One of Bucks County’s biggest employers is considering paid parental leave

Bucks County officials are considering paid parental leave for employees, Commissioner Bob Harvie confirmed at a public meeting in October.

“It is something we are exploring here at the county,” Harvie said Oct. 1, adding that officials have spent “several months” figuring out how it would work.

A county spokesperson said they don’t have details yet on what that leave would look like. The local government is Bucks County’s third-largest employer, according to state data from early 2025, employing more than 2,000 people.

Paid parental leave “has come up during bargaining time and time again,” said Steve Catanese, head of a union representing county workers, noting that paid leave would help Bucks compete with other employers. “It would be much-needed progress if they adopted it.”

If Bucks County introduces paid parental leave, it will follow in the footsteps of Montgomery County and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The state expanded its paid parental leave for employees from six to eight weeks in 2024. Montgomery County also expanded its paid parental leave policy last year from six weeks to 12, and made an additional month of paid leave available for workers with serious medical complications after birth.

Just more than a quarter of American civilian workers had paid parental leave in 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, including approximately 28% of state and local government workers.

Several Bucks County lawmakers have also cosponsored legislation in the state House of Representatives again this year to fund paid family leave for private sector workers.

State Reps. Kathleen Tomlinson, R-Bensalem, Perry Warren, D-Yardley, Jim Prokopiak, D-Levittown, Shelby Labs, R-Doylestown, Tina Davis, D-Levittown, Tim Brennan, D-Doylestown, and Brian Munroe, D-Warminster, have all added their names to the legislation.