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Washington State Workers Win Paid Family Leave |
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Starting in 2009, workers in Washington State can take paid time off from their jobs to care for a new born or just adopted child under a new paid family leave law Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) signed this week. Washington joins California as the only states to offer paid family leave.
The new law provides new working parents up to five weeks leave with a stipend of $250 a week.
Family and community activists, the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) and Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate, mobilized to win passage of the bill and overcome the corporate community’s fierce opposition. Says WSLC President Rick Bender:
After six long years of debate and negotiation on how we can promote early childhood well-being and make family leave more affordable for all Washington Workers it’s a relief to move forward.
State legislators authorized an $18 million loan to pay for the leave program’s first two years, and a task force will explore ways to permanently fund the program and issue its report Jan. 1.
On the federal level, the Healthy Families Act (S. 910 and H.R. 1542) would require employers with 15 or more employees to provide workers seven paid sick days a year to take care of themselves or a family member.
Bender points that in Washington nearly half of all workers receive no paid sick leave and similar figures are found nationally. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does provide workers in businesses of 50 or more employee up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for themselves or a sick relative and many lower-income workers simply can’t afford to miss a paycheck to take the unpaid time off. But for those who have been able to take advantage of the FMLA, it has proved to be an important family benefit without harming employers’ bottom lines.
But at the urging of some Big Business groups, the Bush administration has set its sights on possible revisions to FMLA rules that would make it more difficult for workers to access its modest rights. The Department of Labor solicited comments on revising the act late last year and early this year and is now considering the recommendations. While, the AFL-CIO, Working America and other family advocates urged the FMLA be strengthen not rolled back, business groups lobbied hard for new restrictions.
The AFL-CIO told the Labor Department:
The Family and Medical Leave Act provides crucial protections to American workers as they struggle to balance their work and family needs. No current, reliable evidence exists to justify making it more difficult for employees to take FMLA leave. The Department should refrain from making any changes in its regulations that restrict access to these important rights. Instead, efforts should focus on making sure that employees fully understand their FMLA rights and that employers permit their employees to take FMLA qualified leave when they are so qualified.
The National Partnership for Women & Families says:
Working Americans need the Department of Labor and Congress to provide more family-friendly policies—such as expanding the FMLA to cover more workers and establishing paid family and medical leave, and ensuring a minimum standard of paid sick days, available to all—not undermine these critical protections.
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I offered this once before and every step of the way from California, Washington State and soon in Oregon, New York and New Jersey untill the healthy families act and Congresswoman Woolseley’s Balancing act passes in congress and becomes law I will still keep sending in this poem:
One Sick Kin Away From Being Fired
A Poem by David G. Hurlburt© David G. Hurlburt 2007
It is hard for a family to make both ends meet,
Both of us working so we are not on the street.
Minimum wage workers need every single dime;
They also need some emergency kin care time.
We work hard, and at night and we’re so tired,
Just one sick child away from being fired.
Why can’t we use sick leave to care for our kin,
When the Bosses fires us for that is a just a sin.
Not any time off, with pay, for short time family care;
When the roll is called up yonder will these managers be there?
We work hard and at night and we’re so tired.
Just one sick spouse away from being fired.
Companies protect and defend at all costs their mighty corporate rights
So when you take time off for your family, be prepared to join the fights.
Working families, we need to lobby congress and the legislatures too.
We need a law so are jobs are protected when our child gets the flu..
We work hard and at night and we’re so tired,
Just one sick parent away from being fired.
Providing time for families doesn’t cost it will pay.
It reduces turnover because more employees stay.
It, increases loyalty, dedication and it is caring and kind.
A benefit employees value and it’s one that’s hard to find.
We work hard and at night and we’re so tired.
Just one sick self away from being fired.
Too many times we’re fired and end up in the street.
Loss of jobs or pay and our bills we can’t meet.
Bankruptcy from medical bills or the loss of a job,
We loose heart and hope and our kids learn to rob
You can pay to build families or tear them apart.
The dollars spent on sick leave are just a start;
Childcare, after school programs to care for our kids
And medical care for every one even those on the skids.
If you don’t do these things you will still pay the price.
In court costs and prisons and that is not very nice.
A nations economy must serve all the people in the land;
Not greed or the wealthy, government must take a stand.
The social safety net is not just for the poor,
It protects us all from the thief at our door.