BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP FEBRUARY 9 - FEBRUARY 15, 2018 17
A SICK SITUATION DEMANDS A CURE
In 2016, New York State passed a
law requiring all private employers
to provide their employees
with new benefits, including paid
parental leave. This guarantees
new parents —mothers and fathers,
adopted parents, foster
parents, etc.—the right to
paid time off to bond
with their new child.
In late 2015, Mayor
de Blasio announced
that New York City
would offer paid parental
to public city employees.
However,
many city employees,
including
our public school
teachers, have yet to see results. To
this day, no public school teachers
have this common sense benefit.
So what does a new mom teaching
in a public school do when she
gives birth? She hoards her sick
days. The city currently allows
new mothers working as teachers
to take six weeks of sick days to
care for and bond with her new
child. This means hoarding and
saving sick days for multiple years.
If you have not accumulated
enough sick days by the time you
give birth, you may “borrow”
sick days from the Department of
Education, but that means not getting
to use sick days for any other
purpose in the years that follow.
If you need longer than the six
allowed weeks (or eight, for mothers
who give birth via c-section),
tough luck. You’re off payroll.
Same goes if, for one reason or
another, you can’t hoard or borrow
sick days.
But wait, there’s more: This
practice of using sick days for
pseudo-maternal leave is only
available to biological mothers
who have given birth.
If you’re a biological and/or
single father, you get no parental
leave. If you’ve adopted, no parental
or maternal leave for you.
If you’re a foster parent,
sorry, no parental or
maternal leave. If
you’re a gay couple
who had a child with
a surrogate, you
guessed it: no parental
or maternal leave.
This system is
unsustainable and
cruel. In a time
when New York
State is recognizing the need for
new parents to care for and bond
with their children, public school
teachers are being forced to choose
between their newborn baby and
their next paycheck.
Meanwhile, other cities like
Atlanta, Seattle and Austin are
eating our lunch and leading the
way when it comes to paid parental
leave for city workers.
I’m calling on my colleagues in
the City Council to work together
to make paid parental leave for
public city employees finally a
reality.
In New York City, we count on
teachers to care for our children,
and to help give them the tools they
need to take on the world. Teachers
deserve the right to care for their
own children as well.
I would love to hear your
thoughts on this issue. You can
email me at AskJB@council.nyc.
gov or call my office at 718-748-5200.
Justin Brannan represents the
43rd Council District.
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GUEST OP-ED
THE HOT TOPIC
STORY: A Look Back
SUMMARY: Last week’s “Look Back,” which took a gander at the pre-construction
of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, was a hot topic among our online readers.
The photo, from the files of this newspaper, dates back to a time when the bridge
was promised but not yet a reality. Since its opening in 1964, the bridge -- which
connects the Ridge with Staten island -- has sparked much debate.
REACH: 3,549 (as of 2/5/18)
BY COUNCILMEMBER JUSTIN
BRANNAN
BK SNAPS
78TH STREET BETWEEN
FOURTH AND FIFTH
AVENUES.
Photo by Christopher Benedett
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