Considering that both Democratic presidential candidates have proposed requiring all U.S. employers to provide some amount of paid parental leave, it might seem odd none of America’s major cities, many of which are far to the left of the nation politically, has yet put in place such a policy.
But if you had to guess which one would be the first to do so, San Francisco would be a pretty good bet.
Indeed, the Board of Supervisors in the Golden Gate City voted unanimously Tuesday to require employers with more than 20 employees to offer six weeks of paid time off after the birth or adoption of a child.
Granted, the new ordinance, which will go into effect in 2017, is not as dramatic a change for employers in San Francisco as it would be for businesses elsewhere. California law already requires employers to let workers take six weeks off at 55 percent of their wages, which is paid out of a statewide insurance fund.
The San Francisco measure will now make employers pay the remaining 45 percent of an employee’s wages.
Employers with more than 35 workers will have to put the new policy in place by July of next year, while smaller employers with more than 20 workers will have until January of 2018 to implement it.
“Our country’s parental leave policies are woefully behind the rest of the world, and today San Francisco has taken the lead in pushing for better family leave policies for our workers,” Supervisor Scott Wiener, who authored the measure, said in a statement. “We shouldn’t be forcing new mothers and fathers to choose between spending precious bonding time with their children and putting food on the table."
The proposal received a cool, but not necessarily a hostile, reception from Bay Area business groups. The local chamber of commerce did not take a stance on the issue, but warned of the potentially negative effects on small businesses, according to USA Today.
Known for its burgeoning tech market, San Francisco and Silicon Valley are home to a number of companies that have ramped up their family leave policies. Netflix, Apple, Facebook, Google, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, and Yahoo are just some that have enhanced parental leave to attract and retain current and future talent. The city's move to follow in the footsteps of some of the world's largest tech companies might be an indication that unprecedented benefits packages is the wave of the future.
The San Francisco vote comes only a day after the state of New York approved legislation authorizing 12 weeks of parental or family medical leave, during which employees will receive a portion of their wages beginning in 2018.
The Department of Labor (DOL) also has made a commitment to paid leave with its new Lead on Leave initiative. The DOL is encouraging change in Washington to meet the evolving nature of 21st century workforces so that employees can “care for those they love or their own illness without risking their economic security.”
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