A proposal to grant workers unpaid time off to attend their children’s parent-teacher meetings awaits a final state House vote expected today, but even its current, watered-down form faces an shaky future.
Republicans have lined up to argue against it, and plenty of Democrats fear it places too large a burden on small businesses. Although his spokesman says Gov. Bill Owens has not made a decision, some lawmakers believe he will veto the bill.
Meanwhile, parents such as Cecilia Parker wait to see what will happen.
Working the register for a steady flow of customers, the convenience-store cashier barely has time to answer the phone. Some days, the idea of leaving work to take care of school issues for her 10-year- old son is unfathomable.
“His parent-teacher conference – I was at work, so I missed that,” said Parker, who works in Montbello, at least a 30-minute drive from her son’s school, Columbine Elementary in Denver.
In her case, once the work schedule is made, it’s practically cast in stone. Other employers say they try to be more flexible, but the effort to balance employees’ personal lives with the needs of business can be tough.
With that in mind, House Democrats have significantly weakened the parental-leave bill. It now limits what events employees can leave work to attend to parent-teacher conferences and emergencies, allows employees to miss only two hours a month, and applies only to companies with 50 or more employees.
That’s a change from the original bill, which required employers with more than 10 workers to provide each employee up to five hours of unpaid leave per month to attend school events, including field trips, sporting events and theatrical performances.
The Colorado debate comes as six other states consider similar measures. Eight states plus Washington, D.C., already give parents some unpaid leave to attend children’s activities.
Mike McCrudden, who supervises a Boulder computer technology team for IBM, faces the parental-leave issue both as a manager and as an employee who makes sure his schedule allows him to coach his son’s Little League baseball team on Fridays at 4 p.m.
“I give them as much flexibility as possible,” McCrudden said of the employees he supervises. His philosophy: “As long as you get somebody to cover for you, that’s fine.”
Mark Callahan, who as owner of Blake Street Manufacturing in Denver manages 28 employees, says he sees value in allowing an employee paid leave to attend school functions. “We depend on the people working for us, so it’s important to keep them happy,” Callahan said.
For scheduled activities, a week and a half is sufficient advance notice, he said. And for emergencies, “You go. Family first, job second.”
That’s the kind of support Kim Rutherford, a paralegal for the law firm Wade, Ash, Woods, Hill and Farley in Denver, enjoyed seven years ago.
“My daughter broke her leg at school,” she recalled.
Rutherford took off and spent the bulk of the next six weeks at the hospital as her daughter underwent several surgeries.
Now that her daughter is 15 and her son nearly 14, Rutherford said, her firm’s flexibility in allowing her paid leave for school functions is one of the best parts of her job.
“They know that kids come first,” she said. “As long as we get our work done, they’re fine with it.”
John Montoya, the owner of La Estrellita restaurant in Brighton, employs about 100 people. Most of those are part time and too young to have kids in school. But for the 10 or so full- time employees, Montoya said he tries to be accommodating. “It’s a restaurant, so it’s pretty adaptable,” he said.
Staff writer John Ingold and researcher Barbara Hudson contributed to this report.
Staff writer Jim Hughes can be reached at 303-820-1244 or jhughes@denverpost.com.
