This section covers your City of Seattle paid family and medical leave benefits. Local 27 members receive these benefits in addition to the paid benefits listed above provided by the State of Washington.

Paid Family Leave

The City provides eligible employees up to four weeks (160 hours) of paid leave to care for a qualifying family member with a serious health condition under an approved Family and Medical Leave (FML). Hours are pro-rated for part-time employees.

Employees become eligible for paid family care leave after completing six consecutive months of employment in a benefit-eligible position or temporary assignment and if they have not exhausted their FML entitlement hours. The use of Paid Family Care Leave counts against FML entitlement hours.

To apply for this leave, please contact the Department’s City of Seattle Human Resources representative.

Paid Parental Leave

The City of Seattle’s Paid Parental Leave program provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of paid leave to bond with their new child. These hours are prorated for part-time employees. Employees become eligible for this leave after completing six months of employment in a benefit-eligible position and if they experience one of the following qualifying events:

• Birth of a child
• Placement of a child for adoption
• Placement of a child for foster care
• Placement of a child for legal guardianship

The employee must submit a completed and signed Family and Medical Leave Request Form and a record of birth or placement to the City. The employee must use the leave by the first anniversary of the child’s birth or placement.

To apply for this leave, please contact the Department’s City of Seattle Human Resources representative.

Funeral and Bereavement Leave

In the event of the death of a family member or close relative, you are eligible for paid funeral leave to attend or make arrangements for a funeral. The guidelines for funeral leave are as follows:

• Members assigned to a forty-hour average work week are eligible to receive one shift off duty with pay or two shifts in instances where a total travel distance of 200 miles or more is necessary.
• 24-hour shift members are eligible to receive one shift off duty with pay.

Members notified of a death in the family while on duty may be immediately excused from work for the balance of the shift as funeral leave, if necessary. This time off with pay is in addition to the applicable benefit above. A member working on an overtime basis will be allowed to leave work but will be paid only for hours actually worked. Time worked for less than 20 consecutive hours does not count as an overtime shift worked.

Bereavement leave is an approved use of your sick leave benefits for up to two shifts. You may also be able to use vacation days or merits for bereavement leave for family members and close relatives, consistent with Article 10 of the Local 27 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

For more information, see Personnel Rule 7.8: Bereavement Leave.

To use funeral or bereavement leave, please choose it from the options listed while laying off.