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Introduction

Millions of working families experience a solar day-to-twenty-four hour period struggle to brand ends meet – nearly forty% of America'due south children live in low-income families. When these families experience a major life result, such every bit having a baby or taking intendance of a family member with a serious illness, their already fragile financial situation tin be further jeopardized.

With recent social and demographic shifts – including the increased participation of women in the labor forcefulness and the aging of the population – balancing work obligations with family responsibilities has become more than and more than challenging for all families. Low-wage workers can find this balancing human activity especially difficult as they are more likely to work in jobs with few benefits and limited flexibility and they have fewer financial resources at their disposal. Everyone loses when families are forced to make tough compromises, and consequences for children'south salubrious development can be especially troubling.

Electric current public policies in the United States do not adequately support workers striving to see the obligations of work and family. For instance, the U.S. is one of four nations that exercise not guarantee paid fourth dimension-off to new mothers; the other countries that similarly provide no guarantee are Liberia, Papua New Republic of guinea, and Swaziland. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave from employment for major life events, merely coverage is far from universal, and many cannot afford to take fourth dimension-off from piece of work without pay. Low-wage workers, in particular, would benefit from expanded paid leave policies, equally they are less likely to exist covered past the federal policy and are in greater demand of pay during time-off from work for major life events.

A handful of states have enacted policies that provide partially paid exit under certain circumstances. This brief begins by discussing enquiry on the benefits of family leave and describing the federal Family and Medical Exit Act. It then examines the strengths and limitations of existing state-level policies, with a focus on California, which in 2002 became the first state to enact paid family unit leave. Finally, the brief concludes with recommendations for country policymakers considering paid family unit leave, with an accent on how these policies could be crafted to best serve the needs of low-wage workers and their families.

Background

Why Families Need Paid Leave: What the Enquiry Says

Research indicates that family leave policies help to improve child and family unit health and well-being and contribute to greater family economic security.

In terms of children'southward health, access to paid parental get out has been found to reduce child mortality, specially when the leave is paid and provides job- protection benefits. Researchers have concluded that parental go out may be a toll-effective way to better children'south health. Granting longer periods of leave post-nascency tin can contribute to healthy child development: babies whose mothers return to work within 12 weeks of kid birth are less likely to be chest-fed, less likely to exist up-to-engagement on their immunizations, and more likely to exhibit externalizing behavior bug. Children whose mothers return to work total-time shortly after giving nascency are besides less likely to be taken to the pediatrician for regular bank check-ups.

In that location is also some evidence that parents – both mothers and fathers – benefit from being able to take leave. Mothers who were employed prior to child birth and who filibuster returning to piece of work after giving nativity experience fewer depressive symptoms than those who return to work before. Fathers who take longer leaves afterward a child's nascence are more than involved in childrearing activities once they return to work. These benefits for parents as well contribute to improved child well-being.

In improver, family go out policies have a number of consequences for parental employment, mainly for women. Access to get out, even unpaid go out, increases the likelihood of women's return to piece of work post-obit child birth; information technology also increases the likelihood of women returning to the aforementioned task. Rights to parental go out increased women'southward rate of employment in Europe. And state and federal exit policies, even unpaid get out policies, increment the likelihood of exit-taking also equally the length of leave taken for mothers and fathers. Since family get out policies increase parents' power to maintain attachment to the labor force, even after they have children, these policies are an of import mode of promoting family unit economical security.

Employers also stand to benefit from family unit exit through increased employee retention, reduced turnover, and increased loyalty and morale.

Defining the Terms

What is "family unit" go out and how is it different from other forms of get out?

  • Family leave is the concept of taking time-off from employment in club to care for a family fellow member during a major life outcome, including a serious illness or the birth of a infant or adoption or foster placement of a kid.
  • Medical leave is go out used for an individual's ain serious illness.
  • Maternity and paternity exit is for new mothers and new fathers (respectively) around the birth of a child.
  • Parental leave refers to time-off for new parents (mothers and fathers) around the birth of a baby, or adoption or foster placement of a child in order to bond with and intendance for the new child.

What are some of the important dimensions of leave policy?

