Today, the long fight to pass paid family leave took one step closer, after Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Tina Smith (D-MN) along with U.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Richie Neal (D-MA), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Sean Casten (D-IL), and Lauren Underwood (D-IL), announced a raft of new proposals to establish a national paid family and medical leave program and modernize the current Family and Medical Leave Act.
With one in four American women compelled to go back to work within two weeks of giving birth—despite often not being fully healed and having to care for a newborn with round-the-clock needs—this legislation couldn’t be more urgent. The US is one of only six countries in the world without a national paid leave policy—189 others, including those less developed, offer families time off to care for a newborn or family members in need.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, during which they announced the proposals, Senator Gillibrand said: “We have paid the price of not having a national paid leave program. It’s the price of people having to make that heart-wrenching decision of, ‘do I sit by my mother’s side as she’s dying, or do I get a paycheck to feed my children? Do I stay with my special-needs infant who has been born prematurely while she’s struggling for her life—day in day out—or do I stay in my job and make sure that I have enough money to feed that child and buy her diapers and buy her formula?’ It’s heartbreaking.”
The launch came just days ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows people to take up to 12 weeks off work without losing their job, to recover from serious illness, or to care for a newborn, an adoptive child, or a family member with serious illness. It was groundbreaking when it launched in 1993, as for the first time it offered women job protection after having a baby—hard as it is to comprehend, before FMLA women could get fired or be replaced if they chose to have a family.
But for all FMLA offered in 1993, it feels hopelessly out of date 30 years later. To start, FMLA is unpaid, and for many women 12 weeks off without a salary is nonviable. It’s simply job protection, but for a time period they do not have the financial luxury of taking. Moreover, it only protects women and families working for firms with more than 50 employees—which, according to statistics cited at the press conference, only supports 60% of the working population.
Read the story of Karina Garcia who had to go back to work six days after giving birth.
This new legislative push is being led by DeLauro and Gillibrand, co-authors of the FAMILY Act—a national insurance program that would deliver paid leave benefits for workers around the country—and with record numbers of working parents in the workforce, the time to pass proper legislation couldn’t be more urgent.
While it is taking far too long to pass paid leave—as Dawn Huckelbridge, the director of Paid Leave for All says: “30 years is too long to wait for the next step and to deliver what families desperately need.”—the determination of Gillibrand and DeLauro is marked. Gillibrand tells Glamour: “I’ve been fighting for universal paid leave for a decade in Congress and I’m more committed than ever to seeing it through and making paid leave available to every American.”
Today’s legislative push marks the fifth time in eight years they have introduced a paid leave bill (depressingly, it has failed in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019). And there is growing and significant momentum behind the policy. According to a new survey, four in every five Americans support paid family leave, and the mushrooming support for paid leave across committees and working groups suggests the comprehension of politicians that this is a clear cross-party vote-winner.
2023 has already marked the launch of the Bipartisan Paid Family Leave Working Group, made up of six congresspeople evenly split across the two parties, and establishment of the Congressional Dads Caucus led by Rep. Jimmy Gomez—with a clear mission to advance policies that support working families, including at the forefront paid leave.
Jocelyn Frye, the President of the National Partnership for Women and Families, says: “The FMLA was a groundbreaking step forward, but our work is not done. We cannot continue to ignore the care needs of workers and their families. Our nation’s leaders need to step up and make the choice to enact policies that enable workers to do their jobs and care for their families without putting their livelihoods at risk.”
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