Rachel Propst’s maternity leave ended long before she was ready to go back to work.
After a traumatic birth that resulted in weeks off work without pay, the Harrison County English teacher quit her job and took day-to-day substitute work, so she could care for her newborn daughter’s medical needs.
Propst said that because of her lack of pay, she had to cut back on everything as she shuffled payments to keep the lights on.
“It was really about prioritizing which bill I had to pay,” she said.
West Virginia offered no paid parental leave for state workers when Propst had her daughter 10 years ago, and it still doesn’t today.
Now, some lawmakers are again debating whether the state should join others that offer paid parental leave to public workers during major life events like fostering, giving birth or adopting a child.
While about a dozen states offer paid family leave to help retain public employees and support working families, West Virginia has never adopted the policy. But lawmakers are once again considering such a program.
An incentive to state employment
The proposal would create a two-year pilot program allowing eligible state employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave in the same year of the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child 12 years old or younger. The benefit would be available to men or women.
While on leave, workers would receive up to 90% of their pay, to be capped at $1,000 a week.
The paid leave can also be combined with existing unpaid parental leave, extending the total time off up to 18 weeks. The program would be funded by the state’s cider tax and administered by the Division of Labor. It is estimated to cost the state about $16,000 per worker who takes advantage of it.
Time off and paid leave programs vary by employer for private companies. This is the second time in two years that lawmakers have considered a form of paid leave for familial care.
In 2024, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced similar legislation that would have granted up to 12 weeks of paid leave to state workers. It also included leave to take care of other family members with health care needs.
But that bill was not put on a committee agenda and never made it to the full legislature for passage.
Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, introduced the new legislation and said it could help recruit and retain more employees for state jobs.
“A lot of feelings about state government aren’t what they used to be,” he said. “This is the type of benefit, especially for young people or families, that can help make state government more attractive.”
He said it would help support families during the critical early months of child bonding.
Sen. Brian Helton, R-Fayette, leads the committee through which the bill must pass before a full Senate vote. Helton did not answer questions about whether or not he would put the proposal on his agenda.
How West Virginia’s family leave compares
The lack of paid leave causes families who foster children to face many of the same challenges faced by biological parents.
Haley Cottrell, a special education teacher in Clarksburg, said she and her wife are juggling fostering two young daughters with medical needs while working full-time.
“It’s really devastating, and it really does take a toll on you,” she said. “Especially, that your child is just in the hospital, and you can’t be with them.”
The debate over paid leave comes as West Virginia faces long-term workforce challenges. Last year, 47,000 West Virginians were employed by the state.
But government employment is projected to decline over the next few years, leading to job losses, which could add pressure on public agencies already struggling to retain and hire workers.
Policy advocates say paid leave fills gaps that existing sick and vacation time were never meant to cover.
Workers inevitably face moments when they need extended time away from work and without paid leave, many are pushed out of jobs entirely, said Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.
“It kind of makes people make choices they otherwise wouldn’t make — to leave a job, not accept a job or not take a promotion,” she said. “When people are separated from the workforce, it has a snowballing effect on earnings later in life.”
Implementing a paid leave program improves families’ economic security by lowering health care and child care costs and increasing annual incomes. In particular, it also increases the workforce participation rate in the short and long term for women.
In nearby Maryland, lawmakers approved a statewide paid family and medical leave program that covers both public and private employers. It’s funded using payroll taxes and will begin in 2028.
Now teaching full-time again, Propst said she hopes lawmakers consider what the absence of paid leave costs workers like herself, not just in lost pay, but in jobs when families need time most.
“If paid family leave had existed then, I would have gone back to the classroom 100%,” she said.