Guest op-ed: A sick situation demands a cure
In 2016, New York State passed a law requiring all private employers to provide their employees with new benefits, including paid parental leave. This guarantees new parents —mothers and fathers, adopted parents, foster parents, etc.—the right to paid time off to bond with their new child.
In late 2015, Mayor de Blasio announced that New York City would offer paid parental to public city employees. However, many city employees, including our public school teachers, have yet to see results. To this day, no public school teachers have this common sense benefit.
So what does a new mom teaching in a public school do when she gives birth? She hoards her sick days. The city currently allows new mothers working as teachers to take six weeks of sick days to care for and bond with her new child. This means hoarding and saving sick days for multiple years.