Veto of state employee parental leave sustained

A gubernatorial veto of parental leave for permanent state employees who give birth or adopt was sustained April 17.

Under LB878, introduced by Omaha Sen. Dunixi Guereca, eligible permanent state employees would have been entitled to six weeks of paid parental leave.

The bill would have extended benefits currently available to state union employees to three groups of contract employees: members of the State Patrol, the Fraternal Order of Police and educators who work in institutions within the state Department of Correctional Services and the state Department of Health and Human Services.

The measure as introduced would have applied to adoptive parents, but was amended on general file to limit its application to women as defined in state law by a bill passed last session.

As amended on select file, the leave was specified as “parental” rather than “maternal” in order to reinstate adoptive parents, while other provisions were narrowed. The amendment limited leave to only permanent state employees who have worked at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months and to adoptive parents of a child who is 12 months of age or younger.

LB878 passed April 10 on a 41-7 vote. It was vetoed April 16 by Gov. Jim Pillen.

In his veto letter, the governor said employee benefits such as paid leave should be negotiated through the collective bargaining process rather than mandated in state law. Pillen added that he has asked DAS to begin such negotiations with the three contract employee groups to whom maternity leave currently is not available.

Guereca filed a motion to override the governor’s veto. He said paid leave should include male state employees who wish to expand their families through adoption.

The motion failed on a vote of 21-27. Thirty votes were needed.