Unpaid Leave

The Annapolis City Council approved a bill Monday night that will allow city employees to take up to 60 days' unpaid leave to care for children or ill family members.The bill, sponsored by Alderman Ellen O. Moyer, D-Ward 8, was called "compassionate" by its proponents and "bad management" by its opponents. It passed, 7-2, with Aldermen John R. Hammond, R-Ward 1, and Wayne C. Turner, R-Ward 6, opposing.Moyer said the legislation "puts us into the 21st century and strengthens the family."But Hammond said the city shouldn't give benefits to employees unless negotiated with the city's four unions.

A Howard County high school teacher who was placed on administrative leave a year after winning a racial discrimination lawsuit against the county has not been paid since June and has appealed that action, according to a school system spokeswoman. Michelle Maupin, 40, an English teacher at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, has appealed the decision to place her on leave without pay, said school system spokeswoman Patti Caplan. "I cannot confirm or deny that she has been terminated," Caplan said.

WASHINGTON -- Renewing their challenge to President Bush, Senate Democrats resurrected yesterday a bill granting 12 weeks of unpaid leave to workers with family emergencies -- a measure Mr. Bush vetoed last year.The bill has become a prime symbol of the Democrats' differences with the Republican White House and is part of a package of domestic issues Democratic candidates intend to feature in national elections next year.Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., author of the bill, said yesterday that he had detected a slight softening of Republican resistance to the measure and that he held out hope Mr. Bush would reconsider his opposition.

A furlough plan for state university employees could begin early next month and require top administrators to take as many as 10 unpaid days under guidelines approved Friday by the University System of Maryland's Board of Regents. The regents gave university presidents flexibility to tailor furlough plans to the needs of each campus, but the vast majority of the system's more than 21,000 employees will feel the effects. Details are not final, but Chancellor William E. Kirwan said he expects to receive plans from each president early next week and will probably approve them by the end of the month.

Baltimore officials placed a building inspector on unpaid leave yesterday after police arrested him on charges of accepting a $2,500 bribe to approve the repair of a house roof. Housing Authority of Baltimore City police charged building inspector Phillip Freeland, 34, moments after he allegedly pocketed the cash Tuesday at the house in the 3800 block of Third St. in the Brooklyn neighborhood, authorities said. The arrest, first reported by WBAL-TV (Channel 11) on Tuesday night, followed a two-week investigation by the Department of Housing and Community Development internal investigators, police and prosecutors.

Harford County Sheriff Joseph P. Meadows is on unpaid leave while authorities investigate an employee's complaint against him, officials said yesterday. Meadows, in his third term as the county's top law enforcement officer, elected to take leave during the investigation, said sheriff's office spokeswoman Ginger Rigney. Col. Thomas Golding, the chief deputy, has assumed day-to-day operations, she said. Rigney added that by law she could not discuss the nature of the complaint, which was filed this month.

Manugistics Group Inc. said yesterday that its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue would beat its forecast. The news pushed shares up as much as 22.7 percent during trading. The Rockville software company also said it would end its mandatory unpaid leave program on March 17. The company had said in October that it was implementing the program, requiring all of its U.S.-based employees to take three unpaid days off every four weeks. It meant a 15 percent pay reduction for workers.

Kathleen Kreimer thought she was a pretty good judge of her Union Bridge neighbors and their habits, so it never occurred to her to tell them that she was only guessing when she made out some of their water bills.Now the veteran town clerk is on unpaid leave as Town Council members review accounts and the Maryland attorney general awaits their explanation.It seems that 55 meters, more than one-sixth of the town's 300 meters, are not working. Some meters have been stuck for years, in one case for 14 years.

Once again, Congress is considering a family-leave proposal that would substitute government Diktat for good private business practice.The public policy question is not whether employee benefits packages with options for unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a child or for the serious illness of an immediate family member are desirable. We think they are. The public policy question is whether such benefits should be required by government mandate. We think not.The Senate is voting this week on a leave measure that fails to measure up to the compassionate rhetoric of its sponsors.

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge today delayed the arraignment of Comptroller Jacqueline F. McLean on theft and misconduct charges for six weeks.Judge Joseph P. McCurdy Jr. agreed to reschedule the date Mrs. McLean or her attorneys must enter a plea to May 2. And he arranged for the trial to begin June 8.Both Mrs. McLean's attorney, M. Cristina Gutierrez, and Maryland Special Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli refused to say why they had agreed to the delay.Mrs....

