Dive Brief:

• Washington. D.C.’s city council members voted for a policy guaranteeing two months of paid time off for workers to care for newborns or adopted children, reports the Washington Post. The bill also provides workers six weeks of paid leave to care for an ill relative and two weeks of personal sick time.
• The paid family leave bill makes D.C. a leading jurisdiction of family-friendly workplace policies, says the Washington Post. A $250 million a year tax on businesses will fund paid leave, which covers both full-time and part-time workers. The technological cost to administer the benefits is estimated to be as high as $80 million.
• If the bill is enacted, benefits won’t likely be available before 2019, the Post noted. A final vote on the bill is scheduled for Dec. 20.

​Dive Insight:

D.C. is traditionally liberal concerning employee rights, but employers should keep an eye on the developments. Other states and municipalities could follow suit if it is successful.

Although generous paid leave policies like D.C.’s are costly, companies must weigh the expense against the competitive edge they’ll have in recruiting, hiring and retaining talent. Companies also must compare the expense of paid leave policies against losses in productivity when employees struggle between the need to care for family members at home and the fear of losing a paid day’s work.