Idaho attorney general’s office slashes paid parental leave for its staff

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s office is cutting its staff’s paid parental leave by 75%.

Starting July 1, eligible employees in Labrador’s office will receive only two weeks of paid parental leave, compared with the eight weeks available since 2020, according to a statement from Yvonne Dunbar, Labrador’s chief of staff and general counsel.

Gov. Brad Little issued an executive order in 2020 that established eight weeks of guaranteed paid leave for eligible employees of Idaho’s executive branch agencies following the birth or adoption of a child, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.

“Idaho is a state that encourages strong families as the bedrock of our society,” Little said in a press release at the time. “Parents and children need to be together as much as possible in the weeks following a birth or adoption. Children benefit, parents benefit and the state benefits when we support a culture that balances the demands of work with the demands of family.”

But that order was a “discretionary executive policy, not a legislative mandate,” Dunbar said Wednesday. Executive orders apply only to agencies and departments under the governor’s control, though other offices in the executive branch, including the attorney general’s, often opt to comply with them.

Damon Sidur, a spokesperson for Labrador’s office, provided Dunbar’s statement to the Statesman in response to a list of questions.

The change reflects the attorney general’s office’s “commitment to responsible stewardship” of the tax dollars that fund the office, Dunbar said. “As public servants, we work for Idaho taxpayers.”

The decision comes as Idaho lawmakers gear up for a legislative session, set to begin Jan. 12, focused around the state’s spending. The state’s budget is “upside-down,” with a projected gap in 2027 of over $500 million after lawmakers slashed income taxes during the 2025 session, Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke said at a conference in December.

At the time of Little’s order in 2020, there were about 25,000 employees of executive branch agencies who could be affected, the Statesman previously reported. The benefit applied to both mothers and fathers, according to Little’s release. Sidur did not respond to a question about how many people work in Labrador’s office and would be affected by the change.

Employees will be allowed to use their own accrued vacation and sick time for up to 12 weeks total under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, Dunbar said.