Assembly members propose parental leave policy for Anchorage city employees

Anchorage Assembly member Austin Quinn-Davidson and two colleagues are introducing a proposal Tuesday to grant four weeks of paid parental leave to some municipal employees after a new child joins the family.

The policy was briefly on the books in 2021 after Quinn-Davidson, then acting mayor, implemented it by executive action. But Mayor Dave Bronson rescinded it a few months after taking office. Bronson said at the time the change was “announced hastily” by the outgoing administration with inadequate cost considerations.

Now, the 12 members of the Assembly will decide whether to create a more permanent version of that paid parental leave policy. The item is on Tuesday night’s meeting agenda, though it will not be debated until March 7.

“This ordinance would provide a continuous 160 hours (four weeks) of paid leave to municipal employees who are new parents so they can attend to medical needs, bond with their new child, and manage household chores and tasks without sacrifice to their finances or commitment to their jobs,” according to an explanation of the measure filed by members Quinn-Davidson, Meg Zaletel, and Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance.

Employees would qualify under the same guidelines used under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which includes the “birth of a child and the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care.”

In its current form, the measure would immediately affect “executive and non-represented employees” of the city, but not those represented by a union, which constitute the overwhelming majority of the city’s public workforce. In order to cover union employees, the change would need to be incorporated into the next collective bargaining agreements negotiated between the city and groups like the Anchorage Municipal Employees Association, or else added through amendments to those agreements.

“I would expect this ordinance to pass. To me it’s a no-brainer. It’s good for kids, it’s good for infants ... it’s good for moms,” Quinn-Davidson said.

The sponsors say they will add language to the city’s labor relations policy encouraging the mayor’s office to extend the parental leave program to unionized employees. But ultimately, it is up to the administration whether or not to support adding the parental leave benefit to negotiated contracts.

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A spokesman for the Bronson administration did not return a request for comment on the proposed policy Monday, a holiday for the municipality.

Quinn-Davidson is not optimistic Bronson will pursue the policy in negotiations with unions.

“We can make suggestions, we can encourage,” Quinn-Davidson said, “but it is up to the administration to do those collective bargaining agreement amendments.”

Though she’s long been a proponent of paid parental leave, Quinn-Davidson said the current economic environment adds another impetus for such a policy.

“Employers nationally are struggling to find and maintain a strong workforce, and this is particularly so at the Municipality under this current administration. This benefit would improve quality of life for municipal employees, thereby leading to less turnover, which is costly to the Municipality,” says a memorandum on the ordinance.

The Assembly memorandum says a number of private and public employers in Anchorage already have paid parental leave policies. As of October 2020, under the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act, federal civilian employees are eligible for 12 weeks of paid leave after a birth or placement of a foster child or adoptee with a family.

The measure’s sponsors say in addition to making municipal jobs more attractive amid a competitive labor market and outmigration from the state, paid leave has a demonstrable benefit on maternal and family health.

“A study showed that paid leave reduced symptoms of depression among mothers with infants by 30% compared to rates before implementation,” the memorandum says.

In its current form, only covering executive and non-represented employees, the policy would affect around 10 people a year, the average number of high-level workers who have children annually in the municipal workforce.

Quinn-Davidson approved the municipality’s first version of the parental leave policy on June 30, 2021, the day before her term as acting mayor ended and Bronson was sworn in. The move was criticized by Bronson when, on Aug. 31 of that same year, he scrapped the program, along with another policy enacted under Mayor Ethan Berkowitz that allowed some parents to bring babies under 6 months old to the office.

“This Paid Parental Leave Policy was announced hastily only hours before the previous administration left office. It came with virtually no data, information, or even a basic understanding for how it would impact the Municipality’s budget or financial outlook,” Bronson said at the time.

If it does pass, it’s unclear if Bronson will veto it, or if there will be enough votes to override such a move.

Typically a rule change involving these kind of employment benefits would be forwarded by the Assembly to the Personnel Rules Committee for evaluation. However, the ordinance’s sponsors note, that group is functionally impotent because the body in charge of approving its membership, the Human Resources Advisory Board, “does not have enough appointed members to constitute a quorum.” As a result, the ordinance waives any requirement that the policy undergo evaluation by the committee.

Quinn-Davidson, who has represented West Anchorage since 2018, announced in November she is not running for reelection. She said the paid parental leave policy was one of the ways she hoped to improve the municipality before departing.