The Anchorage Assembly unanimously passed an ordinance adding four weeks of flexible paid parental leave for many city employees, including executives and staff not represented by a union.
Anchorage Assembly members Meg Zaletel, left, and Austin Quinn-Davidson, right, listen to a vote count during a meeting at the Z.J. Loussac Library in Anchorage on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.
“Paid parental leave is pro-family and pro-business. It comes with many many benefits. It lowers the incidence of infant hospitalization and infant mortality. It lowers rates of postpartum depression. It increases engagement between fathers and their children,” Quinn-Davidson said. “I am happy to support paid parental leave for Municipal employees because I believe there is nothing more important than for a parent to have that time with their newborn child,” Bronson said. “We know our community faces a child care crisis, and we know employers are having significant problems attracting and retaining qualified workers because of the lack of affordable childcare.
In 2021, the city briefly offered a similar benefit. As the city’s then-acting mayor, Quinn-Davidson had taken executive action andafter taking office later that year. Bronson, in his Wednesday statement, stood by his decision to revoke the previous policy, saying he did so because he took issue with how the policy was implemented by the former acting mayor, not because he disagreed with its merits.
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