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They can already take 12 weeks leave without pay. And they accrue 104 hours (over 2.5 weeks of sick leave a year). So they could have 5 weeks paid leave if they’d just space their children every other year. And if they’ve been there 3 years, they get about 4 weeks of annual leave. And they get two weeks of holidays. And if they work a compressed schedule, they’ll get another 26 or 52 days off a year.

Sick leave is a flat 4 hours per 2-week pay period for Federal workers.

On top of that they get 4 hours per 2-week pay period through the first three years. Then 6 hours through year 15 and then 8 hours until retirement.

HOWEVER, there's a nice little trick that inbound govies can use to get more leave from the start. When offered the position (Step 1 of the lowest grade for the position) they can say they are dissatisfied and want better pay and leave. At that point the hiring manager (rather than HR) steps in to negotiate for a higher starting step and better leave. All the hiring manager has to do is write up a quickie justification that will pass muster with the HR weenies.

So, for instance, a new govie can get boosted up to 6 or even 8 hours leave per pay period from the start. OR, if that's too much to justify (even the HR weenies have their limits), the hiring manager can say that they're qualified for the leave granted to govies with 10 years in. So the new govie starts with 6 hours per pay period, but jumps up to 8 hours after only five years.

Now there is a use-or-lose limit (cap of 240 hours carried over year to year) on annual leave. But sick leave keeps accruing and accruing and accruing. I knew one govie with over 900 hours of accumulated sick leave after 10 years in, and that was apparently not all that unusual.

Sick leave is a flat 4 hours per 2-week pay period for Federal workers.

Sick leave is a flat 4 hours per 2-week pay period for Federal workers.

Yes, and 4 x 26 = 104.

You don't want to take sick leave, though. When you retire, you get hour for hour credit as time worked for retirement. So if you retire at 30 years, and have a couple of thousand hours of sick leave, you have 31 years of creditable service, not 30 years, resulting in a boost to your pay.

Of course, if someone's been around long enough that they are on CSRS instead of FERS, they've hit the jackpot any way you count it.