Balto. Co. schools set special-education forums 1 Baltimore County's public schools will hold five community forums to gather feedback on the system's special-education staffing plan. Parents can also share their views on other special-education topics. Meetings will be held from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at these schools: Church Lane Elementary, 3820 Fernside Road, Randallstown; Charlesmont Elementary, 7800 W. Collingham Drive, Dundalk; Dogwood Elementary, 7215 Dogwood Road, Woodlawn; Joppa View Elementary, 8727 Honeygo Blvd.

Federal regulators have proposed relatively minor changes to the popular Family and Medical Leave Act, a relief for advocates who had feared a sweeping rewrite that would have made it difficult for people to take advantage of it. The proposals, released this month by the Department of Labor, would give employers more leeway in verifying that people taking medical leave are sick. The proposals would impose other restrictions that business groups said might curb what they see as a major problem: employees who leave their bosses short-handed on short notice.

CINCINNATI -- The Ohio Civil Rights Commission is pushing for a broad expansion of benefits for pregnant workers. If its proposals are adopted, Ohio would join 18 states that require employers to offer maternity leaves that exceed those mandated by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. That law offers workers at businesses with 50 or more employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Expectant mothers must have worked for a business for a year, or 1,250 hours, to be eligible. The Ohio commission has proposed that businesses with four or more employees offer 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave to pregnant employees, regardless of how long they have worked.

Great-Grandpa certainly didn't do it. Neither did Grandpa. But it just may be the norm by the time 1-month-old Noah Jeffrey Gifford is ready for fatherhood. Thanks, at least in part, to his dad, Brian Gifford. Gifford is one of a growing number of fathers who are taking paid paternity leave. In doing so, some say, these dads are helping to make it a more acceptable workplace practice. "Baby boomers really felt stigma about taking time off because they were seen as a slouch, or not the `go-to' guy at work," said Carol Evans, chief executive officer of Working Mother Media, a New York publisher as well as operator of the National Association for Female Executives.

Job leave applies to grandparents Q: I am a grandparent who will be parenting my new grandson when he is born. Is there any way that I could be eligible for leave from my job since I will be the parent? L.M., via the Internet A: There is a good chance you could be eligible for unpaid leave from your job. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides that employers with 50 or more workers must allow employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn child.

My husband and I are adopting a child from Russia. We don't have definite travel dates yet, but could get the word within the next few weeks. Once we bring our child home, I would like to take a leave of eight to 12 weeks. What rights do I have as an employee of a small firm? I believe the Family and Medical Leave Act applies only to companies with at least 50 employees. Ours is much smaller. My boss doesn't seem receptive to my suggestions, such as letting me work from home or hiring a temp to cover for me. What happens if I leave?

THE BALTIMORE federal court verdict affirming a state trooper's right to take family leave sends a strong message to employers.Despite a 1993 federal law requiring employers to give men and women up to 12 weeks unpaid leave for the birth of a child or for family medical reasons, the Maryland State Police insisted on their own 10-day parental leave policy for Tfc. Howard Kevin Knussman. The officer, who was denied extended leave in 1994, was awarded $375,000 damages by a jury last week.Men have struggled against workplace bias that discourages their use of parental leave.

CINCINNATI -- The Ohio Civil Rights Commission is pushing for a broad expansion of benefits for pregnant workers. If its proposals are adopted, Ohio would join 18 states that require employers to offer maternity leaves that exceed those mandated by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. That law offers workers at businesses with 50 or more employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Expectant mothers must have worked for a business for a year, or 1,250 hours, to be eligible. The Ohio commission has proposed that businesses with four or more employees offer 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave to pregnant employees, regardless of how long they have worked.

Many women have celebrated Mother's Day in the president's house, but none of them was president. We've had two John Adamses and two George Bushes as president, but no Abigail or Barbara, Victoria, Margaret, Shirley or Elizabeth. Women have been presidents and prime ministers of various countries - Great Britain, Ireland, India, Israel, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Norway, Finland, Guyana and Sri Lanka among them. But not the United States. Women are 51 percent of the U.S. population, but just 14 percent of Congress.