S.B. 119, passed in the most recent legislative session, requires school districts to adopt parental leave policies equal to or more generous than the policy for state government employees by July 1.
That includes the Wasatch County School District, where teachers and staff will soon be able to take six weeks’ paid time off if they give birth during the school year. If an employee has a baby during the summer, they will have three weeks of paid parental leave.
Fathers or spouses and people in other parenting situations, like fostering or adopting, will be eligible for three weeks of paid parental leave.
At the school board meeting Tuesday evening, human resources director Shawn Kelly said the changes make adjustments to the old policy, which followed federal guidelines for 12 weeks of unpaid time off – that’s called the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Now, some of those 12 weeks are paid time. Kelly said when those three or six paid weeks run out, district employees can opt to use their sick days to be paid for some of their remaining time off.
Kelly said the changes are a step up from the longstanding unpaid leave policy, as well as a revision the board made last June implementing three weeks of paid maternity leave.
Board member Breanne Dedrickson applauded the move.
“I just think this is amazing, because I knew teachers that couldn't afford to stay home after six weeks, and so they came back after six weeks of unpaid leave,” she said. “So to give them six weeks paid, I think, is awesome. When we're behind teachers, we're behind families.”
No federal policy for paid parental time off makes the U.S. an outlier globally. But Utah is like most states in lacking a family leave mandate.
Among about a dozen states that do require paid family leave, most cover 12 weeks of wages for new parents, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor.