  • Family exit can exist mandated past federal or land government, or it can by provided on a voluntary basis by individual employers.
  • Some policies include provisions for full or partial pay during a worker'south time-off, while others provide only unpaid leave.
  • Leave policy can include a guarantee of job-protection, which ways that a worker is entitled to the aforementioned position or an equivalent position upon returning to piece of work.
  • The length of get out also varies depending on the policy: federal law entitles certain workers to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, merely state paid leave laws typically provide a shorter leave.

The Policy Context at the Federal Level

The federal Family and Medical Leave Human activity (FMLA) provides up to 12 weeks a year of unpaid leave from employment to certain workers for major life events. Signed into constabulary in 1993, FMLA was the commencement piece of federal legislation to accost the competing demands of work and family unit.

Under FMLA, covered and eligible workers are guaranteed 12 weeks of leave annually in the event of the worker's own serious affliction, or to care for a seriously ill parent, child, or spouse, or for the nascence of a baby, or adoption or foster placement of a child. A key provision of FMLA is that the exit is chore-protected, which means that workers who take leave are entitled to the same position, or ane that has equivalent pay and seniority, upon return from leave. Employers are required to extend health insurance to workers who accept get out, if such benefits are usually offered by the employer.

Although FMLA represents a pregnant policy achievement for working families, FMLA has two significant weaknesses: it does non cover all workers, and the get out offered is unpaid. These weaknesses unduly affect low-income parents. FMLA does not apply to small businesses – just employers with fifty or more employees have to comply with FMLA. It also excludes some part-fourth dimension workers and those with less stable employment histories. To be eligible for get out under FMLA, an employee has to take worked for the same employer for at to the lowest degree i year and must have worked for the same employer for at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months (25 hours per week, on average, for 50 weeks).

These provisions atomic number 82 to substantial gaps in coverage under FMLA. Workers who are to the lowest degree likely to have access to voluntary leave benefits through an employer are also less probable to exist covered by FMLA. Information technology is estimated that only one-half of all workers are both covered (that is, work for an employer with 50 or more than employees) and eligible (that is, have been with their employer for the previous yr and worked at to the lowest degree ane,250 hours) for FMLA. Less than one-half (46 pct) of all women workers are estimated to be covered, and some estimates show that only 20 percent of new mothers are covered and eligible for FMLA.

Depression-wage workers are not as probable as higher earners to be covered by and eligible for FMLA equally they are more likely to be employed by companies that are as well small-scale to qualify. Moreover, these workers typically have erratic employment histories due to frequent task changes, intermittent or seasonal employment, and/or function-fourth dimension employment that brand them ineligible for coverage. And low-wage workers who work full-fourth dimension hours by combining jobs would not authorize for FMLA.

Even so fifty-fifty workers who are fortunate enough to qualify for FMLA often cannot afford to accept get out without pay. One analysis found that 77 percent of employees who needed get out just decided not take information technology made that decision for financial reasons, and 88 percent of this group said that they would have taken leave had some wage replacement been bachelor. Salaried workers and those with higher incomes are more likely to take family go out compared to hourly workers. Depression-income workers are more likely to work for employers who do non provide pay during leave: one survey found that 74 pct of workers earning less than $twenty,000 annually received no pay from their employer while on go out, whereas 24 percent of workers earning between $fifty,000 and $75,000 received no pay during leave. While there take been efforts to address the lack of paid get out at the federal level, many expect that in the most futurity, states will lead efforts to enact paid family leave.

State-Level Paid Leave Policy

States have long been innovators in developing and implementing family leave policy. Prior to the enactment of FMLA in 1993, several states already had some form of leave policy in place. Since the passage of FMLA, a number of states accept expanded access to unpaid exit either by extending coverage to more workers or by increasing the length of FMLA go out.

Only several states have taken up the issue of paid go out policy. California became the first state to laissez passer paid family leave in 2002, since and then Washington and New Jersey have followed adjust. Additional states are considering legislation.

Specific aspects of paid family unit leave programs vary in each state, including who is covered and the amount of wage replacement offered to leave- takers. Notwithstanding, ane common cistron among nigh state paid leave policies is that they do not extend job-protection benefits. In some cases, as discussed below, this leaves a gap betwixt state and federal policy, since many state paid get out policies apply to all or about all workers in a state, whereas the reach of FMLA is more limited.

