111,600 / 53.75% Yes votes ...... 96,033 / 46.25% No votes

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Federal and State laws require that the City allow its employees to take off at least three months after the birth, adoption or foster care acceptance of a child. The law does not require the City to pay employees during this time off. The City does allow employees to use vacation time and any other paid leave that the employees have earned. In addition, employees who give birth can use sick time. Employees who are pregnant or recovering from childbirth may be eligible to receive disability benefits from the State. After using up vacation time and paid leave, and any sick time and disability benefits, the remaining time off is unpaid.

The Proposal:

Proposition I is a Charter amendment that would supplement other benefits to provide up to twelve weeks of paid leave for City employees who take time off after the birth, adoption or foster care acceptance of a child. Proposition I also would supplement up to sixteen weeks of paid leave to employees who give birth or suffer a pregnancy-related disability. Each employee would be required to use his or her vacation time and paid leave, and any sick time and disability benefits before qualifying for paid parental leave. Employees who resign less than six months after returning to work would have to pay back the parental leave money.

We estimate a cost of $2.5 million for paying employees for parental leave that is currently taken as unpaid leave. This figure depends on the number of employees who would apply for parental leave and whether they are eligible for State Disability Insurance (SDI). SDI pays an average of 55 percent of full salary to an employee temporarily disabled by pregnancy, so the City would only need to cover 45% of their expense. Employees who do not have SDI coverage or who become parents without being pregnant themselves would not receive SDI payments, and would be compensated at 100% City expense.

Secondly we estimate a cost of $3.8 million to pay overtime or hire temporary replacements for employees taking parental leave who work in 24-hour operations, including police officers, firefighters, sheriffs and nurses. It does not include the cost of replacing employees who are not in 24-hour operations, because the decreased productivity that may result from their absence are not cash costs. The cost of this amendment would increase if City departments chose to pay overtime, premium or temporary wages to workers who take on the job duties of such employees on parental leave.

Finally, the amendment requires employees to refund parental leave pay if they voluntarily leave City employment without returning to work for at least six months. Our costs assume at least 5% of people taking this benefit would be required to refund parental leave pay to the City under this provision. The cost of this amendment would increase if fewer employees left City employment following parental leave.

Meaning of Voting Yes/No

A YES vote of this measure means:

If you vote "Yes," you want to provide up to twelve or sixteen weeks of paid leave for City employees who take time off after the birth, adoption or foster care acceptance of a child.

A NO vote of this measure means:

If you vote "No," you do not want to provide up to twelve or sixteen weeks of paid leave for City employees who take time off after the birth, adoption or foster care acceptance of a child.

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[Paid Parental Leave For City Employees]

CHARTER AMENDMENT

PROPOSITION I

Describing and setting forth a proposal to the qualified electors of the City and County of San Francisco to amend the Charter regarding compensation during parental leave. The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco hereby submits to the qualified electors of said City and County at an election to be held therein on November 5, 2002, a proposal to amend the Charter of said City and County by adding section A8.365 to read as follows:

Note: Additions are single-underline italics Times New Roman.
Deletions are strikethrough italics Times New Roman.

A8.365 COMPENSATION DURING PARENTAL LEAVE Under federal, state and local law, employees are entitled to take an unpaid leave of absence in the event of pregnancy disability or to care for a child after birth or placement for adoption or foster care. But employees may not have the financial resources to take advantage of this leave. This section provides compensation to supplement state disability insurance payments, paid sick leave, compensatory time, and other forms of paid leave, to ensure that an employee will receive the equivalent of the employee's salary for 12 weeks or, if the employee is temporarily disabled by pregnancy, up to 16 weeks, while on approved leave. In accordance with this section, eligible employees on approved Parental Leave shall receive supplemental compensation as set forth herein. Nothing in this section shall be construed to expand, reduce or otherwise affect the total amount of leave time available to employees under federal, state, or local law, Civil Service Commission rules, or applicable memoranda of understanding between the City and County of San Francisco and employee organizations. This section is intended to supplement other available sources of income during specified periods of leave to which the employee is otherwise eligible. Except for leave mandated by law, requests for leave continue to be subject to the approval of the appointing officer. A8.365-1 Definitions The following words and phrases as used in this section, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, shall have the following meaning: "Domestic Partner" shall have the same meaning as set forth in Administrative Code Section 62.1 et seq. "Employee" shall mean any person who is appointed to a position created by or which is under the jurisdiction of the City and County, whose compensation is paid by the City and County, and who is under the control of the City and County as to employment, direction and discharge and does not include persons who occupy classified or certificated positions with the San Francisco Unified School District or the Community College District or who work for the City as independent contractors. "Paid Leave" shall mean all paid time-off provided by the Charter, the Administrative Code, the Civil Service Rules or through a collective bargaining agreement and shall include but not be limited to vacation, sick leave, compensatory time, administrative or executive leave and floating holidays. For purposes of this section, "Paid Leave" shall not include statutory holidays. "Parental Leave" shall mean (a) Family Medical Leave as defined below; (b) Temporary Pregnancy Disability Leave as defined below: (a) "Family Medical Leave" shall mean leave taken pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act, the California Family Rights Act, or Civil Service Commission Rules, where such leave is taken after the birth of a child to the employee, the employee's spouse or the employee's domestic partner or for placement of a child with the employee's family for adoption or foster care, and has been requested and approved in accordance with the procedures set forth in those respective statutes or rules. (b) "Temporary Pregnancy Disability Leave" shall mean disability leave taken in accordance with State law or the Civil Service Commission Rules because of an employee's inability to work, as certified by a health care provider, for reasons of pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions, as defined by the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, Govt. Code Section 12945(b)(2) et seq. "Supplemental Compensation" shall mean compensation paid by the City to eligible employees on Parental Leave. The amount of Supplemental Compensation shall be the employee's regular base wage less (1) accrued paid leave from the City and (2) any payments received by the employee from a federal, state or other local government agency in lieu of compensation. A8.365-2 Eligibility The following employees shall be eligible to receive compensation as set forth herein: (a) Permanent, provisional, and exempt employees whose normal work week is not less than twenty (20) hours upon completion of six months of continuous service; and (b) All other employees of the City and County of San Francisco, including "as needed" employees, who have worked one thousand and forty hours (1040) in the twelve (12) months prior to the beginning of the parental leave and whose average work week is not less than twenty hours.

