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ST. LOUIS — Mayor Cara Spencer said Thursday she is making changes to the city’s family and medical leave program after complaints the benefit was being abused, hurting operations and driving up costs.

City department directors for months have said the policy, which offers workers six weeks of paid leave to care for family members or recover from illness, is straining budgets and staffing. Preliminary data from the city indicates 632 workers citywide used the benefit last year, or more than a tenth of the workforce. Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson told aldermen this spring the policy had “destroyed our overtime.�

Now, the Spencer administration is putting some restrictions on the program: Before workers can use the paid leave, they must use up paid vacation, sick and compensatory time. There will be an exception for parents after the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child.

“It’s still there,� said Ben Jonsson, the mayor’s operations chief, “but it’s not the first thing people go to.�

The hope, Jonsson said, is that the revamped program fulfills its original mandate — helping new parents and people dealing with serious illness — and frees up manpower for beleaguered city services, which Spencer promised to improve on the campaign trail earlier this year.

“We have so many challenges,� Jonsson said. “I think it will have a tangible impact.�

Former Mayor Tishaura O. Jones unveiled plans for the city’s family and medical leave policy three years ago as a way to attract more workers to the city. Like many employers, the city had seen turnover jump and vacancies rise across departments amid a pandemic that pushed older workers to retire and prompted others to chase new opportunities. The police, fire, trash and streets departments were particularly affected.

In her April 2022 State of the City address, Jones proposed a $1 million addition to the upcoming budget to cover the new leave policy, along with money for 3% across-the-board raises for most city workers. “Whether it’s helping bring on more utility workers or 911 dispatchers, it’s my hope these steps will help keep St. Louis competitive in hiring,� she said.

When the policy took effect, immediate results were mixed: the number of unfilled positions remained high, and the city’s efforts to collect garbage, fill potholes and tow derelict vehicles continued to struggle. Judging by reports from departments, it exceeded more than $1 million per year, Budget Director Paul Payne said.

After leaving office, Jones said the rollout marked one of her biggest regrets as mayor.

“We didn’t put in the types of guardrails to make sure that we implemented it effectively so people didn’t take advantage of it,� she told St. Louis Public Radio. “We found out that there were a couple hundred employees taking paid family leave to stay out of their jobs when they could have been working.�

Department directors have kept the pressure on the new administration.

Jenkerson, the fire chief, told aldermen in a hearing on May 8 that an average of five firefighters were on leave each day, forcing him to call in five others on overtime to fill the gap.

“I’m paying two and a half times salary,� he said.

He said he and other directors had begun discussing a possible fix, describing the change Spencer made Thursday.

Jim Suelmann, the retired Streets Department director who briefly returned under Spencer, recalled a case in which a trash truck driver assigned an undesirable route produced a doctor’s note excusing him from work.

“It’s a problem,� he said. “For fixing potholes. For paving.�

Jonsson said the city will be watching to see what happens now and will be open to further adjustments, if necessary.

“We’re going to evaluate it,� he said. “This is not a one-and-done.