San Francisco becomes first US city to offer fully paid parental leave

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- San Francisco supervisors have approved legislation that would make the city the first in the country to guarantee six fully paid weeks of parental leave.

San Francisco is now the first jurisdiction in the country to offer 100 percent paid parental leave. Some residents see this as long overdue, but not everyone is on board.

Erin Hoard, who has an eight-month-old child, knows it's not always easy to juggle a new baby and the expenses of living in the city. When she had her baby Collin her husband took some time off at 55 percent pay covered by the state of California.

"I tried to pick up work in that time just to kinda make up for it," she said.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted on a proposal that would allow both parents to take six weeks of parental leave at 100 percent of their salary; 55 percent covered by the state and 45 percent covered by companies with 20 or more employees.

"It would be amazing, that's all I can say," Hoard said.

Brett Colbert, a father of two, also supports the proposal.

"I think it's great. I think that parents need time off to take care of their kids," Colbert said.

However, that wasn't his experience as a new dad.

"I think I took off a couple days. There just wasn't any time to take off, constantly working," he said.

He says it's about more than just the money, it's also about the company's attitude toward parental time off.

"Making your salary is important, but I think it's more important to know the company supports it and you won't get penalized," Colbert said.

San Francisco's small business commission opposes the measure. The chamber of commerce is neutral.

Entrepreneur Margot Friend understands the dilemma of small business owners facing additional employee costs.

"I have an employee right now who's about to have a baby, so this is a timely issue for us," Margot Friend said.

The board of supervisors voted this afternoon and it will go into effect in 2017.

In related news, San Francisco-based Twitter announced it will offer equal time off to both mothers and fathers, welcoming new babies.

This makes Twitter the latest tech firm to provide gender neutral parental leave. That leave includes 20 weeks off work, with full pay. Mothers are already granted that and the gender neutral rule will take effect at the end of the month.

Twitter's rules cover adoptions as well.