Alabama State Board of Education adopts emergency paid parental leave rule

The Alabama State Board of Education (ALSBOE) unanimously approved an emergency rule for paid parental leave for educators last week.

The rule, as outlined by SB 199, sponsored by Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, allows public education employees to take eight weeks of paid leave after giving birth, having a stillbirth or experiencing a miscarriage after 12 weeks. It also allows a father to take two weeks of paid leave under those circumstances. If a couple adopts a child under 3, either parent may have eight weeks of leave if they are both eligible employees.

The emergency rule, State Superintendent Eric Mackey said in May, allows employees who are expecting a child at the beginning of July to use the benefit. With the emergency rule, there is a 35-day public comment period before the board adopts permanent rules at its meeting on July 8.

“We’re getting a lot of questions from superintendents and CFOs but feel pretty good about implementation of that,” Mackey said at the board’s work session Thursday.

The use of the benefit revolves around the birth of the child, so any employees that have a baby before July 1, which is the effective date of the law, would not get paid leave. Mackey said an employee has a full calendar year to use the benefit, so those that have a baby in July can wait until school starts to take their leave.

Mackey said the local superintendent must approve the leave, and it should allow the parent to bond with the child. He said that a school district asked if a teacher could take every Friday off as their leave, but that does not align with the purpose of the law. There is no appeals process for any proposed leave, he said.

“But the purpose of the bill is to allow moms and dads some time to adjust to a new baby or adoption, and to bond,” he said. “Obviously, taking every Friday off doesn’t meet that need, and so I’m going to turn that down as a local superintendent.”