New DC Worker Benefit Bill Could Create First-Of-Its-Kind Family Leave Plan

Isbella Diaz
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Want 16 weeks of paid time off from work after having a baby, to recuperate from a serious illness, or to take care of a dying parent? That dream might soon become a reality in the District.

The DC Council is introducing up a family-leave bill on Tuesday that would require employers to offer nearly every full- and part-time worker 16 weeks of paid leave.

If passed, the plan will make D.C. the most generous place in the country when it comes to taking family leave.

It would also get pretty pricey for D.C. employers. The new benefit would be financed by a new tax on D.C. businesses.

Even so, the D.C. Chamber of Commerce said it fears that a new tax would make the District “dangerously uncompetitive.”