Tom Douglas calls out businesses for neglecting parents

There is another push this year for extending the amount of paid family leave Washington employees receive.

The state Legislature is talking about it — there are a few bills on the table — and the Seattle City Council is as well. Two proposals, one from Rep. June Robinson and another from Seattle Councilmember Lorena González would give people up to 26 weeks of paid leave.

Restaurateur Tom Douglas says he is a strong supporter of family leave, but some of the proposals may be reaching a bit too far.

“If a family wants to have a kid, they shouldn’t have to quit their jobs and they shouldn’t have to lose their jobs and lose their funding just to have a child,” he told Seattle’s Morning News. “It’s a human right.

But the idea of up to 26 weeks of paid leave:

“I gotta say … that’s going to be tough for that small restaurant to handle,” he said.

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Still, he says companies continually reject doing the “humane and natural thing” by giving workers an appropriate amount of time off. Douglas, who owns more than a dozen Seattle restaurants, is one of the business owners who is trying to give workers a fair shake. But he says he wants other businesses to be on the same playing field by offering better family-leave benefits.

Douglas argues that the city council and mayor often don’t see eye-to-eye with him. He hopes the proposal will benefit families, but not at too much of a cost to businesses.

“Maybe the ask (of 26 weeks off) is larger than what they think they’ll settle on,” he said. “We think some sort of parental leave is right.”

Douglas says the city itself could do more to help people out by taxing them less or at least being more transparent about what the true cost will be.

“He’s doing as much to raise the rent as anyone else,” Douglas said. “I just want [Mayor Ed Murray] to be straight and transparent when people aren’t putting A and B together … and how it’s going to be affecting them.”

Listen to the entire conversation with Douglas.

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