HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-31-25 Public Comment - B. O’Connor - Bereavement issueFrom:Brendan O"Connor
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Bereavement issue
Date:Thursday, July 31, 2025 4:24:06 AM
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To the Bozeman City Commission,
I'm writing in support of Gabrielle Murphy. Her story was painful to read, not just because of
the loss she went through, but because of how the city responded. Instead of care orunderstanding, she was met with cold technicalities that completely ignored the human side of
what happened.
Pregnancy loss is emotionally devastating regardless of how far along the pregnancy was. Iknow this from personal experience. My family lost my unborn baby brother, and all of us felt
that loss. It wasn’t just hard on my mother. It impacted our entire family.
To hear that a city firefighter was told her baby "wasn’t viable," or that "pregnancy loss iscommon," as reasons to deny bereavement leave is unacceptable. Just because something
happens often doesn’t mean it hurts less. And if someone in HR truly compared pregnancyloss to the death of a pet, that is beyond insensitive. It is dehumanizing, and it shows a serious
failure of leadership and basic empathy.
If the city is concerned about abuse of bereavement leave, the answer is to draft a strongerpolicy that addresses that concern directly. The answer is not to undermine the grief of a
parent or question whether their loss counts.
I’m confident that the majority of this community would agree the city got this wrong.Bozeman is full of people who value compassion, and who would never treat a grieving
mother this way.
I understand that this decision may have been handled internally by HR and that theCommission might not have been aware of it until it was brought into the public eye. But now
that it is, the responsibility falls squarely on your shoulders. The community deserves to knowwhere each of you stand on this issue. It is time for the Commission to publicly affirm its
position and clearly articulate what steps will be taken to make sure this never happens again.
Sincerely,Brendan O’Connor
Candidate for Mayor of Bozeman