Letter To The Editor: Putnam Valley Resident, Parental Leave Policy Unfair

PUTNAM VALLEY, N.Y. -- The Putnam Daily Voice accepts signed and original letters to the editor up to 350 words. To submit your letter, email putnam@dailyvoice.com.

Putnam Valley resident Daniel Vera. disagrees with parts of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Paid Parental Leave initiative.
Photo Credit: *File*

by Daniel P. Vera

01/14/2016 12:00 p.m.

While the New York City Managerial Employees Association (MEA) applauds Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Paid Parental Leave initiative, I do have serious reservations about Mayor’s Personnel Order No. 2016/1, detailing its implementation.

MEA leadership will be meeting with the Office of Labor Relations later this month to advocate for a moratorium on implementing this progressive policy’s flawed funding methodology.

The MEA Executive Board and members have various objections to this personnel order, including that the family related needs of the managerial work force are not completely addressed. All immediate family members and household members may need intensive care from a City employee, including managers.

An expanded paid family leave plan should include all these circumstances, not just ‘the birth of a child to an eligible employee (biological parent), adoption, or foster care (“qualifying event”). The personnel order specifically “excludes other types of family leave.”

My fellow members and I are very upset that the initiative was announced with no consultation with the MEA. The MEA is particularly concerned with the Modification of Time and Leave already implemented by the personnel order. Mayoral Pay Orders have never been ‘re-purposed’ and Time and Leave changes have never been limited to the managerial work force.

The Mayor’s plan calls for taking away raises that were promised and leave from managers that have been earned as a result of their long-term dedication to this City. Additionally, it would appear that the managers that are losing the two days of annual leave are most likely never going to use the benefit because most managers with 12 or more years of service are over 45 years old. This new policy affects the wages and leave of 20,000 employees or more, to perhaps benefit a small percentage of that very same population.

The MEA plan to discuss this policy with the Mayoral and non-Mayoral agencies to ensure this step forward is taken together with the City’s managerial work force.

Daniel P. Vera

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