Paid Family Leave is a Necessity for all Americans
By: Salli Swartz

Many, if not most of us, live in countries where paid leave for maternity/paternity, and illness is provided by national law. That the United States remains the only industrialized country in the world that does not guarantee any type of paid family leave at the national level is a major failure of our Federal Government. Only six states and Washington, D.C., have adopted their own paid leave laws.

In our country, a national law is still a pipedream and the effects of the absence of such possibilities are catastrophic not only to infants, children and all parents, but in particular to women who bear the brunt of unpaid absences with loss of income and jobs.

“It is a national disgrace that our federal government does not guarantee paid family and medical leave for the American people,” said Melanie Campbell, President and CEO of The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Convenor, Black Women's Roundtable.

Democrats Abroad supports paid family leave, and our 2020 DA Platform (adopted in June 2020) clearly states:

All parents deserve an opportunity to support and bond with their children after birth, and all children deserve quality childcare. We advocate to extend policies to all American workers that provide both parents with six months paid parental leave which can be shared between the two parents. 

The current patchwork of state and federal paid leave policies leaves 80% of private sector workers and 74% of state and local government workers without paid family and medical leave. A majority of Americans cannot take paid time off to care for themselves or their families. This is bad for families and bad for the economy and bad for women. Furthermore, the lack of national paid leave disproportionately impacts low-wage workers and people of color. 

You may remember the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), was signed into law in 1993. It was a huge step because FMLA afforded certain employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for specific family and medical reasons. However, it provides for UNPAID leave only, and it only applies to private sector employers with 50 or more employees —leaving out as much as 56% of the U.S. workforce. Furthermore, it is not specific to maternity and paternity leave. Despite FMLA, only 16% of American employees currently receive paid leave through their employers.

Perhaps hope is just around the corner.

On the 28th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (the FAMILY Act) to create a permanent, national, paid family and medical leave program.

The FAMILY Act would ensure that every worker, no matter the size of their employer or whether they are self-employed or employed part-time, has access to paid leave for every serious medical event, when needed. The emergency paid leave provision that partially expired at the end of last year helped to prevent covered workers from having to choose between their paycheck or their health when they needed to stay home. Most importantly, DeLauro and Gillibrand’s FAMILY Act would create a permanent, paid family and medical leave program for all workers that provides up to 66% of wage replacement for 12 weeks.

Under the program, both employees and employers would make a small payroll contribution each week (around $2 for the average worker) to an insurance fund that would enable workers to earn 66% of their monthly wages for the duration of their leave.

Stay tuned for the Reproductive Justice Action Team, in coordination with the greater GWC, to begin actions to support this bill.

Join us in our fight for equality and justice for all women. Volunteer to help us.

In our country, a national law is still a pipedream and the effects of the absence of such possibilities are catastrophic not only to infants, children and all parents, but in particular to women who bear the brunt of unpaid absences with loss of income and jobs.

“It is a national disgrace that our federal government does not guarantee paid family and medical leave for the American people,” said Melanie Campbell, President and CEO of The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Convenor, Black Women's Roundtable.

Democrats Abroad supports paid family leave, and our 2020 DA Platform (adopted in June 2020) clearly states:

All parents deserve an opportunity to support and bond with their children after birth, and all children deserve quality childcare. We advocate to extend policies to all American workers that provide both parents with six months paid parental leave which can be shared between the two parents. 

The current patchwork of state and federal paid leave policies leaves 80% of private sector workers and 74% of state and local government workers without paid family and medical leave. A majority of Americans cannot take paid time off to care for themselves or their families. This is bad for families and bad for the economy and bad for women. Furthermore, the lack of national paid leave disproportionately impacts low-wage workers and people of color. 

You may remember the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), was signed into law in 1993. It was a huge step because FMLA afforded certain employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for specific family and medical reasons. However, it provides for UNPAID leave only, and it only applies to private sector employers with 50 or more employees —leaving out as much as 56% of the U.S. workforce. Furthermore, it is not specific to maternity and paternity leave. Despite FMLA, only 16% of American employees currently receive paid leave through their employers.

Perhaps hope is just around the corner.

On the 28th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (the FAMILY Act) to create a permanent, national, paid family and medical leave program.

The FAMILY Act would ensure that every worker, no matter the size of their employer or whether they are self-employed or employed part-time, has access to paid leave for every serious medical event, when needed. The emergency paid leave provision that partially expired at the end of last year helped to prevent covered workers from having to choose between their paycheck or their health when they needed to stay home. Most importantly, DeLauro and Gillibrand’s FAMILY Act would create a permanent, paid family and medical leave program for all workers that provides up to 66% of wage replacement for 12 weeks.

Under the program, both employees and employers would make a small payroll contribution each week (around $2 for the average worker) to an insurance fund that would enable workers to earn 66% of their monthly wages for the duration of their leave.

Stay tuned for the Reproductive Justice Action Team, in coordination with the greater GWC, to begin actions to support this bill.

Join us in our fight for equality and justice for all women. Volunteer to help us at [email protected].