Pandemic lays bare the city’s need for paid parental leave

Paid parental leave is likely coming to Houston this spring — for city employees, at least. And proponents of the plan hope it sends a message.

“We have a duty to normalize what we know is right for Houstonians and the city,” said District C Council Member Abbie Kamin, speaking Friday about a new proposal to provide up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave to city employees.

The plan is a top recommendation of the Houston Women’s Commission, an initiative launched in 2021 that released its first report this week, after six months of work. It would give most city employees — those with at least six months on the job — up to 12 weeks of paid leave after they welcome a new child, whether by birth, adoption or foster placement. It would also provide for paid time off during pregnancy and for postnatal medical appointments.

Beth Matusoff Merfish, the chair of the women’s commission, describes the idea in a statement as an “investment in women in the city of Houston” — one that would make employment by the city, for women, more accessible and welcoming.

As it stands, city employees are not eligible for any paid parental leave, although they may take unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Compounding the challenge, for working parents, is the high cost of child care. And even parents who can afford it may not be able to find a spot in a day care easily.

“I’m on a waitlist,” volunteered Kamin. “For a tour.”

Let’s put an asterisk here: the plan hasn’t yet been approved by city council. But it is is backed by Mayor Sylvester Turner, among others.

“As a father, I know how special it is to spend time bonding with a newborn and not have to feel distracted by work,” Turner told me, adding that he knows city employees have faced such a dilemma directly. “One story that comes to mind is that of one of my directors, a mother of three beautiful children. I recall that

she worked late on a Tuesday and delivered her third baby early the following day. She saved her vacation and sick hours to take time off after delivery.”

The council’s Quality of Life Committee will hold an April 7 hearing on the proposal, which will go before the full council on April 13. So there will be time to hear any questions or concerns that Houstonians may have.

But what are those concerns, really?

Some may believe that parental leave is a luxury, or analogous to a vacation, which most new parents would argue — with exhausted, bleary eyes — is emphatically not the case.

More substantive concerns are likely to focus on costs, as Houston’s overall budget comes under scrutiny. City Controller Chris Brown has been sounding the alarm about the fiscal challenges facing the city in the not-so-distant future as the federal funds that have helped prop up our “structurally imbalanced” budget go away.

The overarching concerns that he and others have raised are real and worth taking seriously. At the same time, let’s keep in mind that Houston’s city budget for the current fiscal year is $5.1 billion. While the costs of this proposal would vary depending on how many eligible city employees take the leave, we’re not talking about something that would bust the budget.

Indeed, a FAQ on the subject from Turner’s office notes that we’ve already accounted for the costs: “The City is able to offer these new benefits with no budgetary impact to the City as the hours approved under this ordinance are already included in the annual budgeted personnel costs.”

Also worth noting is that paid parental leave, and other such policies, carry benefits that can’t be quantified for employees and, by extension, their employer. No one takes a job planning to use bereavement leave, for example, but it helps to know if an employer is committed to supporting its workers in the face of loss and grief.

This would be a timely move for the city of Houston. The need for policies supporting parents, children and families was laid bare by the pandemic.

There was a push for 12 weeks of paid parental leave in Congress last year as part of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act, but that proposal got scaled back, and then died, amid concerns by centrist Democrats and Republicans about the larger program’s cost. The most recent version would have included four weeks of paid family leave as well as new investments in child care.

“I have always said, ‘If I can’t go back home and explain it, I can’t vote for it,’” U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat whose opposition ultimately derailed the plan, said in a statement at the time. “Despite my best efforts, I cannot explain the sweeping Build Back Better Act in West Virginia.”

Although the issue of paid parental leave is getting traction in some states, it remains a nonstarter at the Texas Legislature, unsurprisingly. State Rep. Gene Wu, a Democrat who represents part of west Harris County, notes that bills to this effect have been filed, only to never get a committee hearing.

That being the case, Texas cities and counties have been stepping up. The city of Austin, for example, last month extended up to six weeks of paid parental leave for the city’s police, fire and EMS employees; other city employees have had access to paid parental leave since 2013. (Travis County commissioners in February, similarly, passed a resolution for the county to develop a paid family leave policy for its employees.)

For local leaders, such a policy is necessary from a competitive perspective, if nothing else.

“We can attract and retain talented and dedicated employees by offering some of the benefits provided in the private sector,” Turner said.

“What are the costs of not doing it?” Kamin, the Houston city councilmember, asked rhetorically.

“Because of the financial constraints of the city, we cannot pay (workers) the way that the private sector can,” she continued. “But we can do the right thing. We can offer the right benefits — which show that we care, and that those committed to public service matter, and their families matter.”

Such a display would benefit the city, as well as employees.

The nationwide unemployment rate soared into the double digits during the pandemic, only to plunge during the recovery: It now stands at 3.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Across the state of Texas, the unemployment rate is a bit higher — 4.7 percent as of February, according to Texas Workforce Commission data. Still, employees here and across the country have real leverage at the moment.

If workers want to use that leverage to advocate for paid parental leave, no one should begrudge them. Instead, employers — including the city — should recognize the benefits of such policies, and act accordingly.