The following department details the strengths and limitations of state-level paid leave policies. The section begins with a description of land temporary disability insurance programs, which provide income replacement to workers with a temporary disability (pregnancy is treated equally a "temporary inability" for the purpose of such programs), merely exercise not provide broader family leave benefits.

What ultimately emerges is a complicated pic: who is covered, for what kind of leave (paid or unpaid), and for how long, varies depending on where one lives and on 1's employment history and employer. In some states, multiple laws confer rights to get out. The result is a patchwork system that can be confusing for families who are attempting to determine what kind of leave benefits are available. But until at that place is farther action on family get out at the federal level, states volition continue to drive innovations in family leave policy and the patchwork will continue.

Paid Leave for New Mothers: Temporary Disability Insurance

New mothers tin receive partial wage replacement through state temporary disability insurance (TDI) programs in five states: California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Isle. With the exception of Hawaii, these programs were created in the 1940s but did not apply to significant women until the 1970s with the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Two of the three states that accept paid family leave programs (California and New Jersey) had a TDI program in place prior to the establishment of paid family unit leave.

Figure 1: State Temporary Inability Insurance (TDI) Wage Replacement

The level of wage replacement through TDI varies across the five states (come across Effigy ane). Typically, benefits are a pct of weekly wages, up to a specified maximum. The length of leave for pregnancy-related "disability" under TDI is on average six weeks, although some states allow eight weeks if birth was through Cesarean section. Financing of TDI is either through an employee contribution or through both an employer and employee contribution to a state fund.

Dissimilar FMLA, TDI policies typically do not offer job-protection. Yet, in most states, more than workers are covered by TDI than are covered by FMLA. States with an existing TDI programme take the advantage of already having the authoritative capacity to deliver family leave benefits.

California's Paid Family Get out Insurance Programme

In 2002, California became the first state in the nation to enact paid family leave. The Paid Family Leave Insurance program builds on the state's existing TDI program and offers six weeks of leave annually with partial pay for workers who need to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, domestic partner, or for parents to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child or recently placed foster kid. Different FMLA, almost all individual-sector workers in California are eligible for paid go out benefits, including part-time workers and small-concern employees.

While on go out, Californians tin can receive partial wage replacement: 55 percent of weekly earnings with a maximum of $959 per week (in 2009). This maximum benefit amount is indexed to the state's average weekly wage and is annually updated. Compared to the handful of other states with a paid family unit get out policy or TDI, California's program has the highest maximum weekly benefit (see Figure 2).  The program is financed solely by a payroll tax on workers that collects funds for TDI benefits and paid family leave benefits.

A critical difference between paid family unit leave in California and unpaid leave through FMLA is that the leave offered under the state paid family unit leave program is not task-protected. Unfortunately, this leaves workers who are not covered past FMLA – those who piece of work for employers with fewer than 50 employees and workers with part-time work histories – but who are covered by the California law, in an awkward position. Although these workers may be entitled to some wage replacement for six weeks of leave, their jobs are non guaranteed upon their return to work. Employers are too not required to extend benefits, including wellness insurance, to workers on paid leave every bit is required under FMLA.

Benefits through TDI and Paid Family unit Leave Insurance for new mothers are especially significant in California. Under the state's TDI plan, new mothers can receive partial pay for four weeks prior to a child's birth, and 6 to eight weeks after birth. Workers in companies with v or more employees who have pregnancy-related TDI leaves are job-protected. Later on taking maternity leave through TDI, new mothers tin have an additional half dozen weeks of bonding leave through Paid Family Leave Insurance. Only these additional weeks of leave are not job-protected.

Just two-thirds of women who received TDI benefits for leave related to pregnancy also filed for bonding claims nether the Paid Family Leave Insurance program. Ane possible caption is that pregnancy leave taken under TDI is task-protected for near, just time-off through paid family exit is not. Then for those who are not covered by FMLA, in that location is no guarantee of a job upon return from time-off, nor is there a guarantee that health insurance benefits must be extended during leave. In addition, it is possible that many women, especially low-income women, just can not beget to take so much time-off with only partial wage replacement.

