How Will San Francisco’s Family Leave Legislation Affect Missouri Employers?

Here in the Heartland, we consider ourselves guardians of the notion of family values. But San Francisco, California, may be even stronger on a portion of that concept. In a state where family leave is automatically granted to qualifying employees together with a state-funded 55 percent of salary for 15 weeks, city legislators are purportedly espousing a new law that would require employers with more than 20 employees to fund the remaining 45 percent of wages for that period. Employers who wish to avoid this potential cost might consider provisions in employment contracts which state that the parties agree that the contract is to be interpreted under Missouri (or Kansas) law and that the same state will be the forum for all venue and jurisdiction considerations.