Workers Need Paid Family, Medical and Sick Leave

Millions of workers have benefited from  the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) since it became law in 1993. A recent Department of Labor survey reported an overwhelmingly positive response from workers and employers.

The FMLA, for which AFL-CIO unions, women’s groups and others led the fight, requires state agencies and private employers with more than 50 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave annually for workers  to care for a newborn, newly adopted child, seriously ill family member or for the worker's own illness.

However, FMLA’s effectiveness is constrained by its limited coverage and because millions of workers cannot afford to take leave without pay.  The act only partially addresses workers’ growing need for more flexibility to take leave from work during times of family and medical need.

Paid Sick Days

Expand Coverage, Paid Leave

AFL-CIO Recommendations

Paid Sick Days

More than two of every five private-sector workers do not receive any paid sick days, although 95 percent of the public thinks it is unacceptable for employers to not provide paid sick leave (and 60 percent think it is illegal). Lower-paid workers are especially vulnerable: Three of every four low-wage workers have no paid sick leave.

Without paid sick days, employees often come to work ill, infecting co-workers and decreasing productivity. Such “presentee-ism” costs the U.S. economy $180 million annually in lost productivity and may be more costly to employers than absenteeism due to illness.

Expand Coverage, Paid Leave

Nearly two of every five workers are not covered by the FMLA. The FMLA should be strengthened to cover more workers, including employees of companies with fewer than 50 employees, and to meet more family needs, such as parental involvement in school activities and nonemergency care of children and elderly parents.

According to a 2007 report from The Project on Global Working Families:

• Only four countries out of 173 studied did not offer paid maternity or parental leave for women: Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Swaziland and the United States. 
• In 137 countries, workers are guaranteed some form of paid annual leave—but not in the United States.

The FMLA provides only for unpaid leave, and with four of every 10 workers living paycheck to paycheck in this country, it is easy to see how “unpaid leave” can translate into “no leave” for many. According to a 2000 Labor Department study, 78 percent of workers who needed leave but did not take it said they could not afford to take it. 

The Family Leave Insurance Act of 2007 (bill number not yet assigned) would provide up to eight weeks of paid leave for workers needing time off for the birth or adoption of a child, or for their own or a family member’s serious illness.

Introduced by Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), chief sponsor of the 1993 FMLA, and Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the new bill would establish an insurance fund in which employers, employees and the federal government would share the costs.

AFL-CIO Recommendations

The AFL-CIO calls on Congress to:

• Strengthen the FMLA to cover more workers and more family activities;
• Provide for paid family and medical leave ;
• Oppose any effort to curtail existing FMLA protections; and 
• Guarantee workers seven days of paid annual sick leave.

Sources

• Balancing the Needs of Families and Employers: Family and Medical Leave Surveys, 2000 Update, by David Cantor, Jane Waldfogel, Jeff Kerwin, Mareena McKinley Wright, Kerry Levin, John Rauch, Tracey Hagerty, and Martha Stapleton Kudela, Westat, 2001.
• No Time to Be Sick: Why Everyone Suffers When Workers Don’t Have Paid Sick Leave, by Vicky Lovell, IWPR, 2004
• The Work, Family, and Equity Index—How Does the United States Measure Up?, by Jody Heymann, Alison Earle, and Jeffrey Hayes, The Project on Global Working Families, 2007
• Workers’ Rights in America—What Workers Think About Their Jobs and Employers, AFL-CIO, September 2001
• Testimony of Debra L. Ness for U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Hearing on the Healthy Families Act, 2/13/07
• US Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry in the United States, March 2006, August 2006
• U.S. Department of Labor, Balancing the Needs of Families and Employers—Family and Medical Leave Surveys—2000 Update, Westat, January 2001
• Ellen Wulfhorst, “Many U.S. Workers live paycheck to paycheck—survey,” Boston.com, 3/12/07.