New York Doubles Paid Parental Leave For Some City Employees

New York City just gave some of its employees a nice little Christmas bonus.

Starting Jan. 1, several thousand city workers will get an additional six weeks of paid parental leave.

Approximately 22,000 non-unionized workers will benefit from the change, according to an announcement from Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday. If workers combine the leave with other existing benefits, they'll be able to get 12 weeks' paid time off after the arrival of a new child, said de Blasio. The policy is gender-neutral and will apply to birth parents, foster parents and parents who adopt.

City officials hope to extend the benefits to New York's 300,000 unionized workers, according to The New York Times.

New York joins a growing wave of localities -- and employers -- offering paid time off to parents, even as the U.S. remains the only developed country with no national paid leave for mothers. Among U.S. cities, only Austin and Pittsburgh also offer six weeks' paid leave to their employees. But a number of companies, particularly in the tech industry, have expanded their leave benefits this year.

“Too many new parents face an impossible choice: taking care of their child or getting their paycheck,” de Blasio said in a statement. “This is a common sense policy that will make for healthier and more financially stable working families -- making it good for employees and employers.”

To pay for the new benefit, the city will use money that was already in the budget to give more vacation days to employees, who currently have 27 days a year. The city will also do away with plans to give managers a small raise.

The state of New York is also considering a paid family leave benefit, consisting of six weeks of paid leave that would be funded through a payroll deduction.

Earlier this year, the federal government began offering paid leave to its own employees.