Stories about Paid Leave

Right now only 17% of working people in the United States have access to paid family leave through their employer. [1] And although the current Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows some employees to take up to 12 weeks of job-pro- tected unpaid leave, it only covers about 60 percent of employees. Further, many people who are eligible to take FMLA can’t afford to take it, because FMLA’s unpaid. This lack of paid, job-protected leave is why 1 in 4 new mothers is back at work within 10 days of having a baby [2] and also why 1 in 5 retirees leaves the workforce earlier than planned because they need time away from work to care for a spouse or loved one. [3]

Working families need and deserve a robust detail-driven paid family and medical leave policy. We need a plan that is accessible to all working people, inclusive when it comes defining family, affordable and cost-effective and sustain- able for workers, employers, and taxpayers and provides a meaningful length of leave.

*Please read the following stories from parents and families across the nation:

Alabama 
Arizona 
California 
Colorado 
Connecticut 
Florida 
Georgia 
Iowa 
Illinois  
Massachusetts 
Maryland 
Michigan 
Minnesota 
North Carolina 
New Hampshire 
New Jersey
Nevada
New York 
Oregon 
Pennsylvania 
Tennessee 
Texas
Virginia 
Washington
Wisconsin  

[1] http://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/workplace/paid-leave.html

[2] In These Times: The Real War on Families

[3] Keeping Up with the Times: Supporting Family Caregivers with Workplace Leave Policies, AARP Public Policy Institute