The Oct. 21, report on Allegheny County’s 11-4 vote for paid parental leave (“Parental leave mandate OK’d,” Butler Eagle, Oct. 22, Page 7) raises a fair question for employers in neighboring counties: what did the design get right?

Start with the fear. One pre-vote survey warned a third of employers might leave. Predictions like that deserve the skepticism your pages give any forecast. When leave depends on each employer, the businesses least able to offer it compete for workers against the ones most able. A countywide floor removes that disadvantage instead of creating it.

The law gives employers a year before it takes effect and applies only to those with 15 or more employees — practical choices that leave room to write clear rules with the businesses that will live under them.

The lesson for other counties is that they need not wait for Harrisburg or Washington to keep working parents.

Jackie Omotalade,

Pittsburgh