In late August, when Mayor Cara Spencer tightened up the city’s relatively lax policies pertaining to family and medical leave, it wasn’t the sort of move at City Hall that garners big headlines—but it seems to be having a big impact.
Prior to the change, under a policy Tishaura Jones implemented in 2022, city employees had six weeks of paid time off at their disposal for any medical issue affecting themselves or a family member. There were minimal hoops to jump through to access the time off, and employees had wide discretion in terms of how they wanted to take it. For instance, someone could take off every Wednesday, 30 Wednesdays in a row.
The leave was used liberally, some might say abused, drawing down the city’s workforce on any given day and affecting the delivery of city services and functioning of city government…