Though California is one of five states to require partially paid family leave, today legislation was passed in San Francisco that takes that policy one step further: In the Golden Gate city, businesses with at least 20 employees will be legally required to offer six weeks of fully paid family leave to parents.
The proposal was approved on Tuesday. California’s state plan already “allows workers to receive 55 percent of their pay for up to six weeks to bond with a new child,” but businesses in San Francisco must now make up the remainder of the pay offered from the state’s insurance program. Julia Parish, a staff attorney at Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center, told ABC News, “This is another opportunity for San Francisco to stand out and show other jurisdictions that it can be done, and it’s feasible.”