Currently, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is the only federal law that helps America’s workers meet the dual demands of work and family when they have a new child or face a medical crisis. The FMLA provides unpaid, job-protected leave for up to 12 weeks a year to care for a newborn, newly adopted or foster child, to care for a seriously ill family member, or to recover from serious illness.
Without some form of wage replacement, the FMLA’s promise of job-protected leave is out-of-reach for millions of hard-working women and men. In fact, a Labor Department study found that 78 percent of workers who qualified for and needed to take FMLA leave did not do so because they could not afford to go without a paycheck.1 More than one-third of workers (34 percent) who take FMLA receive no pay during leave, and another large share of the population has a very limited amount of paid leave available to them.2
When a personal or family medical crisis strikes, workers frequently have no choice but to take unpaid leave or quit their jobs. As a result, for many workers the birth of a child or an illness in the family forces them into a cycle of economic distress. Twenty-five percent of all poverty spells begin with the birth of a child.3
The lack of paid family and medical leave hits low-income workers hardest: almost three in four low-income employees who take family and medical leave receive no pay, compared to one in three middle-income workers and one in four of those with high incomes. In addition, nearly one in three workers (29 percent) who receive less than full pay while on leave end up borrowing money to make ends meet; another 38 percent put off paying bills; and nine percent go on public assistance to cover lost wages.4
The National Partnership is working with state and national advocates and policy makers to make paid leave a reality for working families. No one should have to risk their financial security when they get seriously-ill or need to care for a family member—especially during this economic crisis.
1 Department of Labor 2000 Report at 2-16.
2 Id. at 4-5—4-6.
3 The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 2001. The Future of Children: Caring for Infants and Toddlers.
Richard Behrman, ed. Los Altos, California:11(1).
4 Department of Labor 2000 Report, Chapter 4. http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/chapter4.htm | |
|
|
