Paid parental leave likely coming for state employees in Alabama and Mississippi

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Alabama and Mississippi are two of just a dozen states that do not offer paid parental leave to state employees. That’s likely about to change. 

The legislatures in both states have passed bills providing that benefit and are on the path to become law. This follows a trend of states doing this in recent years, including Louisiana, which began offering the paid leave in 2024. 

In Mississippi, the move has support from advocates and politicians across the political aisle, from workplace advocates and professors arguing its need to retain talent in the state to the attorney general who played the lead role ending Roe v. Wade. 

“This is one thing I think that the pro-life movement and the people who are described as, you know, ‘liberal professors’ can come together on,” said Josh Bernstein, associate professor at the United Faculty Senators Association of Mississippi. 

Mississippi state employees could get six weeks of paid leave

Most Mississippi state legislators support parental leave. It’s the details that are still being worked out.

The House passed a bill in January without a single no vote. That bill provided full paid leave for parents of newborns or those who adopted a child. The primary caregiver – not required to be the mother – would get eight weeks and two for a secondary caregiver. 

The Senate version knocked it down to six weeks and cut out time off for a secondary caregiver. After some House amendments to add back in coverage for university professors, the bill was sent back to the Senate. 

Alabama’s Senate also voted in favor of a bill with eight weeks of paid leave – though it requires that the leave be taken by a woman. Men can take two weeks. The benefit would also provide time off for miscarriages and stillbirths. It’s now in the hands of the House. 

Anti-abortion attorney general is pro-parental leave

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is one of the most influential voices pushing for parental leave in her state. In Mississippi, that champion is Attorney General Lynn Fitch. She played an outsized role in creating the groundswell momentum around the policy.

That’s because Fitch helped lead the case that ultimately ended Roe v. Wade. 

Shortly after the Supreme Court removed federally guaranteed abortion rights with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, Fitch wrote that “now, our work to empower women and promote life truly begins.” 

For Fitch and anti-abortion advocates like her, that’s meant shifting much of their energy away from the abortion fight and toward helping families by pushing policies like parental leave. She wrote before this year’s legislative session that it was time to offer the benefit to the state’s employees. 

“Before, families had choice”

Other advocates outside the anti-abortion movement believe the Dobbs decision underscores why paid leave is needed. 

“Before, families had choice,” Robin Y. Jackson, director of policy and advocacy for the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, said. “Now that choice is off the table, it’s like how do we come together?”

The Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable put parental leave as one of the organization’s top priorities for this legislative session. 

The price tag of the program has been a concern of lawmakers. In Alabama, it would cost on average $8,600 per employee that uses the full eight weeks, according to an analysis by legislative staff. The full cost isn’t known. 

But Jackson argues that keeping talented employees in Mississippi, rather than leaving for another state that does offer the benefits, is priceless. 

“This may be something that may be a cost on the front end,” Jackson said. “But being able to retain your employees, being able to give morale and all of those things – you can’t put a dollar amount on that.” 

Parental leave to keep talent from avoiding Mississippi 

Advocates for the policy said without it, Mississippi workers could choose to leave the state – and recruits avoid it altogether. Diana Bernstein, an assistant professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, said she mentored six early career scientists looking for jobs – all of whom were not interested in states like Mississippi that lacked parental leave.

“They are not looking for a job anywhere in Mississippi,” Bernstein said. 

Shequite Johnson had two children without paid parental leave. She finally received that benefit after delivering her third child and said it made a tremendous difference, especially since she suffered health issues after the birth. But her employer only covered four weeks and she took two unpaid weeks off to address her condition. 

Johnson now works at Mississippi Valley State University in the Mississippi Delta and said she hopes parental leave passes in the state. 

“It’s a major deal,” Johnson said. “It’s something we really need. Especially in the Mississippi Delta.”