City employees who have a new baby or who adopt will have longer to bond with the child.

Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney announced Monday that a new family leave benefit is being expanded.

Instead of four weeks under the plan City Council approved with the budget, new birth mothers may receive up to eight weeks of paid leave. New fathers also would be eligible for up to eight weeks of paid leave, instead of four weeks.

The eight weeks of paid parental leave also would apply to city employees who adopt a child or accept a foster care placement, also up from four weeks.

The policy change also allows city employees to receive up to four weeks of paid leave to care for a parent with a serious health condition.

Mayor Stoney stated that the expansion would allow the city, one of the first localities in Virginia to offer paid parental leave, to match the paid parental leave policy Gov. Ralph S. Northam instituted for state employees.

“I applaud Gov. Northam for announcing this important policy change for state workers,” said Mayor Stoney, who first proposed Richmond’s parental leave policy when he introduced the city’s biennial budget in March.

“Our newly expanded parental leave policy will now provide the same benefits to city workers and allow us to remain competitive in recruiting and retaining talented employees. It is also the right thing to do.”