A8.365-3 Duration Employees shall receive supplemental compensation as set forth herein for a period not to exceed twelve weeks while on approved Family Medical Leave. Employees who take approved Temporary Pregnancy Disability Leave shall receive up to an additional four weeks of compensation Such compensation shall be subject to the conditions set forth in Section A8.365-4. A8.365-4 Supplemental Compensation (a) Employees shall receive their regular base wage while on approved Parental Leave subject to the following conditions; (1) Employees on approved Parental Leave shall first exhaust all accrued paid leave before receiving any Supplemental Compensation under this section. If an employee chooses not to exhaust these leaves, the total amount of the benefit for which the employee would otherwise have been eligible will be reduced by the amount of paid leave accrued by the employee as of the start of the leave. (2) The amount of Supplemental Compensation shall be reduced by any payments received by the employee from a federal, state or other local government agency while on Parental Leave. (3) Supplemental Compensation shall be provided for no more than twelve weeks, in the case of employees taking Family Medical Leave, or sixteen weeks, in the case of employees who take Temporary Pregnancy Disability Leave. For employees eligible for both Family Medical Leave and Temporary Pregnancy Disability Leave, Supplemental Compensation shall be provided for no more than sixteen weeks total. The twelve or sixteen week period shall be reduced by any paid leave taken after the birth of a child to the employee, the employee's spouse, or the employee's domestic partner, placement of a child with the employee's family for adoption or foster care, or taken for temporary pregnancy disability, within twelve months prior to the commencement of Parental Leave as defined herein. (4) Under no circumstance shall an employee receive from the City supplemental compensation under this Charter section which would result in an employee receiving total compensation while on Parental Leave which is greater than the employee's regular base wage. (b) During parental leave, the City shall continue to pay the contributions required by this Charter for retirement and health benefits, and any employer-paid employee retirement and health contributions required under the memorandum of understanding or unrepresented ordinance covering the employee. Retirement contributions shall be based on the actual amount of City pay received during the period of parental leave. A8.365-5 Reimbursement Any individual receiving compensation pursuant to this section shall execute an agreement providing that if the individual voluntarily separates from City service prior to returning to work for at least six months, the compensation described in Section A8.365-4 shall be treated as a loan payable with interest at a rate equal to the greater of (i) the rate received for the concurrent period by the Treasurer's Pooled Cash Account or (ii) the minimum amount necessary to avoid imputed income under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time to time, and any successor statute. Unless an alternative repayment schedule is agreed to by the City and the individual, such loan shall be payable in equal monthly installments over a period not to exceed 5 years, commencing 30 days following the individual's separation from City employment. A8.365-6 Non-Vested Benefit This Charter section creates no vested benefits. The voters expressly reserve the right to review the City's parental leave policy and the benefits provided in this section and may alter or repeal such benefits for any or no reason.

A8.365-7 Rules for Administration, Interpretation and Regulation of Parental Leave Within 120 days of approval by the voters of this Amendment, the Department of Human Resources shall develop any procedures necessary to administer, interpret, and regulate the provisions of this section, provided that all such rules shall be approved, amended, or rejected by ordinance by the Board of Supervisors. The amendments of this section contained in the proposition therefor submitted to the electorate on November 5, 2002 shall be effective July 1, 2003. APPROVED AS TO FORM: DENNIS J. HERRERA City Attorney

By:_____________________

Linda M. Ross
Chief Labor Attorney