Expectant parents no longer have to worry about taking care of their child financially and emotionally, as San Francisco now allows the parents to have a fully paid leave.

The city of San Francisco is the first city in the U.S. to pass a measure that requires employers to fully pay workers for six weeks of leave. The ruling applies to both mother and father, including same-sex couples who either bore or adopted their child.

The law was unanimously passed by the city's Board of Supervisors and mandates that employees must be fully paid, with 45 percent paid for by the employer. Prior to the vote, an amendment to the proposal included an eligibility clause stating that employees who worked for the company for 180 days would be the ones qualified for the paid leave.

For companies with more than 50 workers, the city ordinance would take effect on Jan. 1, 2017, while smaller companies with 20 or more, the law will take effect after a year.

The law is well received in San Francisco except for owners of small business who feel that the ordinance would cause financial detriments to their company. Small business owners believe that the issue on parental leave is better discussed on a national or federal level. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce remains "neutral" on the mandate.

Scott Wiener who introduced the law expressed that the city took it upon them to decide on the matter because waiting for a mandate from the national level is futile.

"Whether it's paid parental leave, infrastructure investment, minimum wage, paid sick leave or addressing carbon emissions, we know the states have to act," said Wiener.

Many see the decision as heavily influenced by the city's proximity to Silicon Valley, which is rife with startups such as Google, Apple, Amazon, and Netflix that offer its employees long and fully paid parental leaves. Just recently, Twitter Vice President inclusion and diversity Jeffrey Siminoff said that starting May 1, the company would provide 20 weeks of paid leaves for its full-time employees.

"The goal of this change was to expand how we think about parental leave," said the newly appointed VP.

Facebook is also one of the generous companies to offer its employees paid paternal leave of up to four months. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg caused quite a stir when he announced that he will go on a parental leave following the birth of their firstborn.

Advocates acknowledge that San Francisco must be commended for the efforts but they still feel that the mandate only benefits low-income employees. Globally, the city ordinance is way behind. In the International Labor Organization list of 185 countries, the United States is one of the two countries that do not have a national law that offers paid parental leave.

San Francisco's mandate for new parents is much broader than that of New York, which also expanded its parental leave when Mayor Bill de Blasio required that 20,000 nonunionized employees receive six weeks of fully paid parental leave.

New York is the fourth state in the U.S. to offer its residents a paid parental leave. As soon it is implemented, parents can receive compensation for up to 12 weeks of leave.

Photo: Jerry Lai | Flickr

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