San Francisco becomes first American city to approve fully paid parental leave

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a measure on Tuesday that requires businesses to provide fully paid parental leave for employees.

San Francisco is now the first city in the country to pass such a measure, which will give new parents six weeks of fully paid time off. Supervisor Scott Wiener pushed the measure, saying, "The vast majority of workers in this country have little or no access to paid parental leave, and that needs to change." The United States is the only major industrialized country that does not require paid parental leave, and in California, workers can take off up to six weeks to bond with their new child, receiving 55 percent of their pay from a state insurance program funded by workers.

San Francisco businesses have until July 2017 and January 2018 to comply, The Associated Press reports, depending on the size of their company. Dee Dee Workman, vice president of public policy at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, said small business owners aren't happy with the new mandate, saying they "don't necessarily have the resources, they can't absorb the increases in cost, and they feel like it's kind of relentless, it's one thing after the next." The board of supervisors will hold another formal vote on the measure next week, and Mayor Ed Lee has already said he will be glad to sign it.

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