Erika Musgrove held her youngest son Matthew for only the briefest of moments last August before nurses at Baton Rouge General whisked him to the hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit.
It was a bittersweet moment for Musgrove, a special education teacher for East Baton Rouge Schools. The joy of seeing her newborn, who arrived four weeks early, came with worry over his care and the choice she’d soon need to make: earning a paycheck or spending enough time with her baby in those first crucial months of life.
East Baton Rouge, like many Louisiana school districts, doesn’t offer paid parental leave. That meant Musgrove’s two months at home with Matthew, even under a state law that allows teachers to take extended sick leave for a portion of their pay, would end up costing her more than $4,000 in lost wages…