More Social, Family & Housing Policy Plays

One of the most successful initiatives of the Clinton administration was enactment of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) guaranteeing most workers the right to unpaid leave to care for new children, or for their own or their families' medical needs. Naysayers argued that family and medical leave would place the entire U.S. economy at a competitive disadvantage. However, in the 15 years since the enactment of the law, there has been no evidence of any economic harm. According to a Families and Work Institute study conducted five years after FMLA went into effect, 84 percent of employers concluded that the benefits of providing family and medical leave offset or outweighed the costs. In fact, many businesses noted reduced employee turnover, enhanced productivity, and improved morale. And nine out of 10 employers agree that the law is easy to administer.

Building on the success of a national family and medical leave policy, in 2002, then-Calif. Gov. Gray Davis and the state legislature passed a law implementing paid family and medical leave. By taking into account both the work vs. family stress on employees and real worries about market competition among business owners, California policymakers crafted an employee-financed system that makes family leave a more viable option for middle- and lower-income workers. California's pro-family, pro-business law establishes the Family Temporary Disability Insurance (FTDI) system, which uses the state's current disability insurance system to expand paid coverage to California workers who need to take time off from work to care for newborns or sick family members. Through the FTDI system, most employees can receive about 55 percent of their salary for six weeks of leave. While employees pay into their own fund, employers still bear the costs associated with a worker on temporary leave.

"State family leave laws ... are among the most highly sought after and valued cultural changes that truly demonstrate to families that our government and our business sector want to fully utilize our talented work force, even if they have family responsibilities." -- State Sen. Ellen Anderson, Minnesota

Washington became the second state to enact paid family leave legislation when Governor Chris Gregoire signed legislation that created a state-wide family leave insurance program slated to begin in October 2009. This particular program offers new parents up to 5 weeks of leave time per year in order to bond with a their child -- either newborn or adopted. Individuals who work 35 hours per week or more will receive a weekly benefit of $250 during their leave time. Those who work less will receive a prorated benefit.

New Jersey followed the lead of California and Washington this spring when Gov. Jon Corzine signed a paid family leave law. New Jersey residents will now pay about 64 cents a week -- just $33 per year -- for the chance to have up to six weeks of paid time off if they need to care for a sick family member. Workers, who can begin taking the leave January 1, 2009, will be able to collect two-thirds of their salary, capped at $524 per week.

While California and Washington have taken the most significant strides on family and medical leave, several other states have key provisions that states should consider. Minnesota's Family and Medical Leave law allows an employee to use their personal sick leave benefits to attend to a child for a reasonable amount of time. In addition, Minnesota requires all public employers and private employers with 21 or more employees to grant an employee leave of up to a total of 16 hours each year to attend school conferences or school-related activities of their children. Both of these provisions give parents the ability to balance two critical roles in their lives and succeed as both parents and employees.

Some states have decided to target their family leave policy to the critical first year of a child's life. At-Home Infant Care programs (AHIC) provide partial wage replacement to low-income, working parents who choose to have one parent stay home for the first year of a child's life. At least three states, Minnesota, Montana, and New Mexico, have experimented with AHIC programs. These AHIC programs are typically limited to employed parents, making AHIC less like the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and more like paid family and medical leave.

Building on the success of family leave laws, San Francisco and Washington D.C. passed laws that would allow workers to have paid sick days. Half of all workers in the Unides States do not have access to a single paid sick day to recover from illness. The San Francisco law requires all employers to provide paid sick leave to each employee -- including temporary and part-time workers -- who perform work in the city. Washington D.C.'s city council passed a similar bill, the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, in March 2008, which gives full-time employees at businesses with 100 or more workers seven days of paid sick leave and employees at businesses of 24 or fewer workers three days.

As policymakers in many other states consider similar legislation, they would be wise to analyze the models in place around the country that provide workers the tools they need to excel as employees and family caregivers.

Resources For Action

Washington Paid Family Leave Legislation http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/5659-S2.PL.pdf

California Employment Development Department
http://www.edd.ca.gov/direp/pflind.asp

New Jersey Citizen Action-Paid Family Medical Leave
http://www.njcitizenaction.org/pfl.html

California Employment Development Department
www.nationalpartnership.org/portals/p3/library/
PaidLeave/StateRoundUp2004.pdf

San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement: Paid Sick Leave Ordinance
www.sfgov.org/site/olse_index.asp?id=49389

Additional Reading

California Senate Bill 1661, 2002
www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/01-02/bill/sen/
sb_1651-1700/sb_1661_bill_20020926_chaptered.html

Robert D. Atkinson, Putting Parenting First: Why it's Time for Universal Paid Leave, Progressive Policy Institute, March 26, 2003
www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?contentid=251419
&knlgAreaID=114&subsecid=144

Idea of the Week: Paid Family and Medical Leave, DLC, September 27, 2002
www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=250903
&kaid=131&subid=207

At-Home Infant Care: A Side-by-Side Comparison of Federal and State Initiatives, National Partnership for Women & Families, October 2005
www.nationalpartnership.org/portals/
p3/library/PaidLeave/AHICchartOct05.pdf

Contacts

Jason D. Newman
State and Local Policy Director
Democratic Leadership Council
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 546-0007
jnewman@dlc.org