Seattle City Councilmember wants paid maternity/paternity leave for all city workers

Up until a few months ago I assumed that when a woman went on maternity leave, she was being paid. Well, that is not true, unless she’s lucky enough to work for a company that pays for family leave. This was also news to Seattle City Councilmember Jean Godden.

“I was shocked,” Godden said. “Shocked to find out if you do have a baby, you do not get maternal leave or paternal leave. You can maybe take some unused sick leave or some vacation time. But that’s all that’s available to you unless you want to take unpaid family leave.”

Godden’s working to make paid leave mandatory for city employees.

“It would be for moms and dads and it would also be for people who are adopting a newborn. I think that’s very important as well,” she said.

A consulting firm is currently researching the issue, and will have a report for the council to consider in November.

Godden said the United States is the only westernized nation that doesn’t provide paid family leave to everyone.

“Certainly that bonding time is really, really important. We’re talking about four to six weeks that we might look at and allow them, possibly, to add some of their vacation time,” Godden said.

For some women, having paid leave is absolutely necessary. Ten years ago, Algona’s Jessie Brekke was working full time as a nurse at a clinic when she got pregnant.

“When I got pregnant it was not a pretty picture. I had a nine-month-old already and I was in an abusive relationship,” said Brekke. “I got a restraining order and left while I was pregnant. No help from family or friends. So when I delivered, I was pretty much on my own. Money was running short.”

Brekke’s employer didn’t offer maternity leave, so she had to use two weeks of vacation time and immediately went back to work.

“My son started losing weight. He was born at six pounds, ten ounces and by the time he was two months old, he was about four pounds, eight ounces. His doctor was like, ‘You need to do something now. We need to admit him to Children’s. He’s a failure-to-thrive baby.’ It was kind of the point where I could not work anymore. I had to be at Children’s with my baby,” Brekke said.

She quit and had to rely on the state for food stamps and medical aid.

“I feel like if I just had that time to nurse him and not stress about work and have that affect my milk supply; not worry about finances,” said Brekke, “I feel like I was discriminated against because I had a baby. If you don’t have vacation saved up, sorry about your luck. That’s not fair.”

Godden said paying for family leave is better for the economy.

“I think it could save us money in the long run because people wouldn’t necessarily quit. They would be able to come back to their job. You wouldn’t have to retrain somebody. It would enable you to attract young women to your work force,” said Godden. “Certainly, we have not had family friendly policies and I think we should have.”

Brekke stayed home with her kids for a couple years and her son’s health problems disappeared.

“Just being able to have that one-on-one time with them, it was just amazing to see their growth. Even now, they’re both in honors programs.”

If the Seattle City Council decides to adopt this plan, it would be the second city municipality in the country to do so. Washington, D.C. was the first.