Columbia council adopts family leave benefit for city employees. Here's what to know

A city employee benefit championed by former Ward 2 council member Andrea Waner before her resignation resulted in council action Monday.

Starting Jan. 7, city employees can take up to six weeks paid family medical leave, or FMLA, in a 12-month period, and new employees do not have to wait 30 days after hire before using sick leave. This is slightly different than what Waner proposed, which was up to 10 weeks leave.

This six-week leave benefit will cost the city at a minimum $1.3 million, based on 2022 FMLA usage by city employees. This dollar amount doesn't take into consideration employee pay raises, overtime or other work load given to other staff.

An amendment from interim Ward 2 council member Rachel Proffitt to increase leave from six weeks to eight weeks failed. That proposal had a minimum $1.8 million cost.

"(FMLA) is in addition to the 18 days of sick leave accrued annually with no maximum, vacation time and floating holiday accruals. It shall run concurrently with federal FMLA," said Kathy Baker, city human resources director. "(FMLA) protects leave for the birth of a child or placing a child in foster or adoption care; care of a parent, child or spouse who has a serious health condition; a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to work; and reasons related to a family member's service in the military, including a qualifying (emergency) leave and military caregiver leave."

Human resources does not know the complete financial impact from this policy change and is working in tandem with the city's finance department to collect data to determine the true costs.

Even without knowing the full costs yet, FMLA is a significant draw for employees, said Mayor Barbara Buffaloe, referencing conversations she's had with other mayors. She hopes further conversations happen as the program is implemented to expand the FMLA benefit since other employers, like the University of Missouri, offers up to three months leave, she said.

Data collection will take at least two full years as a pilot program, through three years would allow the city to start seeing any cost trends, Baker said in reply to a question from Ward 4 council member Nick Foster.

Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbia City Council adopts paid family medical leave for city staff