Utah gets D- grade for paid parental leave

Utah joins a majority of states across the country, as well as the federal government, in earning a flunking grade from a new report assessing the availability of paid parental leave policies.

While many received an outright F, Utah received a more generous D- because state employees may be granted up to 12 months of unpaid medical leave — including leave for pregnancy disability or recovery from childbirth — if a health care provider certifies temporary disability.

The report, "Expecting Better: A State By State Analysis of Parental Leave Policies," was compiled by the National Partnership for Women & Families, a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group that works to promote fairness in the workplace and quality health care.

Its release was timed to accompany the nation's attention directed at Mother's Day, which is Sunday.

"Here in Utah, we could do much better," said Karen Crompton, executive director of Voices for Utah Children. "For Mother's Day, Utah's moms need more than hearts and flowers: They need measures that will allow them to take time with new babies."

Points were awarded in a variety of categories to determine how family-friendly state policies and private sector practices are to working parents.

"Paid parental leave programs are scarce in the private sector," the report noted, adding that a 2000 survey of personnel managers found just 12 percent of companies offered paid maternity leave and just seven percent offered paid paternity leave.

Rather, companies tend to rely on job protection guarantees provided by the Family Medical and Leave Act, which guarantees unpaid leave to qualified workers.

The survey looked at legislation, state by state, that goes beyond the FMLA — such as family-friendly laws that provide for paid leave. No states earned an A and only one state, California, earned an A-, in part because of a law on its books which provides working parents with up to six weeks of paid leave to care for a newborn, newly adopted or foster care child.

Workers also can tap into flexible sick leave to care for a spouse or domestic partner who is temporarily disabled due to pregnancy or recovery from childbirth.

Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley, head of the Utah chapter of the AFL-CIO, said he finds the lack of compensated parental leave pay reprehensible.

"We are behind on a lot of things . . . It's very concerning for a state like Utah that puts family on its list of high priorities to not provide compensation for a woman having a baby," Mayne said.

Utah's grim standings didn't really surprise Nancy Mitchell, executive director of the Women's Business Center at the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce.