San Francisco is ushering in a new era for parents, as the city on Tuesday became the first to pass a law mandating six weeks of fully paid parental leave. The law covers mothers, fathers, adoptive parents and same-sex couples.
The landmark measure comes as an upgrade to an existing California law that gave six weeks of parental leave at 55 percent of pay, which was covered by a state disability fund. Employers with 50 or more workers will now be required to cover the remaining 45 percent under the law, which goes into effect in January 2017. The following year, the requirement will extend to companies with 20 or more employees.
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Supervisor Scott Weiner introduced the bill, which was backed unanimously by San Francisco's Board of Supervisors.
San Francisco's new legislation came just one week after the state of New York passed a law providing twelve weeks of partially paid parental leave at 50 percent of pay. That plan will start to roll out in 2018.
But the San Francisco law comes as the first of its kind in the United States, giving parents full pay while they stay home to take care of their new little ones.