San Francisco Supervisors Consider Fully-Paid Parental Leave
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – New parents in San Francisco would get a month and a half of fully paid leave, under an ordinance coming up before supervisors Tuesday.
Dad Steven Tuck said more working parents having paid time off to spend with their newborns would be a good thing.
"You would have employees that are getting good time off to spend with their family. And they come back to work not entirely distracted, half distracted - you'd probably see productivity gains when they get back by doing that," Tuck told KPIX 5.
If the parental leave legislation passes at Tuesday's San Francisco Board of Supervisor's meeting, 55 percent of a parent's salary would come from state disability. The parent's employer would have to kick in the other 45 percent, which raises red flags for Tuck, who works at a small tech start-up.
"Flip it around and you got businesses that can be severely challenged, especially small businesses, if they lose huge chunks of their workforce for 2 months," Tuck said.
Rayan Nathan, also a dad, said San Francisco's bill doesn't go far enough. His native Australia has higher taxes, but far more generous parental leave.
"I think at least three months should be standard. And that should be for either the mother or the father depending on how they want to do it," Nathan said.
California is one of only three states to provide any parental leave. Tuesday's vote could have parents across the country looking at what San Francisco decides.
"They're ahead of the game, but still have a long way to go," Nathan said.
Supervisor Scott Wiener introduced the legislation. The ordinance would only apply to businesses with 20 or more employees.
Wiener told KPIX 5 that he is optimistic the measure will pass. If approved, the parental leave policy would take effect in January of 2017.
