ATLANTA – State Representative Houston Gaines (R-Athens) filed legislation in the Georgia House of Representatives today providing paid parental leave to employees of the State of Georgia. Representative Gaines made the announcement today at a press conference at the State Capitol with Speaker of the House David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge).
“We created a paid parental leave benefit for employees of the Georgia House of Representatives earlier this year and feel it important to extend this benefit to the rest of the state’s hardworking employees,” said Speaker David Ralston. “I commend Representative Gaines for taking the lead on this important initiative which puts families first and reaffirms our commitment to a culture of life in Georgia.”
This new paid parental leave benefit would provide some 246,000 state employees with three weeks of paid leave upon the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child. It applies to employees with six months of creditable service regardless of the employee’s gender. It is limited to once in any 12-month period. This benefit does not impact the employee’s accrued leave or rights under any family medical leave policy.
“As we seek to recruit and retain the best and brightest employees to serve Georgia’s citizens, this is an important step in helping our employees maintain a healthy work-life balance,” said Rep. Houston Gaines. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the General Assembly and the leadership of our state agencies to implement this new paid parental leave benefit.”
Speaker Ralston announced a paid parental leave benefit for employees of the Georgia House of Representatives in July 2019. That benefit went into effect in January of this year.
In December, President Trump signed legislation extending a paid parental leave benefit to 2.1 million civilian employees of the federal government. Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump has championed the issue of paid parental leave for the White House.
Representative Houston Gaines represents the citizens of District 117, which includes portions of Barrow, Clarke, Jackson and Oconee counties. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018 and currently serves on the Code Revision, Health & Human Services and Insurance committees.
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