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Women’s Foundation testifies in favor of sick leave rule changes

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Women’s Foundation testified Tuesday in favor of rule changes proposed to the Personnel Advisory Board that would make family leave policies for state workers more accessible. The proposed rules changes would change the definition of sick leave to include the care for children within 12 months of their birth.

Wendy Doyle, the president and CEO of the foundation, spoke about the need for such policies and why they provide an important first step to paid family leave.

“While I understand you are not proposing public sector paid leave today, you are making a significant step toward a work culture that embraces paid family leave for state workers,” Doyle said in her testimony. “At the foundation, research is a large component of our work. We use data and facts to accurately tell the story.

Paid family leave has become a hot-button political issue in recent months, but it has attracted a growing contingent of supporters on both sides of the aisle. President-elect Donald Trump came out in support of the policy in September, and Republican Missouri House Speaker Todd Richardson voiced his dedication to passing paid family leave in the 2017 legislative session at a luncheon for the Women’s Foundation earlier this month.

“It is imperative that our state removes unnecessary regulatory barriers to allow women to succeed,” he said Dec. 2. “I know that when women succeed, our families and state succeed, too.”

The policy change has been a major contention of the Women’s Foundation for years, and supporters of paid family leave are quick to point out that it generally leads to a more productive work force.