San Jose expands paid family leave to attract police, workers

More than 1,000 officers with San Jose’s police union will no longer have limited hours of parental leave to spend with family.

City officials have expanded the existing 40 hours of paid leave for workers to 320 hours, with all of San Jose’s major unions becoming eligible as of Oct. 22 — including officers with the San Jose Police Department. The benefit is part of last year’s negotiations with Staff Up San Jose, a coalition of city employee unions. Workers threatened to strike last year over lack of salary increases and family leave.

“Paid parental leave is a critical benefit that will help us meet our commitment to the 30×30 pledge, increasing the representation of women amongst the ranks of our sworn police officers,” newly-appointed Police Chief Paul Joseph told San José Spotlight. “This benefit will better enable all San Jose police officers to balance the responsibilities of work and family.”

Police officials pledged earlier this year to increase the representation of women in police recruit classes to 30% by 2030 through what’s been dubbed the 30×30 Initiative.

Women make up 12% of sworn officers and 3% of police leadership nationwide, while in San Jose women make up 13% of sworn officers. Police officials say research shows women officers benefit the community and create better outcomes for crime victims, especially in gender-based violence cases.

Filling the approximately 100 empty vacancies at SJPD has been a long-term struggle for city leaders, who say San Jose has the most thinly-staffed police department out of any major U.S. city.

SJPD is authorized to employ about 1,700 employees, including sworn officers and non-sworn staff. But only 1,063 sworn officers were on the job as of last year. A department spokesperson told San José Spotlight the most recent police academy graduation on Sept. 13 saw 27 new police officers and three new community service officers join the force.

Ruth Silver-Taube, a workers rights attorney and San José Spotlight columnist, said the city’s updated parental leave program will prove to be a big incentive not just for recruiting police officers, but all city employees.

“It’s good for employers like the city to provide these benefits because they’ll attract workers who might be looking to other cities for employment,” she told San José Spotlight. “The city should be aligning with private industries that already provide those benefits.”

City employees and police officers were not entitled to paid parental leave before 2021, union leaders and labor advocates said, but recent expansions of the California Family Rights Act motivated employees to call for paid parental leave — as the California Family Rights Act only guarantees unpaid leave.

“The City-Paid Parental Leave benefit is vital for recruiting and retaining our workforce,” city spokesperson Demetria Machado told San José Spotlight. “It is an opportunity to connect with their new family members and ultimately provides work-life balance, which contributes to one of the city manager’s foundational priorities of making San Jose a great place to work.”

San Jose transportation worker Ryan Smith and IFPTE Local 21 member said his daughter was born before the city-paid parental leave program was implemented, but he was able to enjoy the benefits as he took time off last year to bond with his newborn.
He said before the updated policy, employees had to weigh factors like their amount of available vacation time before considering taking time off for family leave.

“You could get eight weeks of parental leave, and another month of sick leave if you want. So I was able to do all of that and got a lot of time with my kid,” Smith told San José Spotlight. “If people were going to ask me ‘I would like to work for the city, what are some non-work things to consider?’ The (paid parental leave program) is definitely a big consideration.”