Alabama Senate approves paid parental leave for state, education employees

The Alabama Senate on Wednesday passed a bill establishing parental leave for state and public education employees.

Currently, state employees must use a combination of sick leave and unpaid time off if they wish to stay home after a child’s birth or adoption. SB 199, sponsored by Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile would provide up to eight weeks of maternity leave and two weeks of paternity leave to state employees in most cases.

“When a woman has a child, her body goes through a lot,” Figures said after the bill passed. “She has to heal. And it’s not just the physical part of it, but it’s also the mental part of it as well … It’s very important that that woman has that support. It’s also a time that she gets to spend with the father, and they can bond.”

For adoption, either the mother or father would be eligible for eight weeks and the other for two.

The bill passed 28-3. It moves to the House.

In her State of the State speech last month, Gov. Kay Ivey endorsed legislation to provide parental leave to state and education employees. Shortly after the speech, the Alabama Education Association (AEA) also came out in support of the legislation.

The bill also provides eight weeks of leave for stillbirths after 20 weeks or miscarriages after 12 weeks. Abortions would not qualify for parental leave unless they were done to save the life of the mother.

Sen. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville, spoke in support of the bill, saying that he appreciated “the opportunity to co-sponsor” the bill.

“I have had a number of emails from my constituents, and they were actually my constituents, not spammed from all over the state, and my simple response was, ‘I’m a co-sponsor,’ and I wasn’t trying to be short, I just let them know I was for the bill,” Givhan said.

Figures introduced a bill last year that would have provided parental leave to education employees while Rep. Ginny Shaver, R-Leesburg, introduced a bill providing parental leave for state employees. Budget chairs indicated they wanted to combine the two bills, but it was too late in the session to do so.

“We put the two bills together, which was suggested by Sen. Arthur Orr, (R-Decatur) who’s chair of the Education Trust fund committee, and now we have this bill,” Figures said, adding that she also worked with Ivey’s office.