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Rules Committee advances charter amendment allowing buy‑back of unpaid parental leave credit for retirement
Summary
Supervisors advanced a second‑draft charter amendment to let eligible city employees who took unpaid parental leave before July 1, 2003 purchase up to four months of retirement service credit, after testimony from retirement system director and affected employees flagged precedent and fiscal implications.
The Rules Committee on Wednesday considered a second‑draft charter amendment that would let City and County of San Francisco employees who took unpaid parental leave prior to July 1, 2003 purchase retirement service credit for that period.
Supervisor Elliott, the author, framed the measure as correcting a historical inequity: before the city’s paid parental leave benefit took effect on July 1, 2003, many workers (notably some police officers and firefighters) took unpaid leave to have children and thus could not earn retirement service credit for that time. The draft would allow affected employees to “buy back” up to four months of service credit, with a minimum purchase of two months.
Claire Murphy, Executive Director of the San Francisco Employees' Retirement System, cautioned the committee that the proposal changes a basic principle of the pension plan — that members earn retirement credit for time they were paid — and warned of precedent. Murphy listed other examples of uncompensated leave (disability without pay, care for non‑newborn family members, on‑the‑job injury leave) that could later be argued as grounds for similar buyback requests. She urged the committee to weigh long‑term pension obligations and the potential for subsequent charter amendments expanding exceptions.
The committee heard multiple members of the public and employee groups, including SEIU Local 1021 representatives and several police officers, share personal stories about retirement impacts and urge a remedy. At the end of the hearing, supervisors expressed sympathy for affected employees while noting the policy trade‑offs. The committee agreed to forward the charter amendment with a recommendation to the full Board for further consideration.
What happens next: The Rules Committee forwarded the draft charter amendment to the full Board of Supervisors; the full Board will consider the fiscal analysis and potential changes to the retirement system before any final vote.
