County committee weighs two-week paid parental leave policy; discussion to return for decision
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Summary
County staff presented a proposed paid parental leave policy modeled on the City of Peoria's plan. The committee discussed adopting two weeks of county-paid leave concurrent with FMLA, with staff recommending a 4-month window to use the benefit; members signaled interest and staff will return with a final proposal.
County administrative staff presented a draft paid parental leave policy on July 29 and asked the County Operations Committee for initial feedback; the discussion was informational only and no formal decision was made.
Shauna, who led the staff presentation, said the proposed policy would not create a new leave entitlement but would fund the first two weeks of leave for employees already approved for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave. "So really the purpose of this policy is to say that those first two weeks of leave, they will be paid by the county at their regular rate of pay, and then starting week 3, they would have to start using their leave time benefits," Shauna said. The draft caps the paid portion at two weeks per parental event and covers birth, adoption and foster placements.
Staff said they used the City of Peoria's recently adopted policy as a template and adjusted timing to match county FMLA administration. Unlike Peoria's 3-month window, staff recommended a four-month period during which the paid parental leave must be used; that change was proposed to allow parents to stagger bonding time (for example, if one parent returns to work before the other).
Other details in the draft policy: the leave runs concurrent with FMLA; employees must be approved for FMLA to qualify; employees must provide formal documentation and notify their supervisor and HR at least 30 days in advance when practicable; unused paid parental leave would be forfeited if the employee leaves county service. Staff noted that other counties offer longer periods (Lake County 6 weeks; DuPage and Cook 12 weeks), but the county's current proposal would begin with two weeks of county-paid leave.
Committee members asked clarifying questions about what "regular pay status" means and about interactions with other leave categories; staff answered that regular pay status excludes workers' compensation and military leave situations and reiterated the requirement that the policy operate concurrently with FMLA. The chair asked members to forward questions to Shauna or Angela; staff said they expect to return a final proposal to the committee in August if no substantial changes are requested.
Because the meeting discussion was informational, staff will not implement the policy until the committee votes on a final draft at a future meeting.