Another potential reason for low take-up rates of paid family get out is that public awareness of the program remains low, even years later the police force's implementation in 2004. One survey plant that in 2003, 22 percent of respondents were aware of the program. By 2007, sensation increased merely slightly: 28 percent of respondents knew about the paid get out program. Those about in demand of paid family leave benefits are as well the least likely to exist enlightened of the program: depression-income, minority, and immature respondents were among the groups least likely to know about paid family unit leave. Overall, there was greater awareness of FMLA and the state'south TDI plan than paid family unit leave.

Who Takes Paid Family Leave in California?

In 2006, 161,000 workers in California took paid family get out (out of a workforce of 13 one thousand thousand). According to information from 2006, women ï¬led nearly fourscore percentage of all claims for paid family leave. Adults who piece of work for very large employers (with more than than i,000 employees) business relationship for almost half of all family leave claims, even though they represent only 14 percent of the state's piece of work- force. Near of the claims ï¬led for paid family exit take been for bonding with a new baby (rather than care for an ill family member).

California's Paid Family Leave Insurance program is a model for other country and federal efforts to implement paid exit. At the same time, there are important lessons to be learned from the California experience. In particular, task-protection benefits are a critical element of family get out policy, equally is raising public awareness of the program. Both will ensure that workers who need to take time-off from work for family reasons are able to accept reward of the bachelor benefits.

Paid Family Get out in Other States

Since California passed its landmark legislation in 2002, several other states take considered family leave legislation. To date, two states accept joined California in passing paid family unit get out laws: Washington (in 2007) and New Bailiwick of jersey (in 2008). (Run into Figure two for a comparing of the three country paid family leave programs).

New Jersey
Effigy ii: Comparison of State Paid Family Go out Programs

New Jersey's Family unit Leave Insurance program will provide vi weeks of paid exit for workers to intendance for a new baby, or a seriously sick parent, child, spouse, domestic partner, or civil union partner. Paid leave benefits will be bachelor as of July 2009. Building on the state's existing TDI program, the law offers wage replacement of up to two-thirds of weekly pay, upward to a maximum of $546 in 2009. Like California, the maximum corporeality volition be adjusted annually. The program is funded entirely past a payroll tax on employees, with contributions capped at $33 per year.

Equally in California, coverage nether New Jersey'due south Family Leave Insurance volition be broader than under FMLA, including part-time workers and small business employees. Workers who already pay into the state's existing TDI program will exist eligible for wage replacement, which includes those who accept worked for at least 20 weeks in the past twelvemonth and who have earned at to the lowest degree $143 in a base of operations week.

However, as is the case in California, New Jersey'southward Family unit Leave Insurance does not guarantee job-protection, so that only workers who are employed by organizations with 50 or more than employees will be guaranteed their jobs upon returning from leave.

Washington

In Washington State, the recently passed State Family Exit Insurance program would provide five weeks of paid leave from employment for parents to spend time with a newly born or newly adopted child. The programme was originally slated to brainstorm in October of 2009, but as of this writing, work on determining plan administration has been suspended by the governor.

The proposed benefit structure for the Washington program differs slightly from California and New Jersey. Workers who piece of work at least 35 hours per week would receive a apartment weekly benefit of $250 per week while on leave. Office-time workers would exist eligible for prorated benefits. Although the weekly benefit is lower than the maximum benefits in California and New Jersey, low-wage workers in item do good from this structure since they would receive a greater proportion of their wages compared to higher-wage earners.

Dissimilar California and New Jersey, job-protection benefits are extended across FMLA under the Washington law. Workers in companies with 25 or more employees who have worked 1,250 hours in the previous year would be entitled to chore-protected exit. Although this provision would not cover all of the workers in the state who would exist eligible for wage replacement benefits, it signals the importance of job-protection.

Other State Efforts

A handful of other states have considered enacting paid family go out. In New York Land, for example, the Land Assembly passed legislation expanding the state TDI organization to include 12 weeks of paid family leave to care for seriously sick family unit members and new children. The proposal features broad coverage (including companies with fewer than 50 employees, part-time workers, and a broad definition of eligible family members), but lower wage replacement levels (with a maximum weekly do good of $170).

