City employees can take a week off to mourn George Floyd, others, Portland mayor says

Maddie Capron
·2 min read

City employees in Portland, Oregon, will be allowed to take 40 hours of bereavement leave to mourn the recent deaths of black Americans and reflect on “a collective grief and trauma coming from a culmination of oppression that is over 400 years old,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said, according to news outlets.

Wheeler made the offer to all city employees on Monday, KATU reported.

“As a nation and as a city we continue to grieve the recent loss of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and others in the country and in our community,” Wheeler said in a statement, according to the Portland Tribune.

Floyd’s death is the most recent and it sparked an avalanche of protests across the nation. He died on Memorial Day, after a now-jailed Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for almost 9 minutes, prosecutors have said.

Taylor, an ER technician, died March 13 after police in Louisville, Kentucky, raided her apartment during a drug sting, fatally shooting her, according to USA Today. Her death remains under investigation.

Arbery was shot and killed on Feb. 23, while jogging in Glynn County, Georgia. Three men have been arrested and charged in the case, CNN reports.

“We hear and understand that many of our employees, especially our (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) employees, are deeply impacted by these recent events and are hurting,” Wheeler said, according to The Portland Tribune. “I want to give our employees space to grieve and reflect: 40 hours of bereavement leave.”

All managers and supervisors are to approve the leave without questions, KOIN reported. Wheeler also hopes other employers in the area will take similar action, according to the news outlet.

“We’re witnessing a dramatic shift in our nation, one that is urgently charting the path forward for restorative justice, inclusion and understanding,” Wheeler told KOIN. “I feel tremendous responsibility, as well as tremendous privilege, to be a part of this historic movement. Thank you for walking that path with me as we continue to serve the City of Portland.”