Superior council to consider paid parental leave

Apr. 18—SUPERIOR — When Lee Sandok-Baker, the city's code compliance officer, was pregnant more than a decade ago, she saved her vacation time and conserved sick time to recover from childbirth and bond with her newborn daughter.

Officer Lauren Phillips, one of three officers to graduate from the police academy as the Superior Police Department's first all-female class in 2021, may not have to do the same when she and her fiance consider starting a family in a few years.

Under a new policy proposed by Councilor Jenny Van Sickle, Phillips could receive six weeks of paid parental leave to recover and bond with her child.

"Our workforce is changing, and our policies need to catch up," Van Sickle said. "Recruiting employees isn't enough if we ask them to choose between their career and families a few years into their service. Until state and federal policies materialize, it's up to us to step in and step up."

Van Sickle said she was approached by another police officer from that 2021 class, Hillary Peterson, in August and asked about writing a paid parental leave policy. Peterson pointed out how many female officers and firefighters were joining the city's public safety departments.

In addition to the police department's 2021 all-female class, the Superior Fire Department had its first all-female fire crew this year.

Van Sickle got to work, learning what other Wisconsin municipalities are doing with paid parental leave, talking to employees, union leadership and police and fire chiefs, and outside organizations such as the Main Street Alliance and Progress North to craft a policy that would benefit all city employees.

"We've seen what happens without things like paid parental leave," said David Mettille, communications director with Progress North. "Workers, overwhelmingly women, often have to make the hard choice to leave the workforce and become unpaid workers and caretakers for children, elders and other family members in need. The result? They're forced to give up careers, lose income, health benefits and opportunities for advancement.

"It's crystal clear: When we have the resources in place to properly care for our families, the ripple effects extend well beyond our homes. The stability and security brought by common sense policies like paid parental leave enable us to stay in the workforce, be more productive at our jobs, raise healthy and strong families, and in turn, invest in our communities so everyone can do the same."

The cities of Clintonville, Fitchburg, Madison, Milwaukee, Monona, River Falls and Sun Prairie also have paid parental leave, as do Barron, Dane and Price counties. Policies range from 40 hours to six weeks of paid leave.

"My conversations with those communities were very important," Van Sickle said. "They advised that we be sure to work directly with employees to help design the policy and to be sure this is the best path for our city based on workforce demographics and their needs."

Van Sickle crafted a policy that would provide men and women with six weeks of paid parental leave to be used within eight weeks of the birth or the placement of an adopted or fostered child. To qualify, employees must be full time, qualified for the Family and Medical Leave Act; and have completed their probationary period with the city. Part-time, temporary and seasonal employees are excluded from eligibility for paid paternal leave.

"What I see a lot with the parents that are male and female here, is their partners, spouses take equal roles where it isn't necessarily the mother taking off of work to care for the child because both work full-time jobs," Phillips said.

Police Chief Paul Winterscheidt said it's a policy that would have helped him as a young officer who had four children after starting with the Superior Police Department.

"As a newer police officer, I didn't have a lot of sick time, and pretty much burned through most of it," Winterscheidt said.

He said if the policy is adopted, he would highlight it as a tangible benefit to recruit new officers to the department.

The cost of recruiting a new city employee isn't cheap.

Human Resources Director Cammi Janigo said it costs about $1,000 to recruit most city employees, but that cost goes up significantly for public safety employees. A typical firefighter costs about $16,300 to recruit and a police officer costs about $52,500 because of training and physical requirements of the job, she said.

"Creating policies like paid parental leave and making them permanently available are a rock-solid way for an employer to stand out in the sea of career and job opportunities, but they also build a strong workforce that turns over far less frequently," Mettille said. "This is magnified when employers are competing not just locally, but regionally and across state lines."

Winterscheidt said a policy like this could reduce barriers and attract more women to the line of work, because they wouldn't have to sacrifice a part of their life to be a police officer.

"I think it's going to make Superior a better place to work," Winterscheidt said.

Fire Chief Camron Vollbrecht said the policy supports the work-life balance that many are seeking in careers today.

"It's the opportunity for them to have time with their spouse when their children are being born and focus on that," Vollbrecht said. "So, when they get back to the job, they can focus on what they are doing here. We can do dangerous things at times, and so having someone who's focused on the job is really important."

Overall, the policy could provide better outcomes for the whole family by ensuring expectant mothers can the prenatal care leading up to the birth of the baby and ensuring everyone gets the care they need following the birth, Sandok-Baker said.

"I pretty much wiped out my time off in those couple of months that I had right after the child was born ... God-willing, everything is great and you don't have excessive need," Sandok-Baker said.

"Six weeks of paid parental leave isn't so much to grant in exchange for a 30-year career," Van Sickle said.

The City Council considers the policy May 7.