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Linn County health official urges expanded parental leave, prenatal appointment time
Summary
Amanda from the Linn County Health Department told commissioners the county should expand employee parental leave to six weeks for primary caregivers, two weeks for secondary caregivers and up to 20 hours of paid leave for prenatal appointments, citing travel burdens for rural employees and health benefits for infants and families.
Amanda, a Linn County Health Department staff member, briefed commissioners on Jan. 26 on the department’s recent work and proposed updates to county parental-leave policy. "I would love to see that," she said when asked whether the county should offer six weeks of paid leave to primary caregivers, two weeks to secondary caregivers and up to 20 hours of paid leave for prenatal appointments.
Amanda described services and outreach the department has provided since the start of January, including 146 client appointments, CPR and first-aid instruction for Jayhawk Transportation staff, ongoing WIC services and a new condensed prenatal class called "Expecting Together." She also noted regional emergency-preparedness planning and that the county’s WIC nutrition services plan was accepted.
On the leave proposal, Amanda said the county’s current policy dates to about 2016 and offers less leave than current Kansas state standards. She recommended that any expanded county leave run concurrently with Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) eligibility and that the primary parent use short-term disability first; she said the county’s short-term disability covers five weeks at roughly 66 2/3 percent of salary, which employees could supplement with accrued leave to approach full pay.
Amanda argued the policy would benefit recruitment and retention in a rural labor market, improve parent–infant bonding and infant health outcomes, and reduce turnover costs. She illustrated travel burdens for county employees seeking obstetric care: "From sitting in my office to their office is 54 minutes," she said of one provider location she uses, noting that a typical appointment including travel and wait time could total roughly three hours per visit and a full pregnancy could require about 12–14 visits.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about eligibility and the interaction with existing benefits; Amanda said employees would need to be eligible for FMLA and that proposed leave would be structured to remain fiscally responsible for the county. She also provided a written presentation to commissioners for further review and said she would email the materials to staff.
Next steps: commissioners asked staff to review the proposal details, run cost estimates and return with additional information at a future meeting.
