District workers who need time off from their jobs to care for a seriously ill family member have lost half of their paid family leave, a reduction that advocates fought for months as city leaders wrestled with a billion-dollar budget shortfall.
Beginning Oct. 1, the maximum family caregiving benefit drops from 12 to six weeks. Medical leave for workers with serious health conditions falls from 12 to 10 weeks, and the maximum weekly benefit declines from $1,190 to $1,100. Parental leave remains at 12 weeks, and prenatal leave at two weeks.
“My colleagues and I had a moral obligation to act to reverse the devastating cuts to child care worker subsidies, paid family leave, and the social net in our budget,” Council member Janeese Lewis George said after the council approved the fiscal 2027 spending plan…