Tomorrow, the Travis County Commissioners Court will take action on a paid parental leave policy for all county workers, but with multiple policies still to choose from, the magnitude and impact of how they decide remains uncertain.
While county staff will be presenting a menu of possibilities to the court, with varying lengths of benefit, eligibility requirements and costs, they are slated to recommend the six-week option of paid parental leave that is “consistent with market conditions,” according to a publicly available PowerPoint presentation on the matter. (Commissioners directed county staff to take a look at the topic in February.)
An alternate resolution on the same issue, brought forward by County Judge Andy Brown, proposes eight weeks of PPL instead of six and shortens the eligibility requirement from 12 months of employment with the county down to six.
“I lived through what it means to have a newborn at home and just how absolutely exhausting and time-consuming and important and joyful that period of time is,” Stephanie Gharakhanian, a county employee who has been advocating for parental leave, told the Austin Monitor. “I’ve also met other employees who had to leave the county because they just couldn’t make things work.”
Gharakhanian has one child and is considering another. She has been with the county for about six months and previously worked with a nonprofit that offered its employees paid parental leave.
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