisfied at all with my job, but it pays bills. I feel like if I have the opportunity to take LWOP, avoid all this back and forth drama with childcare, yet still have the ability to return to work, I would take advantage of it. It would be more stable for my office (no "I can't come in this week, we have no childcare") and more stable for my child (providing consistent care). In the long term, I do NOT want to be a SAHM. I just feel like I am always scrambling and it's not healthy for any of us or my office. I remember reading somewhere that this was possible, it just impacted your service comp and all that, which is fine (I get my health care through my husband). thanks for any help! |
Anonymous
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Unless you have considerable experience, a unique specialty AND bring a tremendous value to the agency, it's not gonna happen. What benefit would this provide to your agency?
Have you considered going part-time? That may be a more reasonable/realistic request. |
Anonymous
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OP here. I'm not allowed to go part time. Or telework. The benefit it would provide is that if I leave, they cannot fill my position. Is it better for them to have no one sit here or someone who currently has an unpredictable schedule in a very unflexible office because of child care?
I had done everything I thought was right - put our name on wait lists when I was 4 weeks pregnant at federal and "community" centers and have worked with nannies and nanny shares that just don't seem to work out (unreliable nannies, shares that don't want to do what's involved in a share) and that in and of itself is emotionally exhausting. I am exploring options. I feel like if I quit, it could be a bad decision. Or an opportunity to find what I love...but what are the odds that will happen while taking care of a baby?! |
Anonymous
Actually yes, it would be better because there are other costs and administrative inconveniences that result from retaining an employee on LWOP. Don't kid yourself - you are not doing your agency any "favor" by staying. You are however doing your team a disservice by sticking around and taking up a valuable FTE. Just quit - you will be happy, your baby will be happy and so will your coworkers (who are picking up all your slack). Problem solved~ |
Anonymous
| We aren't allowed to LWOP past the 3 months you get for FMLA. My boss is evil and she would fire you for that. It worries me that after I take 3 months FMLA for maternity that something else would happened (sickness) and I'd be fired/let go. |
Anonymous
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If people were picking up my slack, stuff would get done. Hell, I was on leave and no one did any of the things I worked to train them on so it would get done while I was gone.
In case you missed it, they can't replace FTEs because of the budget. I can't afford to not work in the long term. I guess the other options are to bring my baby in to work? |
Anonymous
This is what is happening to me - I cannot find child care despite every reasonable effort (looking places that are no where convenient to home or work, for example)- I can't afford our own nanny, and when we had one, she was awful and I felt my child was not safe with her. |
Anonymous
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It's up to 365 days before you lose benefits coverage. However, LWOP approval is at your supervisor's discretion (except for a few specifically mandated things like FMLA, military service, medical treatment for veterans) and your agency policy. So there is no uniform answer to your question.
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Anonymous
HIGHLY UNLIKELY that you would be fired for needing to take LWOP for a legitimate reason (i.e. ILLNESS). At my agency, a serious illness is an automatic approval for LWOP. |
Anonymous
| OP, you said you haven't used FMLA so you "still have it". You are aware that FMLA doesn't work for "I want to stay home because of childcare difficulties and to save money" right? |
Anonymous
No, didn't you hear - OP didn't like her nanny and besides, she only brings home $1k a month after paying her so it's totally not fair!!! 
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Anonymous
i'm confused. if paying for a nanny brings you only $1,000 every month, isn't that better than the alternative which is no income and possibly no job to go to? if you want to stay in the work force, as long as you are not losing too much paying for childcare, I think it is worth it. in your case, you're not losing and you are netting $1,000/month. Am I missing something? |
Anonymous
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OP I'm sorry you're in this situation! It's one that scares me!
Hopefully you can speak to your boss about this. |
Anonymous
If it's within 1 year of the child's birth she is entitled to use it. |
Anonymous
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The problem is the unreliablity.
And it's not that I didn't LIKE my nanny, it's that she was not only unreliable, she was treating the kids (in a nanny share) poorly - not changing diapers, not feeding them, taking them outside for long walks when the temperature was below freezing. For the price, there is still no stability or guarantee. Instead of calling me lazy or useless, if someone has a solution, I would appreciate it. I have saved my FMLA for this purpose, but that runs out. Under the assumption that I do not get a spot in day care, which while not ideal is at least guaranteed daily care (no chance of your employee just not showing up). After that point, I want to know what my options are. I've been a fed for a while, have never taken vacation or many sick days - I used up most of my leave when I had my baby because we couldn't find childcare (I was planning to come back 3 weeks before I did, for example). I have called day care centers regularly (every 30 days or so) to see what the status us, and most are telling us "September is probably the earliest". So....I want to have a plan so there is consistency/reliability in my office and at home. Right now, it's piecemeal |