TO: RULES AND OPEN GOVERNMENT FROM: Councilmember Sylvia Arenas COMMITTEE District 8
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE: December 1, 2022
Approved Date 12/1/2022
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SUBJECT: PAID FAMILY LEAVE
RECOMMENDATION
Direct the City Manager to agendize a study session of the City Council to review the status of Paid Family Leave for city employees, including a report on the current pilot program, and options for expanding the pilot to provide 6 weeks of coverage, instead of 1 week.
BACKGROUND
Almost four years ago, I proposed finally creating a Paid Family Leave program for our city employees – where none existed. Later that year, the City adopted this as a Priority Setting item, with the full support of the Council to address.
Yet, due to implementation challenges, the priority setting item was closed out without a solution. This left our city employees shockingly lacking the basic coverages that almost every other employee in the state of California can count on.
City employees whose spouses gave birth had no access to paid time off beyond the use of vacation time. City employees who adopted had no access to time off. City employees who gave birth themselves were limited to only about half of the time off they would have received from the state program if they worked anywhere else.
Finally, last summer the City announced a pilot program – which offered 1 week of paid time off and the ability to use some weeks of paid sick leave – if the employee had any accrued.
This pilot is fundamentally inadequate. It does not provide sufficient time off, and it overly relies on the use of sick leave – which raises concerns about unequal access to the leave program.
However, the pilot does provide us with clear cost information for us providing this benefit to our employees directly, and it’s vital the Council be presented this information, and information to allow Council to consider expanding the paid time off to 6 weeks.
RULES AGENDA: 12/7/2022
ITEM: C.8