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On June 10, President Clinton announced a new Labor Department regulation encouraging states to offer unemployment insurance to workers who take leave to
care for a newborn or newly adopted child. The regulation, which takes effect
August 14, 2000, responds to a request from the states of Maryland,
Massachusetts, Vermont and Washington. Earlier this year, the Administration set
aside $20 million in its FY 2001 budget to fund roughly 15 competitive planning
grants to help states and regions explore ways to implement paid family and
medical leave through Unemployment Insurance, Temporary Disability Insurance, or
other innovative funding sources. The movement for paid leave follows the
success of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), enacted in 1993. The FMLA,
the first bill Clinton signed as President, requires businesses with more than
50 employees to allow up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers to care for
newborn or adopted children, sick parents, or personal health problems. Although
this legislation has helped more than 24million Americans, many other workers do
not benefit because they cannot afford to take time off without pay. According
to the Family Leave Commission, a federal bipartisan group established to study
the effects of FMLA, almost two-thirds of employees who needed family or medical
leave, but did not take it, cite their inability to go without pay as the
reason. Those who are unable to take unpaid leave tend to be those who are most
vulnerable—low wage, hourly workers who are less likely to have vacation or
sick benefits. In order to reach more Americans, there have been a series of
efforts in state legislatures to provide paid leave. The principal strategies
are:
Unemployment Insurance (UI)—The most common
proposal is to allow workers to apply for Unemployment Insurance benefits for a
period of weeks if they take leave to care for a newborn or newly adopted child,
seriously ill family members, or for serious personal health problems. There
would be no additional payroll tax and benefits would be capped at just a few
hundred dollars per week. Fourteen states have considered legislation to expand
UI to provide some level of paid family and medical leave: Colorado,
Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New
Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington.
Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI)—Another
proposal would use Temporary Disability Insurance to cover employees who take
family and medical leave. Five states (California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York
and Rhode Island) and Puerto Rico currently offer TDI as a partial wage
replacement for circumstances including pregnancy and childbirth, but TDI does
not currently include paternal leave or absences to care for sick family
members. Legislatures in California, New Jersey and New York have considered
broadening TDI to cover family and medical leave, and four other state
legislatures (in Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana and Virginia) have examined the
creation of new TDI programs. Momentum is shifting toward the establishment of
paid leave. Three state legislatures recently enacted legislation requiring
comprehensive studies of family and medical leave proposals: California in 1999,
and both Connecticut and New Hampshire in 2000."Given our unprecedented
prosperity and unemployment insurance trust fund surpluses, now is the time to
act to enable American families to balance both economic security and family
security," declares John Burbank, Executive Director of the Washington
state-based Economic Opportunity Institute. "Paid family leave is all about
our values of work and family. It is as American as apple pie. "CPA is
working closely with the National Partnership for Women & Families on a
Campaign for Family Leave Benefits.
StateAction.org Links:
- Family
Leave State Issues page – includes Ideas the Work and other valuable resources.
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