From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog
MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org

Unlike the rest of the world, the U.S. does not guarantee mothers and fathers paid time off from work when a baby is born or a child is adopted. This comes as a total shock and surprise to many. Some people, especially professionals and those at large companies, will be offered a certain number of weeks with some pay. However, this benefit is entirely at the employer's discretion. The U.S. Congress did pass the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993, but it only applies to certain employees, under certain conditions, and about half the private sector workforce is not eligible. More importantly, even for those workers who do qualify, the leave is not paid. The percentage of workers who need family leave but forgo it in favor of a regular paycheck is, by some estimates, as high as 78%.

Low income workers (those in households earning less than $20,000 per year) are the least likely to find their employer offers paid family leave. Increasing the burden, less than 40% of low income workers are eligible for even the unpaid FMLA leave. In comparison, about 70% of families making $20,000 or more could be eligible, if they can afford to miss their paycheck.

The group least likely to afford unpaid leave is single, low-income mothers. After the FMLA was enacted, married women and women with college degrees took family leave in increasing numbers. Single mothers and those with less education have not increased the leave they take in the past 20 years. Obviously, it's not because they don't need it. They don't take it because they can't afford to miss a paycheck, and they won't get paid if they don't work. As a result, new parents, or workers recovering from a long-term illness, or looking after a recovering family member, will go to work no matter how badly they may be needed at home.

It's no mystery why we in the U.S. find ourselves drowning in a "crisis of care". Without paid family leave and paid sick days family members simply can't afford to care for each other when they are sick. With millions lacking health insurance, home health aides and nurses don't visit those who need them. The burden falls on family members, generally women, who already provide billions of dollars worth of unpaid caregiving services to partners, parents, and disabled or dependent family members. Add this to our inadequate child care, or lack of access to any formal care at all, which propels millions of children into substandard environments throughout their most crucial years of brain and emotional development. If we can put a man on the moon, you'd think we could adequately take care of the children, elderly, disabled and chronically ill in this country.

You'd think.

For more about the dismal state of paid leave in the U.S. click here and here for two excellent short papers from the New America Foundation.

'Til next time,

Your (Wo)Man in Washington

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