Paid time off for childbirth proposed for Missouri state workers

[TexasTowelie]

JEFFERSON CITY -- State employees in Missouri are the lowest paid in the nation, and lawmakers have struggled for years to give them a raise.

With a tough budget year on the horizon, a salary boost in 2017 will once again be a tall order.

So House Speaker Todd Richardson, a Poplar Bluff Republican, is pushing a different idea: legislation granting state workers paid time off upon the birth or adoption of a child.

“We’re faced with a situation where Missouri needs to attract the best and the brightest workers,” Richardson said. “At a time when we struggle to find pay increases for state employees, finding ways to improve benefits makes a heck of a lot of sense.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article124062544.html

[subterranean]

1. Wow...a Republican proposal that doesn't suck.

Of course, 10 days of paid time off for childbirth pales in comparison to what all other advanced countries provide, but at least it's a small step in the right direction, if it passes.