CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
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An ORDINANCE relating to City employment; adding a new Chapter 4.27 to the Seattle Municipal Code to provide a Paid Parental Leave Benefit to eligible city employees; amending Seattle Municipal Code Subsection 4.20.055 to provide the Paid Parental Leave benefit to eligible temporary workers; and establishing other conditions of implementing the new benefit.
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WHEREAS, the United States is the only developed nation in the world without paid parental leave; and
WHEREAS, the City of Seattle stands to become the first municipality in the region to offer paid parental leave and serve as a model to other employers in the region; and
WHEREAS, in 2014, the City Council and Mayor confirmed their commitment to promote gender equity in Resolution 31523 including a study on Paid Parental Leave; and
WHEREAS, the City hired the consultant firm of Towers Watson to review Paid Parental Leave programs in other jurisdictions and to evaluate the current access to paid time off City employees had at the time of birth or adoption of a newborn child; and
WHEREAS, the Towers Watson report indicates that other cities, such as San Francisco, Austin, Chicago and Washington D.C. provide a Paid Parental Leave benefit ranging from 2 to 12 weeks; and
WHEREAS, Towers Watson reviewed City employees' utilization of accrued sick leave and accrued vacation to care for newborn children; and
WHEREAS, the Towers Watson report indicates that approximately 230 City employees a year add newborn children to their families either through birth or adoption; the average tenure of these employees at the City is six years; women take more than twice as much total time off as men (18 weeks for women as compared to 7 weeks for men); and men take only paid time off, whereas women take both paid and unpaid time off and take an average of eight weeks of unpaid time off; and
WHEREAS, while the City's Family Medic...
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