(a) Election. An employee may elect to substitute available paid parental leave for any FMLA unpaid leave granted under §630.1203(a)(1) or (2) (which correspond to 5 U.S.C. 6382(a)(1)(A) or (B), respectively) in connection with the occurrence of a birth or placement. (See §630.1206(b).)

(b) Available paid parental leave.

(1) The paid parental leave that is available for purposes of paragraph (a) of this section is 12 administrative workweeks in connection with the birth or placement involved. The entitlement to paid parental leave is triggered by the occurrence of a birth or placement. The paid parental leave is considered to be available only if the employee has a continuing parental role with respect to the child whose birth or placement triggered the leave entitlement. The 12 administrative workweeks of paid parental leave may be used only during the 12-month period beginning on the date of the birth or placement involved.

(2) Since an employee may use only 12 weeks of FMLA unpaid leave in any 12-month period under §630.1203(a), use of FMLA unpaid leave not associated with paid parental leave may affect an employee's ability to use the full 12 weeks of paid parental leave. Notwithstanding paragraph (b)(1) of this section, an employee will be able to use the full amount of paid parental leave only to the extent that there are 12 weeks of available FMLA unpaid leave granted under the birth or placement provisions in §630.1203(a)(1) or (2) during the 12-month period commencing on the date of birth or placement. The availability of paid parental leave will depend on when the employee uses various types of FMLA unpaid leave relative to any 12-month period established under §630.1203(c).

(c) Conversion of weeks to hours. For employees who are charged leave on an hourly basis (including fractions of an hour), the 12 administrative workweeks referenced in paragraph (b) of this section must be converted to hours based on the number of hours in the employee's scheduled tour of duty (as in effect on the date the employee begins a period of using paid parental leave) as follows:

(1) For a regular full-time employee with 80 hours in the scheduled tour of duty over a biweekly pay period, the hours equivalent of 12 administrative workweeks is 480 hours.

(2) For a full-time employee with an uncommon tour of duty (as defined in §630.201 and described in §630.210), the hours equivalent of 12 administrative workweeks is derived by multiplying 6 times the number of hours in the employee's biweekly scheduled tour of duty (or 6 times the average hours if the biweekly tour hours vary over an established cycle). For example, if an employee has an uncommon tour consisting of six 24-hours shifts (144 hours) per biweekly pay period, the amount would be 864 hours.

(3) For a part-time employee, the hours equivalent of 12 administrative workweeks is derived by multiplying 6 times the number of hours in the employee's scheduled tour of duty over a biweekly pay period. For example, if an employee has a part-time scheduled tour of duty that consists of 40 hours in a biweekly pay period, the amount would be 240 hours.

(d) Conversion of weeks to days. For employees who are charged leave on a daily basis, the days equivalent of 12 administrative workweeks must be derived based on the average number of workdays in the employee's established tour of duty over a biweekly pay period. For example, if an employee had 8 workdays each biweekly pay period, the days equivalent of 12 administrative workweeks would be 48 days.

(e) Change in tour. If there is a change in an employee's scheduled tour of duty during the 12-month period commencing on the date of a given birth or placement, and the employee has not used the full allotment of paid parental leave during such 12-month period, the remaining balance of paid parental leave must be recalculated based on the change in the number of average hours in the employee's scheduled tour of duty. For example, if a regular full-time employee has a balance of 120 hours of unused paid parental leave for a 12-month period that is in progress and then converts to a part-time schedule of 20 hours per week, the balance would be recalculated to be 60 hours. (Since the old schedule was 80 hours biweekly or an average of 40 hours weekly, the new part-time tour is half of the former full-time tour. 40/80 times 120 equals 60.)

(f) Leave usage.

(1) An agency may not require an employee to use annual leave or sick leave to the employee's credit as a condition to be met before the employee uses paid parental leave. An employee may request to use annual leave or sick leave without invoking FMLA unpaid leave under subpart L of this part, and, in that case, the agency exercises its normal authority with respect to approving or disapproving the timing of when the leave may be used.

(2) Paid parental leave may be used in connection with the occurrence of a birth or placement only during the 12-month period following birth or placement. (See §630.1703(b).) Paid parental leave may not be used prior to the birth or placement involved even if the employee was granted FMLA unpaid leave under §630.1203(a)(1) or (2) for periods prior to the birth or placement event, as allowed under §630.1203(d).

(3) An employee with a seasonal work schedule may not use paid parental leave during the off-season period designated by the agency—the period during which the employee is scheduled to be released from work and placed in nonpay status.

(g) Treatment of unused leave. If an employee has any unused balance of paid parental leave that remains at the end of the 12-month period following the birth or placement involved, the entitlement to the unused leave elapses at that time. No payment may be made for unused paid parental leave that has expired. Paid parental leave may not be considered annual leave for purposes of making a lump-sum payment for annual leave or for any other purpose.

(h) Documentation of entitlement and employee certification.

(1) At the request of the employee's agency, an employee must provide the agency with appropriate documentation that shows that the employee's use of paid parental leave is directly connected to a birth or placement that has occurred. Appropriate documentation may include, but is not limited to, a birth certificate or a document from an adoption or foster care agency regarding the placement. An agency is responsible for determining what documentation is sufficient proof of entitlement.

(2) An agency may require that an employee sign a certification attesting that the paid parental leave is being taken in connection with a birth or placement. This employee certification may contain a statement in which the employee acknowledges an understanding of the consequences of providing a false certification (e.g., the possibility that the employing agency could pursue appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including removal from Federal Service, or make a referral to a Federal entity that investigates whether conduct constitutes a criminal violation).

(3) An employee must provide any documentation or certification required by the agency no later than 15 calendar days after the date the agency requests such documentation or certification. If it is not practicable under the particular circumstances for an employee to respond within the 15-day time frame, despite the employee's diligent, good faith efforts, the employee must provide the documentation or certification within a reasonable period of time under the circumstances involved, but no later than 30 calendar days after the date of the agency's original request.

(4) An agency may grant paid parental leave prior to receiving any requested documentation or certification under this paragraph (h) based on an employee's communications with a supervisor or management. Under these circumstances, the granting of paid parental leave is considered to be provisional, pending receipt of the requested documentation or certification.

(5) If the employee fails to provide the agency with the required documentation or certification within the specified time period, the agency may determine that the employee is not entitled to paid parental leave and may—

(i) Allow the employee to request that the absence be charged to leave without pay, sick leave, annual leave, or other forms of paid time off, as appropriate; or

(ii) If the employee acted fraudulently, charge the employee as absent without leave (AWOL) and pursue any other appropriate action.