Advocates in New York await paid family go out to be reintroduced in the state legislature in the current session and are pushing for an increment in the weekly benefit corporeality. Other states are expected to take up paid family unit leave in the coming year.

Policy Recommendations

Paid family unit get out provides a disquisitional support to families who demand access to time-off from piece of work for family reasons. This support is particularly important for low-wage workers who are less probable to have access to leave and are most in demand of pay when they have to take time-off. Paid family leave has been institute to promote healthy child development and family well-existence.

Given the patchwork nature of the current policies and the universal need for access to paid family leave, the long-term goal is clearly a federal paid leave policy. However, in the short-term, it appears that innovation in paid family unit leave policy will continue to occur at the state level. Thus, NCCP recommends the following policy strategies for guiding state-level efforts to enact paid family unit go out policy that all-time serves the needs of low-wage workers and their families:

  • Ensure adequate wage replacement.  Wage replacement benefits provide needed income during fourth dimension-off for major life events. Washington State's proposed model of providing a flat benefit amount is an interesting model for other states, as it gives low-wage workers a greater share of their lost earnings. However, wage replacement benefits must be plenty to ensure that workers can make ends encounter while on leave.
  • Guarantee job-protection. Job-protected leave is critical for ensuring that workers experience comfy taking time-off from their job. Since FMLA's coverage is currently express to total-fourth dimension workers and employers larger than l employees, states should ensure that country policy provides job-protection to all workers eligible for state paid go out benefits.
  • Extend coverage to both full- and role-time workers and to employees in small businesses. Paid family leave is a basic labor protection, and as with other labor protections similar the minimum wage, function-fourth dimension workers and small-scale business organisation employees also need access to the right to exit for major family events, such every bit the nascency of a baby or a family member's serious illness.
  • Ensure that the length of get out is sufficient. The enquiry on kid evolution indicates that a minimum of 12 weeks of paid leave benefits would exist best for promoting both salubrious child development and family economical security. The length of paid exit available through state policy should be at least as long as the 12 weeks provided past FMLA.
  • Employ a broader definition of family unit. Many adults have family care responsibilities that extend across the immediate family members included in FMLA (parents, spouses, and children). Policymakers should consider expanding the definition of family unit to also include siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and in-laws. Particularly with an crumbling population, families would best be supported by a broader concept of "family."

The lesser line is that paid family leave promotes both child and family unit well-being and economic security, and ensuring that depression-income families take access to these benefits is critical.

Endnotes

1. Low-income is defined as twice the federal poverty level, or $35,200 a year for family of three in 2008. Douglas-Hall, Ayana; Chau, Michelle. 2008. Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Birth to Age eighteen. New York, NY: National Middle for Children in Poverty, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health. Dinan, Kinsey Alden. 2009. Budgeting for Bones Needs: A Struggle for Working Families. New York, NY: National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia Academy, Mailman School of Public Wellness.

2. Lower-Basch, Elizabeth. 2007. Opportunity at Work: Improving Job Quality. Washington, DC: Middle for Law and Social Policy.

three. Heymann, Jody, Earle, Allison, Hayes, Jeffrey. 2007. The Work, Family, and Equity Index. Montreal: Project on Global Working Families and the Institute for Wellness and Social Policy.

iv. Ruhm, Christopher J. 2000. Parental Leave and Child Health. Journal of Health Economics 19 (6): 931-960. Tanaka, S. 2005. Parental Leave and Child Health Across OECD Countries. Economic Journal 115(501): 7-28.

5. Ruhm, Christopher J. 2000. Parental Leave and Child Wellness. Periodical of Health Economics nineteen (vi): 931-960. Berger, Lawrence G.; Hill, Jennifer; Waldfogel, Jane. 2005. Maternity Leave, Early on Maternal Employment and Child Wellness and Development in the U.Due south. The Economic Periodical 115 (501): F29-F27.

