COMPTROLLER ANNOUNCES AUDIT OF COUNTY FAMILY LEAVE POLICIES
Comptroller Mychajliw impanels “Erie County Comptroller’s Family Leave Commission,” charged with making recommendations to change outdated family leave policies
(Erie County, New York) – Erie County Comptroller Stefan I. Mychajliw has authorized the creation of the “Erie County Comptroller’s Family Leave Commission” to solicit input on reforming and modernizing the county’s outdated maternity policies that have not been updated in many years.
Comptroller Mychajliw also issued a directive to his Division of Audit and Control to commence a review of the county’s current family leave policies available to employees who have children or adopt. The stated purpose of the review is to analyze the current policy, its reasonableness and effectiveness.
“Strong families make strong communities. As one of Erie County’s largest employers it is important to make sure we are doing our part to ensure our staff has benefits available to them that are effective when they start their families.”
“Depending on the findings of our review, it could be quite possible to implement conservative budgeting principles to support pro-family policies,” said Comptroller Mychajliw
The review will focus on the costs involved with providing those benefits and what potential impact would occur if those benefits were adjusted.
“Since taking office as the County’s Chief Financial Officer, I have always adhered to the adage that if we can’t measure it, we can’t manage it. This scenario is no different. We must ask ourselves if our current policy is effective and benefiting our employees. If it isn’t we have to be prepared to recommend one that is better,” said the Comptroller.
The Comptroller noted that the review’s primary goal will be to understand the cost and the implications of change.
The Comptroller strongly believes that the current policy is outdated and not reflective of modern families and an evolving society.
“The current policy assumes the only benefit to taking off time from work is for physical recovery for mothers. It makes no mention of the importance of time off for Moms and Dads to emotionally bond with new children and establish themselves as a family unit,” said Comptroller Mychajliw.
The Comptroller will be impaneling a volunteer commission of citizens and interested persons to assist him in reviewing the findings and assembling the reports final recommendations.
“It’s important that this review goes beyond the numbers and truly addresses the effectiveness and reasonableness of our current policy. That is why I am empaneling a volunteer commission of stakeholders to help my team finalize our report,” said Comptroller Mychajliw.
Those that may be interested in volunteering their time to serve on the Erie County Comptroller’s Family Leave Commission are asked to contact the Comptroller’s Office by telephone at 716-858-8404 or forward a letter of interest and a copy of their resume to Comptroller@erie.gov, or:
Erie County Comptroller Stefan I. Mychajliw, 95 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY 14202
“The current policy looks like it was created in a vacuum. It makes it seem like new mothers should only take off from work if they are unable to physically do their jobs. It creates fiscal hardship with no paid time off for new moms and families. As a county, we can do better when it comes to the support we show new moms and dads, and we should,” said Comptroller Mychajliw.
“Once my audit team completes their work, we will have a mapped out understanding of the policy, its processes and cost and the commission can really get to work on recommendations that are relevant to the world we live in today,” Comptroller Mychajliw concluded.