Dive Brief:
- Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, home to the city of Pittsburgh and its surrounding suburbs, passed the nation’s first countywide paid parental leave policy on Tuesday.
- The policy will go into effect one year from the bill’s signing by Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, who advocated for the measure. The policy will require businesses with 15 or more employees to provide 12 weeks of paid leave.
- The move marks the first by a county but just the latest by a small jurisdiction to enact supportive parental leave policies in the absence of a paid federal leave law. The Family and Medical Leave Act requires employers to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave.
Dive Insight:
The policy applies to both birthing parents and their partners, and also applies to those who adopt a child or experience a stillbirth. Full-time employees need to work six months at their employer to qualify, and part-time workers must have logged at least 625 work hours. The policy also applies to remote employees whose employers are based in other states.
The ordinance does not apply to independent contractors or temporary employees.
The policy, proposed May 13 by the Allegheny County Health Department, went through several changes following feedback from employers and county residents. The leave window dropped from 18 to 12 weeks, and the county upped the minimum employee threshold from one employee to 15. The county received more than 1,500 public comments on the proposal, according to local law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney.
At the meeting on Tuesday, council members who voted for the ordinance noted the positive health outcomes for babies and parents when parents are provided paid leave. Those who voted against voiced concerns about the financial impact of the policy on businesses, which are responsible for covering the full cost burden.
The council received a standing ovation in the meeting room following the 11-4 vote.
Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have enacted mandatory paid family leave systems, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, with an additional nine offering voluntary systems that provide paid family leave through private insurance. Most public programs offer eight or 12 weeks, though eligibility requirements, wage replacement rates and maximum weekly benefits vary widely.