Federal Employees Will Not All Get 21K
The Claim
Federal employees will get $21K from the American Rescue Plan stimulus.
News posted on
Emerging story
Some on social media are reporting that the recent federal relief package includes a $21,000 check for all federal employees. A meme making the claim went viral and was shared thousands of times.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar discovered that the social media posts are most likely referring to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, passed on March 11, 2021. This was a $1.9 trillion emergency aid package to help America recover from the coronavirus pandemic. Within the Rescue Plan, there is a benefit for federal workers: enhanced paid time off if your child is enrolled in a school that is not back to full-time, in-classroom instruction.
According to Forbes the bill includes a Treasury Department fund called the “Emergency Federal Employee Leave Fund.” The $570 million in the new fund is available through September 30. The new Fund allows a federal employee caring for a son or daughter to qualify for the paid leave, specifically:
“if the school or place of care of the son or daughter has been closed, if the school of such son or daughter requires or makes optional a virtual learning instruction model or requires or makes optional a hybrid of in-person and virtual learning instruction models, or the child care provider of such son or daughter is unavailable, due to Covid-19 precautions;”
Under the bill, full-time federal employees can take up to 600 hours in paid leave until September 30, up to $35 an hour and $1,400 a week. That equals $21,000 which is probably where the number was derived in the social media posts. The bill does not stipulate the age the children must be for the worker to receive the paid benefits.
The latest COVID-19 relief bill does not give every federal employee a $21,000 bonus. Full-time federal employees who are unable to work for reasons related to COVID-19 (including caring for a family member) could receive up to $21,000 in paid leave.
