With Allegheny County days away from a potentially historic vote on a countywide 12-week paid parental leave policy, a national advocacy group brought its push for broader protections to Pittsburgh on Thursday.
Paid Leave for All, a nonprofit and national advocacy campaign, stopped at the City-County Building ahead of Allegheny County Council’s expected Oct. 20 vote on a proposal requiring employers with 15 or more workers to provide paid parental leave.
If approved, Allegheny County would become the first county in a state without a statewide paid leave mandate to enact such a policy. Advocates hope the local effort will build momentum for statewide legislation, while opponents have raised concerns about the financial burden on businesses.
Thursday’s news conference was part of a bus tour through Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan promoting policies aimed at easing financial pressures on working families. The bus also serves as a mobile aid hub, distributing gas and grocery gift cards and diapers to families while advocates push for broader policy changes.
Dawn Huckelbridge, founding director of Paid Leave for All, said rising costs and growing financial pressures have contributed to what she described as a “rigged” system.
“I want to open just by acknowledging how hard things are right now. The costs — the astronomical costs — the caregiving crises that too often we don’t talk about, and things I never thought I’d see in my lifetime, in my country,” Huckelbridge said. “I think so much of this struggle and this ugliness is giving many of us the same feeling.”
Pennsylvania remains among states without a mandatory paid family and medical leave program. More than a dozen states have enacted policies.
State lawmakers have made some progress on the issues, but Senate Bill 906, which would establish a statewide paid family and medical leave program, has not yet received a final vote.
“As a nation, we have been waiting decades for ‘D.C. to act on a national policy,” said County Executive Sara Innamorato. “And as 13 other states and the District of Columbia have enacted paid leave policies, Pennsylvania has not moved its paid family and medical leave bill since it was introduced more than 10 years ago.”
The Allegheny County Health Department’s paid leave policy was introduced in May. An updated version of the proposal was passed by the Board of Health in September and recommended by council’s health committee Oct. 8.
The measure, now awaiting consideration by the full 15-member council, would mandate paid parental leave.
To qualify, full- or part-time employees would have to work for their employer for at least six months or for 625 hours.
The Board of Health’s proposal also includes revisions to existing paid sick leave by introducing provisions that employers must provide designated paid sick leave, even if they already maintain a PTO policy that meets the required sick leave standards.
County Councilwoman Lissa Geiger Shulman, D-Hampton, said the county policy places most of the costs on employers, who she said also benefit from healthy families and population growth. If state or federal legislation advances, the county could revisit its policy and how costs are allocated.
“I think anything’s possible when we see changes of legislation at higher levels. The county has to relook at what we offer, and it’s something I wouldn’t be opposed to doing if we had that opportunity,” Geiger Shulman said. “But in the short term, when the county is the only one willing to act, we need to get this done at the county level.”