Over the eight years Hayley Tillery has been the executive director of the Columbus Georgia Convention and Trade Center, she has struggled to retain young talent.
Tillery points to a lack of paid maternity and paternity leave.
“I’ve seen our employees struggle,” Tillery told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Although the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protects their jobs, she said, mothers often do not have enough leave time to bond with their newborn children.
Tillery worked with Columbus Consolidated Government Human Resources Director Reather Hollowell to propose a city ordinance to create a Paid Maternity and Paternity Leave Policy to support employees after a birth or adoption, a move some city officials say is long overdue.
Tillery and Hollowell presented the ordinance to Columbus Council at the Oct. 22 meeting with the support of Councilor Travis Chambers.
If approved, the policy would offer full-time city employees up to six weeks of paid maternity leave or two weeks of paid paternity leave after a child’s birth or the adoption of a child age 17 or younger. Employees must have at least one year of full-time employment with the CCG to be eligible.