The mayor made the request to Anchorage legislators in a booklet outlining city legislative priorities last week. The item was under the heading "More effective and efficient government."
Nancy Bear Usera, Sullivan's employee relations director, said Thursday that the repeal is her idea.
When she took her job in mid-2009, she immediately saw that administering two similar-but-not-the-same state and federal laws is cumbersome and time-consuming, she said.
"It's huge," she said. At any given moment, about 10 percent of the city's 2,800-member work force is out on family or medical leave under one or both of the laws, she said.
"It's for everything from stress to babies. It requires medical documentation. It is just administratively heavy."
But the issue has not drawn widespread attention.
"We've never addressed that," said Alaska Municipal League executive director Kathie Wasserman. "It's not been anything anybody brought up."
Anchorage Democratic Rep. Les Gara in his newsletter this week said he doesn't think the state law should be eliminated: "In tough economic times, no one wants to be fired for taking time off to care for a loved one. Or to care for a new baby." Rather than ax it, he'd consider expanding the state law, he said.
Anchorage Republican state Sen. Kevin Meyer sounded interested in the idea of saving the city money but said, "I don't know enough to say if it's something we would want to pursue or not."
WHAT THE LAW SAYS
The Alaska Family Medical Leave Act, approved in 1992, covers public employees only and allows up to 18 weeks of paid or unpaid leave for certain medical or family reasons such as birth or adoption of a child, an employee suffering from a serious health condition and unable to do his or her job, or a family member with a serious medical condition needing care.
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 covers both public employees and workers at private-sector employers over a certain size. It provides up to 12 weeks of leave and says the employer must maintain the employee's health coverage for the duration of the leave.
Neither law requires paid leave, but both laws say an employee's job must be protected during a leave.
The state law is "much more lenient" than the federal law on qualifying to get the leave, said state director of personnel and labor relations Nicki Neal. "It's a very generous entitlement. It does have an impact," she said.
Neal said there's been no discussion at the state level recently over the idea of repealing it, though.
UNIONS REACT
Usera said the laws are complicated -- it's not just a matter of approving a leave. The administrator must read doctor notes and track what's happening. This year so far, more than 525 individual employees have taken a medical or family leave, she said. One person at the Anchorage Police Department spends about half her time doing nothing but administering such leaves, Usera said.
A person might qualify for one set of benefits or both, but if it's both, they're concurrent. About 10 percent of those on leave exceed the federal amount of 12 weeks, she said.
Usera said repealing the law might not be the highest priority for many people, but she still thinks it should be done.
City union leaders contacted are not convinced. "I would think the mayor's No. 1 priority would be revenue sharing," said Derek Hseih, president of the police union.
"We would oppose that," said Anchorage Municipal Employees Association vice president Jillanne Inglis. "It's pro-family. The Legislature wouldn't have passed it if they didn't think it was the right thing to do."
Find Rosemary Shinohara online at adn.com/contact/rshinohara or call her at 257-4340.
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