Paid parental leave is moving forward. The Allegheny County Board of Health approved an updated paid parental leave program that would require some businesses in Allegheny County to provide paid leave for new parents, including birth, foster, or adoption.
Following a highly engaged community process, the health board used more-than 1,400 public comments to make changes to the proposal.
Updated from the initial proposal, this policy would apply to businesses with 15 or more employees and would require them to provide at least 12 weeks of paid leave.
What’s next for paid parental leave?
On Tuesday, October 6, the policy will be introduced to the Allegheny County Council and sent to the Health committee for review.
Council members can’t make any changes to the policy – they will vote on it as is.
We are expecting the committee to approve it and send it back to the full council for a final vote on Tuesday, October 20. To be passed by the Allegheny County Council, the proposed paid parental leave changes would need majority approval – or eight votes – before moving on to be signed into law by County Executive Sara Innamorato.
Paid Parental Leave Makes a Difference: Healthy Babies, Thriving Families, Stronger Workforce
We are committed to supporting the adult caregivers in young children’s lives and we support the paid parental leave proposal in Allegheny County. A true continuum of care and support for families and babies begins with paid parental leave and continues with the availability of high-quality infant child care. We urge the Allegheny County Council to adopt the policy.
Paid parental leave helps businesses keep good employees and gives parents the time they need to care for a new child without having to lose their job or leave the workforce to care for their child. It gives children a healthier start by allowing parents to be there for important early moments, medical needs, and everyday care, forming critical bonds that support children across their entire lifetime.
When families are stronger and parents can stay connected to work, everyone benefits—from individual businesses to our communities and the economy as a whole.
Let your city council member know you support paid parental leave by sending an email encouraging them to vote in support of the policy.
What does the proposal include?
Although the amount of leave went down to 12 weeks from the proposed 18 weeks, the change aligns with existing precedent offered by most states with a parental leave policy.
The proposal also clarifies that the county’s parental leave policy would run at the same time with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), so employers would only be required to provide a maximum of 12 weeks of parental leave, and employees would receive job protection through FMLA and not have to take leave without being paid.
Businesses with less than 15 employees would be exempt, which aligns with the county’s proposed sick leave policy. This is designed to support small employers by exempting them from parental leave costs. However, it is recommended for small businesses to offer employees paid leave at a mutually-agreed range due to the cost of rehiring and the positive impacts on infant, maternal, familial, and community health.
Other elements of the proposal include:
- Paid leave for parents with stillborn children.
- Employees are eligible after 180 days (six months) of employment.
- Employers would have up to one year before they have to comply with the policy once it’s signed into law, giving them time to strategize financially for the shift.
- For part-time employees, an employer would not be responsible for a 40-hour-week pay rate; instead, the employer would pay an average similar to what they paid the employee in the six months prior to leave.
- The proposed policy excludes seasonal or temporary employees and would require part-time workers to have worked at least 625 hours in the past six months to be eligible.
Our Continued Commitment to Child Care Providers
We acknowledge the unique operational and financial constraints that make implementing extended paid leave especially challenging for child care providers. As the next essential caregiving support following parental leave, we also continue to advocate at the local, state, and national level for all of the ways child care teachers and owners deserve to be supported.
In our July 16 public comment to the Board of Health, we outlined a number of recommendations to support the child care sector.
