Would-be Va. House speaker announces support for 12 weeks of paid parental leave for state employees

[TexasTowelie]

The Republican hoping to be the next speaker of Virginia’s House of Delegates announced Thursday that he supports changing state policy to give state employees 12 weeks of paid parental leave.

Del. M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, said he wants to start by offering 12 weeks of leave to full-time, benefited House employees within one year of the birth or adoption of a child.

“As a society, we have to do more to strengthen families and encourage women to remain in the workplace,” Cox, whom House Republicans named as “speaker-designee” earlier this year, said in a prepared statement.

The policy described by Cox would rank Virginia as one of the most generous states in the country when it comes to giving new mothers and fathers cost-free time off. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act only requires large employers to offer 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave.

Read more: http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/would-be-va-house-speaker-announces-support-for-weeks-of/article_9c8c67d1-5867-5b5b-aff4-bfa2553c9e4c.html

[underpants]

1. Nice but it's only for employees of the House not all employees of the Commonwealth

Currently in order to take short term disability you have to use 40 hours of annual sick or (I think) personal/family leave.


From the article

If Cox becomes speaker, he could enact a policy immediately for House employees, but extending the benefit to all state workers would require legislative action. Enacting the policy for all state employees would cost an estimated $500,000 per year, according to Cox’s office.