Hamilton County employees could receive paid parental leave starting next month. A new proposal from County Mayor Weston Wamp would offer eight weeks of paid leave to mothers and two weeks worth of leave to fathers.
Hamilton is now the largest of Tennessee’s counties to lack paid parental leave. Metro Nashville, Nashville and Davidson County’s consolidated government adopted a paid leave policy in 2017. Shelby County followed in 2020, and in 2022 Knox County also implemented paid leave for parents.
If Wamp’s proposal is implemented, Hamilton County’s paid leave policy would provide mothers with as much or more total paid time off than the three largest counties in the state.
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Wamp presented the proposal to commissioners during a meeting Wednesday.
“Providing paid maternity and paternity leave for county employees demonstrates our commitment to supporting families and fostering a healthier work-life balance,” he said in a news release.
The county government employs just under 2,000 people, placing it among the largest employers in the Chattanooga metro area, according to a December 2023 list produced by the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.
If county commissioners approve the mayor’s proposal in a November vote, the policy will head back to Wamp for a signature and take effect once the ink dries. The proposal would allow parents to take the leave after adoptions, births and foster placements if they’ve worked for the county on a full-time basis for at least a year and have worked a minimum of 1,250 hours in the year before they take the leave.
According to the release from Wamp’s office, the proposal would also permit partial leave for people who don’t meet each of those requirements. Any leave would need to be used within six months of a child’s birth, adoption or placement with the employee.
Employees would be compensated at their current wage rate or salary.
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Though creating a paid leave policy for Hamilton County would mean the state’s four largest counties by population all offer paid leave, the time for which staff can be compensated would still vary by government. Knox County offers up to eight weeks of leave per family. That time can be split between parents if both are county employees. For Hamilton County employees, the weeks of the paid leave could not be shared between parents.
Shelby County and Metro Nashville both offer six weeks of leave to new parents.
Metro Nashville’s paid family leave policy also applies to situations other than parental leave, Assistant Director of Human Resources Michael Taylor said in a phone interview. It can be taken by parents, but also by people who need time away from work to care for a sick spouse, parent or child. Other than for births and adoptions or foster placements, employees can’t use the time on their own behalf.
“You go through the same process as with the Family Medical Leave Act,” he said, referencing federal legislation requiring employers to offer unpaid time off to staff in some medical situations.
Wamp’s press secretary, Haley Burton, said in a phone interview that she was surprised at the lack of a paid leave policy in Hamilton County when she started her job with the county.
“It’s 2024,” she said, adding that the proposal has been a priority for Wamp for years.
Contact Mariah Franklin at mfranklin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.