6. Berger, Lawrence M.; Hill, Jennifer; Waldfogel, Jane. 2005. Maternity Leave, Early Maternal Employment and Kid Wellness and Development in the U.S. The Economic Journal 115 (501): F29-F27.

seven. Chatterji, Pinka; Markowitz, Sara. 2005. Does the Length of Maternity Leave Affect Maternal Health? Southern Economic Journal 72(1): 16-41.

8. Nepomnyaschy, Lenna; Waldfogel, Jane. 2007. Paternity Leave and Fathers' Interest with their Immature Children. Community, Work, and Family x(four): 427-453. Seward, Rudy Ray; Yeatts, Dale Due east.; Zottarelli, Lisa Thou. 2002. Parental Exit and Begetter Involvement in Child Care: Sweden and the United States. Journal of Comparative Studies 33(iii): 387-399.

nine. Hofferth, Sandra L.; Curtin, Sally C. 2006. Parental Exit Statutes and Maternal Return to Work After Childbirth in the United States. Piece of work and Occupations 33(1): 73-105.

x. Ruhm, Christopher J. 1998. The Economic Consequences of Parental Leave Mandates: Lessons from Europe. Quarterly Journal of Economics 113(ane): 285-317.

11. Waldfogel, Jane. 1999. Family Leave Coverage in the 1990s. Monthly Labor Review 122: 13-22. Han, Wen-Jui; Ruhm, Christopher; Waldfogel, Jane. 2007. Parental Exit Policies and Parents' Employment and Exit-Taking. National Bureau of Economic Research. Working Paper 13697.

12. Rudd, Elizabeth. 2004. Family unit Leave: A Policy Concept Made in America. Boston, MA: Sloan Piece of work and Family Research Network.

13. Ruhm, Christopher J. 1997. Policy Picket: the Family and Medical Get out Human action. The Journal of Economic Perspectives 11(three), 175-187. Waldfogel, Jane. 2001. Family and Medical Exit: Evidence from the 2000 Surveys. Monthly Labor Review 124(nine): 17-24.

14. Run across Endnote 12.

fifteen. Phillips, Katherin Ross. 2004. Getting Fourth dimension Off: Access to Get out among Working Parents. Washington, DC: Urban Constitute.

3. 16. Ibid.

17. Come across Endnote xi.

18. Waldfogel, Jane. 2001. Family and Medical Exit: Show from the 2000 Surveys. Monthly Labor Review 124(9): 17-24.

nineteen. Every bit of this writing, President Obama has expressed support of expansion of unpaid go out through FMLA to additional employees and encouraging states to enact paid family leave through the creation of a country innovation fund.

xx. Grant, Jodi; Hatcher, Taylor; Patel, Nirali. 2005. Expecting Better: A State-past-State Assay of Parental Leave Programs. Washington, DC: National Partnership for Women and Families.

21. Due to begin in 2009, the Washington State paid leave program has been suspended by the governor as of this writing.

22. Self-employed workers can buy-in to the California Paid Family Leave Insurance program. Country employees are non covered by the programme, just for the near role already have access to paid leave. Employees must take earned at least $300 in previous 12 months to be covered. Milkman, Ruth; Appelbaum, Eileen. 2004. Paid Family unit Go out in California: New Enquiry Findings, in The Country of California Labor, 2004. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

23. Sherrif, Rona Levine. 2007. Balancing Piece of work and Family. Sacramento, CA: California Senate Role of Research.

24. Economical Opportunity Institute. 2008. Washington Family Exit Insurance – Benefits for All New Families. Seattle, WA: Economic Opportunity Establish.

25. Encounter Endnote 22.

26. Ibid.

27. Ibid.

28. Milkman, Ruth. 2008. New Data on Paid Family Leave. Los Angeles, CA: California Family unit Leave Research Project, UCLA Constitute for Research on Labor and Employment.

29. Ibid.

xxx. State of New Bailiwick of jersey, Section of Labor and Workforce Evolution. 2009. Family Leave Insurance Fact Canvas.

31. Come across Endnote 23.

32. For more about state efforts to enact paid family leave, encounter Paid Get out Activeness in Other States. Paid Family unit Go out California.

33. Run across Endnote 19.

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