Kentucky moved closer to expanding parental leave for employees in the state by offering the benefit as an insurance product.
Advocates for the policy say it will help families without burdening employers.
"This is a market-driven policy proposal that includes no mandates on employers, workers or families," said state Senator Amanda Mays Bledsoe, a Republican, while addressing the chamber, per Fox News.
The state Senate passed Senate Bill 179 36-0 on March 28 during a final vote.
The policy permits Kentucky employers to offer voluntary paid family medical leave as an insurance product.
“If employers chose to offer the benefit, it would provide temporary wage replacement for workers who need to be away from work to care for a sick relative, bond with a newborn child, care for a relative in the military or face a line-of-duty injury as a first responder. Still more reasons could be outlined in an employer’s benefit plan,” reports AP News. “Supporters see it as a way to help employers attract and retain workers.”
The bill will now be sent to Governor Andy Beshear for his signature.
Expanding family leave benefits has been a priority for the state this year.
In March, the Kentucky Senate voted 28-10 in favor of ensuring state employees who have held their jobs for one year can take four weeks of paid maternity leave. Senate Bill 142 would also grant two weeks of paid leave to state employees for a foster care or kinship care placement.
The Senate also voted in favor of Senate Bill 205 in February which gives the state’s public school teachers 20 days of maternity leave. Public school teachers in Kentucky do not currently have guaranteed paid maternity leave. According to Forward Kentucky, 80% of the state’s teachers are women.
“Paid maternity leave is a common benefit for professionals in the private sector,” said Eddie Campbell, the president of the Kentucky Education Association, in a statement. “Our educators are professionals, and a paid benefit like maternity leave is a positive step forward to competing with the private sector. It illustrates that Kentucky values and respects the work our public school educators do.”
The state House voted in favor of a voluntary expansion of family leave 92-1 in January. State Representative Rachel Roarx, a Democrat, said paid family leave helps keep women in the workforce.
She told Fox News the measure was “an opportunity for us to help make our state more competitive with surrounding states, and help our businesses be able to attract more and diverse folks to Kentucky.”
