Warner Robins Council reverses on maternity leave

The Warner Robins City Council on Monday reversed itself on providing a paid maternity leave benefit for city employees.

Less than two weeks after the measure failed in a split vote, the council voted unanimously to approve four weeks of paid maternity leave.

Councilman Tim Thomas, who voted against it previously, said he was swayed by the fact that the new resolution included one week of paternity leave as well as a week of leave of newly adoptive parents. Council members Mike Davis, Clifford Holmes and Carolyn Robbins expressed concerns about the cost in the pre-council meeting but ultimately voted for it. Davis and Robbins voted against it previously. Holmes did not vote before because he was serving as mayor pro-tem in that meeting.

“It is true that parents need to bond with their children, and somebody made that point today, so I will be changing my vote,” Robbins said just before the vote was taken.

Davis in pre-council argued that the vote should be postponed to give time to get a firm idea of the cost, but Mayor Randy Toms said ultimately the cost would be difficult to determine. Citizens who spoke in favor of the resolution in the pre-council meeting argued that any cost would be minimal because the city has already budgeted the salaries, and paying those salaries would be the primary cost.

Previously city employees had to take sick leave or unpaid leave for maternity leave.

Councilman Chuck Shaheen, who originally proposed the idea, made the motion to approve the policy.

“I think it’s going to be a trend setter and very progressive for our city and our county,” he said.

The council made the policy retroactive to Feb. 27 to cover a police department employee who recently had a baby.

This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 7:12 PM with the headline "Warner Robins Council reverses on maternity leave."