Montgomery County will study and develop a model for a paid family leave program thanks to a federal government grant announced Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau revealed $1.55 million in grants for studies of family leave programs in eight jurisdictions around the country. In Montgomery County, the study will include a cost-benefit analysis and the development of an implementation strategy.
Staff in the County Council’s Office of Legislative Oversight will lead the study and get help from family leave experts at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.
District 16 state Del. Ariana Kelly partnered with County Council member Hans Riemer and county officials to write the grant application. It comes after Kelly proposed a similar feasibility study of a state fund to pay employees for parental, medical and caregiving leave in the 2015 legislative session.
The bill didn’t pass and Kelly said Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration “was not interested in applying” for the Department of Labor grant.
California, New Jersey and Rhode Island already have funds for family leave programs. The California program is paid for by employees’ insurance contributions. Federal law allows for unpaid family leave.
During his State of the Union address in January, President Obama announced he would direct federal agencies to give their employees up to six weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. In the address, Obama proposed $2 billion in new funds to help states develop paid family and medical leave programs.
The grant was announced by U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, a former Montgomery County Council member.
“Thanks to a partnership with Secretary Perez and the Montgomery County Council, the State of Maryland will be positioned to move forward in providing an important social safety net for all workers who develop a serious illness or have a baby,” Kelly said in a statement. “This should not be a benefit just for the privileged few.”
It comes about three months after the council approved one of the country’s strongest paid sick leave laws, requiring most employers to provide at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours an employee works in the county, up to 56 hours of paid leave in a calendar year.
“We don’t yet know how to implement a paid family leave program at the local level,” Riemer said in a prepared release.
The Department of Labor estimated that 12 percent of private-sector workers in the country have access to paid family leave through their employers.
“Armed with this information, our community will be able to have an informed discussion about paid family leave,” Riemer said.
