New parents who work for Lehigh County may soon enjoy eight weeks of paid parental leave after the birth or adoption of a child.<\/p>\n
In his first major piece of legislation since taking office in January, county Executive Josh Siegel on Wednesday asked the county commissioners to approve a policy change that would put the county, as an employer, on par with many large corporations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe Lehigh County can be a leader in recruitment and retention and lead by example, hopefully for other large employers in the region, to offer a policy like this,\u201d Siegel said. \u201cI think this is not only a great retention tool but makes sense from a budgetary perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turnover is extraordinarily expensive, he said, noting that it costs about 20% of a worker\u2019s annual wages to replace them if they leave.\u00a0The county has about 2,200 employees.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we look for creative and nuanced ways to be a leader in attraction, retention, and recruitment of the best workforce in the Lehigh Valley, I think this is a great policy to say that as a county, we don\u2019t ever want parents to have to choose between a paycheck and caring for a loved one,\u201d Siegel said.<\/p>\n
The board will vote on the update to the personnel and policy procedures manual April 22.<\/p>\n
All the commissioners present at Wednesday\u2019s meeting said they were in favor of the change. Zach Cole-Borghi, who was recently charged with drug trafficking,<\/a> was the only commissioner not present.<\/p>\n Commissioner Sarah Fevig, a mother of three who works in higher education, said paid parental leave allowed her to advance in her career while raising a family.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really was a game changer,\u201d she said. \u201cKnowing that it was there was key to me being able to more forward as a professional. Having that safety net was really important.\u201d<\/p>\n Fevig noted that the new policy would be more generous than what some employers offer because it would not require county employees to use all their sick time and vacation before taking advantage of the eight weeks paid time off.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this will be a great retention tool,\u201d Fevig said.<\/p>\n \u201cSimply put, this is a great thing,\u201d Commissioner Antonio Pineda said. \u201cI think this is the wave of the future for how you should be treating your employees.\u201d<\/p>\n To qualify for the eight weeks of paid parental leave, employees must have worked for the county for at least 12 months. An employee who quits immediately following the eight weeks would be required to reimburse the county.<\/p>\n The leave runs concurrently with an employee\u2019s Family and Medical Leave Act eligibility. FMLA is a federal law that allows most employees at companies with 50 or more staff to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth or adoption of a child.<\/p>\n The policy was modeled after Montgomery County\u2019s, which offers 12 weeks of parental leave. If approved, it would affect all county employees, union and nonunion. Unlike FMLA leave, the proposed parental leave cannot be taken intermittently.<\/p>\n