The need to be away from work to care for a new baby, a sick or dying loved one, or even ourselves during a medical emergency is almost an inevitability. In 2013, a Pew Research Center study found that nearly half of adults in their 40s and 50s have a parent age 65 or older and are either raising a young child or financially supporting a grown child (age 18 or older). Fifteen percent of middle-aged adults are providing financial support to both an aging parent and a child. Another reality? Low-income workers are much less likely to have access to paid leave, making them more vulnerable to losing a job if a personal or family medical emergency arises.
The problem is that you can’t be in two places at once, and too often workers are forced to make unthinkable choices – show up for work or care for a loved one. However, if Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) and her colleagues have their say, workers in the District of Columbia won’t ever have to make that impossible choice.
In December, Silverman voted with a majority of her Council of the District of Columbia colleagues to approve the Universal Paid Leave Amendment Act of 2016, groundbreaking legislation that will create a family and personal medical leave program for those employed by private employers in the District of Columbia. The legislation, co-written by Silverman and D.C. Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large), acts as a social insurance program, which helps distribute the costs across the board thereby making it more affordable to D.C. businesses. The legislation is currently on the desk of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser waiting to be signed into law.
While the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) created a federal law requiring employers to provide job protection and 12 weeks of unpaid leave for qualified employees confronted with certain medical and family circumstances, only slightly more than half of American workers qualify to take advantage of even this unpaid option.
Nationally, only 12 percent of workers have access to paid family leave through their employers, and only half of first-time mothers take any paid leave. California is one of three states that provides some basic level of leave, while New York recently signed its own Paid Family Leave Program into place.
Silverman’s legislation would be the most progressive in the country, helping, she hopes, to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families on a more local level. Here’s what she had to say about why this bill is crucial to the future of both D.C.’s families and businesses and why it touches her heart on a personal level.
What are the implications of not having paid leave for working families?
There was a great article in the New York Times recently about why women drop out of the workforce and largely it is because they are the caregivers. They can’t work and care for their sick mom or their sick child. Paid leave has been shown to be extremely helpful in alleviating these stresses and keeping women in the workforce.
We need to support our working families and paid family leave has proven to be a tremendous support to them, especially to those on the lower income scale. We’ve heard so many stories from workers who’ve had to make heartbreaking choices. We received a letter from one woman who was a retail worker who had to quit her job because she couldn’t figure out how to negotiate her radiation and chemo treatments with her employer. That’s just not a choice we want that woman to have to make.
Among the most heartbreaking for me – and I know it’s because I have aging parents – are the letters from people who say they missed spending the last precious moments with their parents because they just couldn’t take time off of work. It’s psychologically devastating to them and it is going to impact the rest of their lives.
What is the genesis of the Universal Paid Leave Amendment Act of 2016?
When I came into office, I was interested in creating tools to help working families, with paid leave, of course, being one of them. I co-introduced the legislation with David Grasso, who is the other Independent At-Large Councilmember. The District had embarked on a paid leave policy for city employees before I came into office, which the mayor at the time had embraced and put into his budget. That gave District workers eight weeks of paid leave. At that point, my office joined with David’s office to create the legislation, and we introduced it in October of 2015.
What will it provide?
The legislation provides “tiered-leave” for District of Columbia employees. We call it the 8-6-2 plan. Employees are eligible for up to eight weeks of annual paid leave for a birth or adoption, up to six weeks to care for a sick loved one, and up to two weeks for District workers who are in need of personal medical leave. Also, self-employed individuals may opt into the program.
How will it be funded?
If passed, the program will be funded by an employer-based 0.62% payroll tax.
What are the benefits to employees?
Under the bill’s wage replacement structure, District workers who work for private employers and make up to 1.5 times the minimum wage, or $46,800 a year when the minimum wage in D.C. rises to $15, will be paid 90 percent of their wages during leave, with a cap of $1,000 per week.
If a worker earns between $46,800 and $61,700 in a year, the benefits during their leave will be between 84 percent and 90 percent of their wages. Workers earning more than $61,700 a year will receive the maximum benefit of $1,000 per week.
Who is exempt?
The bill would cover all District workers who work for private employers. It would not apply to those residents who are reverse commuters – in other words, those who live in D.C. but work outside of the District. The benefits would also not apply to federal workers, or to the 35,000 people employed by the District government. And those who are self-employed need to opt into the plan.
Where does the legislation stand now?
Every piece of legislation from the D.C. Council requires two votes. The first vote was on December 6th, and it passed 11-2. The second vote was on Dec. 20th; there was a 9-4 vote. Now the bill gets sent to the Mayor for her signature. The mayor has said that she won’t sign the bill, however.
What are her objections?
I’d prefer for her to explain her objections herself but I can say that one of her concerns is that too many of the benefits would go to residents of Maryland and Virginia rather to District residents. [The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.]
Does that mean the legislation is doomed?
No. There are still several options. The Mayor can return the bill to council unsigned, in which case it would still become law, just without her approval. I think that’s the likely option right now. Or, she can veto the bill. In that case, the D.C. Council could vote to override the veto.
How do you go about convincing the naysayers that this legislation is valuable?
Well, there are psychological effects but there are also real quantifiable impacts on businesses when employees face these situations. When you have a worker who is thinking more about their sick child than about being present and productive at work, it hurts the bottom line. It’s been proven that workers who feel that they are working for supportive employers are more productive, happier and more willing give more of themselves to their companies. So while I think there is a valid human argument for creating family-friendly workplaces, there is also a real economic benefit to these programs.
Are there any plans to make this a national model?
We certainly hope so. We began this legislative process with help from a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) grant and we have been working with the DOL and some other innovative federal agencies to hopefully be seen as a model for other cities and states that are trying to enact similar programs.