Cleveland Considers Professional Services for Employee Leave Administration

The City of Cleveland is considering a measure that would allow the Department of Human Resources to hire professional consultants to manage Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) benefits. Filed as Ord. No. 752-2026, this emergency ordinance would authorize the hiring of one or more specialists to handle the administration and management of the FMLA program for city employees.

What's in the file

According to a memorandum from Director of Human Resources Matthew Cole, the ordinance seeks to contract specialized expertise to manage the complexity of FMLA requests. The Department of Human Resources notes that while they oversee leave management strategy, a third-party administrator would provide:

The proposed contract would last for an initial period of one year, with three additional one-year options to renew that would be exercisable by the Director of Human Resources. The memorandum lists the estimated annual budget for these services at $350,000.

Who may be affected

Status and timeline

  1. July 9, 2026: The emergency ordinance was introduced.
  2. Current Status: The file is currently in the Workforce, Education, Training and Youth Development Committee.

The city has seen an increase in labor-related legislative activity recently, with seven such items appearing in the database over the last 90 days.

Residents can verify these details and monitor the progress of the legislation through the official City of Cleveland Legistar portal.

Key facts

Initial contract term
one year
Renewal options
three one-year options

Source record

File
752-2026
Type
Emergency Ordinance
Status
In Committee
Committee
Workforce, Education, Training and Youth Development Committee
Introduced
July 8, 2026

View on Cleveland Legistar

Official documents

Sources