By: Mary Beth Ferrante
This article originally appeared on Forbes.com.
Six months into the coronavirus pandemic, the cracks in our system feel like they are widening by the day. It’s frustrating, disheartening and sometimes even terrifying, especially as a working parent in a house where we are trying to manage two careers, occupy a preschooler and oversee online kindergarten all under one roof. And yet, I know that I sit in an extremely privileged position. My partner has access to paid time off if one of us gets sick. And while I don’t have that same access to FMLA, I recognize that I had the privilege to trade those protections for the flexibility I gained as an entrepreneur.
But for too many U.S. employees, there is no tradeoff. There is no safety net or partner that has access to paid leave. In fact, 113 million working people (about 80% of U.S. workers) can’t take a single day of paid leave. An additional 53 million people are unpaid caregivers, with one in four mothers drawn back to work within 10 days of giving birth.
We know that the United States continues to fall starkly behind the rest of OECD countries without any federally subsidized leave. It relies on a patchwork of companies, states and local governments to provide paid leave, which disproportionately impacts Black and Hispanic workers. When it comes to bringing home a new child, only 43% of Black workers and 25% of Hispanic workers have any access to parental leave, causing more Black and Hispanic women to leave or lose their jobs after childbirth. Ninety-three percent of low-wage workers have zero access to paid leave, and while the recent FFCRA implemented some temporary protections for employees during the pandemic, they are in fact just temporary and quite limited. Only individuals working for companies with 50-500 employees are covered, leaving millions without coverage, including essential workers.
We’ve seen the impacts of how this is playing out during a global pandemic in the U.S. economy. Parents, mostly women, are being pushed out of their jobs due to disruptions in childcare and school. Lack of paid sick leave increases risks to all workers as employees literally have to choose between their health and their income.
Yet, this is not unique to the pandemic. Without paid FMLA, U.S. employees have always been forced to choose between their own health, the health of a family member and their ability to keep their job. It’s been 27 years since the initial passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act—the purpose of which was “to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families, to promote the stability and economic security of families, and to promote national interests in preserving family integrity.” It was a noble pursuit on behalf of Congress, but one that hasn’t adapted or expanded, leaving workers to make impossible decisions.
PL+US, an organization with the mission to win paid family and medical leave for everyone, is highlighting real stories that happen every day to people as a way to demonstrate the impact to workers without paid leave and to move towards a “new normal” where all workers have access to paid family and medical leave.
Yakima Reinhardt didn’t have the benefit of paid leave to care for her mother after a serious surgery. Instead, she was forced to travel for work during the surgery, when her mother fell into a coma and later passed away. As she shares, “I worked, and when I needed the leave the most…it wasn’t there.”
Similarly, Jon is a dad from Ohio, who experienced the dramatic difference that access to paid leave makes. Jon was able to spend 2 months at home after the birth of his first son, but found himself in a new job without paid leave when his second son was born. He was only able to spend one day with his second son before returning to work, even as his newborn baby became sick in the following weeks. “We are more than just where we work and what we do. We have people we care about,” he says.
Eighty percent of Americans supported Paid FMLA even before coronavirus. The current pandemic has only heightened the need to care for ourselves, our families and our loved ones. It’s time for our nation’s policies to support our ability to care for ourselves and families.
Katie Bethell, founder and executive director of PL+US Action believes that these stories can motivate voters and influence legislators.
“As candidates on both sides of the aisle court women as a critical voting bloc this election, paid leave can be a unifying and winning issue. Voters want candidates who put family first and prioritize a national paid leave policy, especially as a pandemic has made it clearer than ever, working families need a new normal. Our new campaign features storytellers who tell the heart wrenching stories of why paid leave is so important for life’s most important moments, and what the lack of paid leave means. Through these stories, we can build public understanding of what paid leave is and why we need it now more than ever. These stories educate and empower voters, especially women, when they are deciding who to support this fall. When it comes down to it, family matters more than anything else. And it’s time for our politicians and policies to recognize and reflect that.”
There will be a moment in most people’s lives where they will need to care for themselves, a newborn or a sick family member. We need better and more inclusive paid leave and we need it for everyone.
Posted In: Articles, Fathers & Work, Mothers & Work, Uncategorized, Work & Family