Item Number:    7b_attach 
Meeting Date:  October 27, 2015 

MOTION 
OF THE PORT OF SEATTLE COMMISSION 
ENDORSING A NEW PAID PARENTAL LEAVE 
PROGRAM 
ADOPTED 
OCTOBER 13, 2015 

TEXT OF THE MOTION 
The Port Commission supports offering a market competitive leave package for non-represented
employees that includes four weeks of paid parental leave, and requests staff incorporate that
new benefit into the 2016 Salary and Benefits Resolution. 
The new benefit would become effective January 1, 2016, and should be consistent with the
Port's Total Rewards Philosophy. 
STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE MOTION 
The Commission is committed to offering a comprehensive benefits package to employees that
helps them meet different needs at different points in their lives, enhances the Port's reputation
as an employer of choice, and enables the Port to recruit and retain employees with the skills and
abilities to help the Port achieve its mission. 
In support of the different value employees place on their time off benefits, the Port Commission
encourages Port staff to maintain a time off program that includes specialized paid leave
benefits. 
Paid parental leave is an employee benefit that is increasingly requested by workers across the
country, and is increasingly offered by public and private employers both locally and nationally.
Parents are interested in the benefit because studies show parental leave supports family bonding
during the first important months of bringing a new child into a family. Employers are interested
in offering the policy in part to be responsive to employee desires, and in part because paid 
parental leave can be an important employee recruitment and retention tool. 
The City of Seattle implemented a new paid parental leave program this spring that permits new
parents to take up to four weeks of paid time off during the first year following the birth,
adoption, or placement of a foster child in the employee's home. King County is also expected
to implement a paid parental leave program in the coming months. 

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In addition to these regional public employers, many private sector employers are adding paid
parental leave to their benefits packages or enhancing the parental leave plans already in place.
Recent examples include Microsoft's enhancement to their established paid parental leave
program and Netflix's paid parental leave program. Offering a paid parental leave plan at the
Port will strengthen the Port's ability to recruit and retain top talent, andstrengthen the Port's
regional leadership. 















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