Milwaukee moves closer to paid parental leave for city employees, with six weeks instead of 12
Alison DirrCity of Milwaukee employees could soon be eligible to receive paid parental leave — but with six weeks away from work instead of the original 12 proposed.
Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, the measure's lead sponsor and a candidate for mayor, said she had been shocked to learn the city did not provide any paid parental leave.
She also took issue with the focus of some on the potential cost of the benefit and urged consideration of the "metrics of going back to work too early" or an employee deciding not to return to city employment at all.
"Of course, we have to do our due diligence, but ... as we go into this discussion, I want you to take a deep look into the analysis that was not done," she said during a committee debate Wednesday. "The analysis that doesn't show what happens when we have to send babies to day care at zero weeks or six weeks, when a mother has to go back to work, who had a C-section too early and is in pain and maybe can't produce the breast milk that she wanted to for her child."
The new policy would apply after the birth of a child, a miscarriage or stillbirth after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and the adoption, fostering or guardianship of a child under the age of 5 years old.
The policy would go into effect April 4. The Common Council is expected to take up the measure Tuesday after its approval Wednesday at the Finance and Personnel Committee.
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City employees can currently take parental leave, but it's either unpaid or the result of cobbling together vacation and sick time. That leaves little time off for reasons such as babies' medical appointments after the leave ends.
Committee members proposed revisiting the policy in a year to determine whether the six-week leave caused any staffing issues and whether it could be lengthened to 12 weeks.
Ald. Nik Kovac said he wanted to get to 12 weeks but supported starting at six weeks first. He said questions about the cost of such a policy include which departments would be most impacted and whether it is necessary to backfill staff or pay for overtime.
At its core is a question of how much city operations will be affected, he said.
"I think this can be done, and it likely can be done with minimal expense and hopefully minimal service reductions," he said.
Department of Employee Relations Director Makda Fessahaye said starting at six weeks would allow her department to implement the policy in a way that would be measurable and allow for an understanding of how operations and the city's fiscal status would be impacted, especially with a looming spike in city pension payments starting next year.
The department's recommendation also took into account that employees could use unpaid leave, vacation and sick time for the remaining six weeks, should they choose to take a 12-week leave, Fessahaye said.
She anticipated that employees would use more time off if they became entitled to paid leave instead of the city's current system. That means the city's current data does not reflect how many people will use the paid leave.
Fessahaye also said on average the city had about 200 births per year, two-thirds of which have been in the fire and police departments because of their younger workforce.
The city does not have data on the number of adoptions, guardianships or placements, she said.
The policy would not automatically apply to the fire and police departments but rather would likely have to be obtained through collective bargaining with their unions, according to a memo from the City Attorney's Office.
Budget Director Dennis Yaccarino said it was difficult to come up with a cost estimate for the policy because of the number of unknowns.
In a memo, he estimated that a 12-week leave for births alone would cost an average of $750,059 annually for employees not in the police and fire departments.
That sum would be halved with the six-week leave.
Costs related to adoptions and foster care could not be estimated, and a cost estimate for possibly backfilling for employees on leave through overtime and contracting for services was not included. The memo stated that based on Madison's experience no backfilling would likely be needed, though during snow plow operations it might be necessary to contract with more private vendors.
The Fire Department would need the positions of employees on leave to be filled on a 1:1 basis, though not all that time would be overtime, according to a fiscal impact statement. Police have a greater capacity to absorb absences without overtime, and the number of people out for parental leave at once is likely so small it would not create the need for overtime, the memo states.
The legislation was recommended for approval Wednesday on a 3-1 vote of the Finance and Personnel Committee, with Ald. Scott Spiker objecting.
Ald. Michael Murphy, the committee's chair, was excused from the meeting.
Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.