Dimitrijevic’s Parental Leave Policy Passed

The Milwaukee Common Council adopted a compromise measure Tuesday to give city employees up to six weeks of paid parental leave following the birth, adoption or stillbirth of a child.

The policy, championed by Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, was first proposed in November as 12 weeks. The city currently does not offer any leave, requiring employees to use a combination of vacation time and unpaid sick leave.

“Twelve weeks actually is not enough,” said Dimitrijevic, discussing the challenges following the birth of her two children, on Jan. 12 when a council committee first reviewed the proposal. “I want to have a bold, progressive policy here.” She said it would help the city long-term on multiple issues, including improving employee retention and supporting healthier families.

“Frankly the city is way behind. It probably should have had a policy like this for years,” said Alderman Nik Kovac when the Finance & Personnel Committee discussed it again on Feb. 2. Kovac, with Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa, cosponsored a compromise measure to start at six weeks of paid leave.

Kovac said he was backing the compromise measure as a way to test the potential financial and productivity effects. He said it would be easier to increase the leave time than reduce it. The legislation includes a required one-year review to assess the program.

The alderman said looking at a similar six-week policy for the City of Madison revealed that the capital city has gotten by without having to backfill work hours with hiring or overtime. “I think this can be done with minimal expense and hopefully minimal service reduction,” said the alderman.

“We believed that reducing the original proposal from 12 to six weeks allows us to really implement this in a measurable way,” said Department of Employee Relations director Makda Fessahaye. She said employees could use other leave time to still take 12 weeks off while the city studies its impacts, including on the looming pension crisis. “Yes, we believe this is an important policy to implement… we just want to be thoughtful and intentional on what we’re putting forward.”

The new policy will provide six weeks of paid leave for both parents in the event of childbirth, adoption or the start of foster care for children four and under or stillbirths or miscarriages after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The council voted 10-2 to adopt the policy Tuesday. Council members Scott Spiker and Mark Borkowski were the lone members to object. “It’s just a matter of risk tolerance for me,” said Spiker when the measure was before the committee. He said he would support four weeks of leave.

Council members Robert Bauman, Nikiya Dodd and Cavalier Johnson (as acting mayor Johnson cannot vote) were excused from the meeting.

The policy, if not vetoed by Johnson, would apply to any qualifying event starting April 4. To be eligible, employees must have worked at least 1,000 hours in the preceding year and qualifying part-time employees would be eligible for prorated leave.

Dimitrijevic said she was moved to introduce the policy when learning about the leave included in the now-stalled federal Build Back Better bill and how the city didn’t offer any paid time off.

“Women in the City of Milwaukee for years have had to unfairly use their sick leave and vacation time just to be at home with their baby,” said Dimitrijevic in January. “And when you finally make your way back to work someway, somehow, half-healed and nervous, you now have no sick time and vacation time to spend with your family, or if you children need well visits or get ill.”

What Would It Cost?

“We have no idea how many individuals would need this benefit or want this benefit, so it’s very difficult to fully cost out,” said budget director Dennis Yaccarino on Jan. 12. He also said in certain areas it would cause service impacts when staffing is temporarily reduced. “If this is put into place, it’s likely services will be reduced.”

“If we only look at the cost, we are not looking at the value,” said Dimitrijevic in January. “Consider the metrics of going back to work too early or employees saying ‘screw it, I’m not going back.’ There is a cost to that as well… What is the cost of not doing the right thing?”

By Jan. 26 Yaccarino had put together a memo estimating a cost, but reiterated it was difficult to accurately calculate. The budget office found general city employees using the city’s health insurance report an average of 61 births and seven miscarriages per year. Estimating birth leave at 12 weeks, miscarriages at four weeks and using an average salary, the report estimated the annual cost at $777,839.62. He said his cost was “definitely a worst case.”

On Feb. 1, a memo from the city’s Legislative Reference Bureau estimated that a full 12-week program would cost $3.46 million per year when factoring in general city employees and sworn personnel (police officers and firefighters). But the sworn personnel members, who are protected by collective bargaining, were not included in the final proposal.

Fessahaye said the city sees about 200 births per year, but two-thirds are attributable to the fire and police departments because of the younger age of those employees.