Hope on the Horizon? The Family Act Proposes Paid Family Leave

What is one thing that the U.S. doesn’t provide for its workforce that every other industrialized country in the world does?

Paid family leave.

Would you take time off work to be with a dying parent? Would you be willing to put your career on hold for an ill spouse if you could continue to pay your bills? If your brother or sister suffers a severe injury or debilitating diagnosis and has no one to help them, would you want to be there with them?

Most people would say yes if they could afford to. In fact, some studies estimate that 85 percent of the American population supports paid family leave.

Right now, many people are doing intense family caregiving and are still working a full-time job. Performing these dual duties creates stress, physical duress, and emotional hardship. Approximately 60 percent of family caregivers continue to work and take care of ill relatives. Half of these caregivers are over age 50 themselves.

Credit: aarp.org

Thirteen percent of employees without access to paid time off reduce their work hours to take care of an ill family member.  Feeling they have no options and torn between the necessity of work and the necessity of caring for someone they love, 14 percent of employees quit their job entirely.

Currently, six states and the District of Columbia have expanded paid family leave benefits by adding spouses and parents to the coverage, and in some cases, grandparents and in-laws. Other jurisdictions have increased unpaid leave to cover additional classes of relatives.

Will the U.S. Change Its Policy?

Will the U.S. change its policy and join other industrialized countries in the world?

Maybe.

Microsoft put a policy into effect that requires its vendors to provide paid leave for new parents. That’s a wonderful move. Unfortunately, they did not provide for caregiving of spouses, parents or siblings.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut have addressed the need for family caregiving. In February of this year, they introduced a bill that would give 12 weeks paid leave to U.S. workers at 66 percent of their normal pay. Called “The Family Act,” this bill was originally presented in 2013 and has been introduced every year since that time but has never passed.

Ivanka Trump and Marco Rubio are big political names who have endorsed paid family leave.

Family Leave Is Broader Than Just Caring for Newborns

President Donald Trump put a $19-billion-dollar line item over the next 10 years into his budget. This money would provide new parents with six weeks of paid leave. Nothing was provided for leave to take care of a family member who was not a baby.

Photo: diakon.org

Taking time off from work to care for a new infant is accepted and is what most family leave is used for. In the states where workers can take paid leave, most of them do for a newborn or an adoption.

Only 18 percent take family leave to care for a parent, partly because caring for someone other than an infant carries a social stigma.

Benefits of Paid Family Leave

Paid leave — according to some studies — has small positive gains on worker productivity, morale and retention. According to Howard Gleckman, author of “Caring for Our Parents,” workers taking paid leave “are more likely to return to their jobs, lowering the costs of employee turnover.”

Funding

The states with programs fund them through an employee payroll deduction (or payroll tax). The Family Act being proposed would cost a typical worker two cents per $10 in wages, or approximately $2.00 per week.

The District of Columbia taxes employers to fund the benefits. Massachusetts and Washington state tax both employers and employees.

If you have an aging parent, an ill spouse, or a sibling who needs help, there’s hope on the horizon with the consideration of The Family Act.