June 22, 2021
After years of vetoes and drafts, a paid family and medical leave program – a first for the Granite State – would become a reality if Gov. Chris Sununu signs the state budget into law.
The policy provides 60% of wage replacements for up to six weeks of work per year. The policy is voluntary, meaning both individuals and employers can choose to opt-in.
June 21, 2021
A coalition of large and small businesses will meet with members of Congress this week in a push for a national paid family and medical leave policy.
Paid family leave advocates organized the virtual fly-in, dubbed Businesses for Paid Leave Week of Action, to make the case that the policy would boost U.S. businesses.
“Business leaders will share with key legislative leaders the positive benefits of paid leave, from supporting diversity and inclusion to attracting and retaining a productive workforce,” Paid Leave for the U.S. spokesman Neil Sroka told The Hill. “For small businesses, a federal policy is critical for leveling the playing field and ensuring all businesses can compete equally."
June 18, 2021
I’m a small business owner — I run the Cranmore Inn in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire with my husband. To say that the last year and a half has been nerve-racking would be an understatement.
It’s been a hard time to be in the hospitality industry, which is so critical to New Hampshire’s economy. More than 50,000 people work in the hospitality industry here; the sector, according to a 2014 study, contributes over $2.52 billion to the state’s economy, and New Hampshire’s rooms and meals tax is our state government’s third largest revenue generator. For our sector, and others, to fully recover and thrive, we have got to have a sensible paid leave plan that’s accessible to small businesses as well as large ones.
June 17, 2021
When people ask me what I do, I tell them I do it all. I’m a salon owner, run a catering business, and attend business school. But I’m also a mom, a daughter, and a sister, so that means I’m a child care provider and a caregiver when the need arises. During the pandemic, the need arose.
During the pandemic, being a caregiver became a full-time job for me. One of my kids has Down Syndrome and was at high risk. I had to put my child’s safety first. And then, in November, my brother got Covid. My mom lives with him and she tested positive, too. Then my sister-in-law and their two kids needed support— and I am their support. While they were quarantined and recovered, I took care of them — errands, the drugstore, groceries. The whole time, I felt so scared — for them, for my family, for my business, but what could I do? They’re my family and they needed me.
June 8, 2021
A new poll has found overwhelming bipartisan support in key battleground states for paid family and medical leave after the pandemic made paid leave a top national priority across ideological lines. Swing state voters, including a solid majority of undecided voters who could decide the next election, say Congress should prioritize passing paid leave as part of a jobs and infrastructure plan as President Biden’s attempts at courting Republicans on infrastructure continue to stall — even without paid leave on the negotiating table.
April 29, 2021
Senior living and care operators soon could be required to provide workers with 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, thanks to President Joe Biden’s newly proposed American Families Plan.
Amid a joint session of Congress last night, Biden unveiled the $1.8 trillion spending and tax credits plan, part of his ongoing effort to try to revitalize the nation and ensure a more equitable recovery from the COVID-10 pandemic.
April 29, 2021
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a new federal paid leave plan for all workers. The legislation would guarantee 12 weeks of paid family leave for all Americans and is part of Biden’s $1.8 trillion American Families Plan proposal to Congress. This is the first time an American president has formally called for paid family and medical leave legislation to cover all Americans.
In his speech before a joint session in the House chamber, Biden said that no one should be in a situation wherein they have to choose between a job and paycheck or taking care of themselves and a loved one – a parent, spouse or child.
April 28, 2021
President Biden on Thursday called for legislation providing 12 weeks of paid family leave for all Americans as part of his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan proposal to Congress.
“No one should have to choose between a job and paycheck or taking care of themselves and a loved one – a parent, spouse, or child,” Biden said in his speech before a joint session in the House chamber.
Biden’s American Family Plan calls for $225 billion to fund partial wage replacement for people taking leave because they or a family member are sick, welcoming a new child, or dealing with sexual assault or domestic violence.
April 28, 2021
Most American workers would have access for the first time to paid family and medical leave under a proposal released Wednesday by President Joe Biden, but full benefits wouldn’t be available for 10 years.
The proposal, which is part of Biden’s broader American Families Plan, would create a federally run program that pays workers who take time off to care for seriously ill family members, bond with a newborn or newly adopted child, or tend to the workers’ own serious health problems. The program would phase in gradually at a projected cost of $225 billion over a decade, with the maximum 12 weeks of benefits becoming available in year 10, according to the White House.
April 28, 2021
President Joe Biden released his American Families Plan today, a $1.8 trillion package that promises nothing short of rewriting the US’s social contract.
If passed, it would insert the government into parts of American life that politicians before him have purposefully avoided, from workplace leave policies to the cost of daycare.
April 21, 2021
The next part of the White House's infrastructure package will focus on American families, with education, childcare, and paid leave all set to be major priorities.
According to the Washington Post, the American Families Plan will allocate $225 billion towards paid family and medical leave. Now, 17 state treasurers are calling for the passage of that measure in an open letter organized by 501(c)(3) For the Long-Term and advocacy group PL+US (Paid Leave for the United States).
April 21, 2021
State treasurers from 17 states sent an open letter to Congress on Wednesday urging lawmakers to pass federal paid family leave and medical leave as proposed in President Joe Biden’s soon-to-be released American Families Plan.
“We are concerned that the lack of a federal paid family and medical leave program leaves many hundreds of thousands of working people across the country without adequate access to care for themselves or their family members, leaving them to face an impossible choice between working and potentially spreading Covid-19 or the next pandemic,” the state treasurers wrote in the letter that was organized by the national campaign Paid Leave for the United States and the public charity For the Long-Term.
April 10, 2021
You've heard these phrases before or may have used them yourself. "My mom is the rock of our family." "I wouldn't be where I am today without my grandmother." "My mom and dad worked two jobs so their kids could go to college." After more than a year spent separated from our families, these thoughts might give you a feeling of warmth or a twinge of longing.
Here's another way to look at them.
March 24, 2021
Nearly 200 businesses signed a letter sent to Capitol Hill Tuesday calling on Congress to include expanded paid family leave in its next economic package.
The letter urges Congress not to allow the United States to remain "one of only two countries in the world with no form of national paid leave." Signatories include such business titans as Spotify, Levi Strauss & Co., Etsy, Eventbrite, and Patagonia.
"We urge Congress to meet the moment by passing a comprehensive federal paid family and medical leave policy that provides long-term health benefits and economic security to all American families and contributes to the vitality and sustainability of our businesses," the letter reads in part.
March 24, 2021
A growing number of U.S. businesses seem to be warming to the idea of paid family leave. Nearly 200 of those businesses signed a letter urging Congress to extend comprehensive paid family and medical leave to all working Americans, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Among those who endorsed the letter were executives from Patagonia, Etsy, Levi Strauss and Danone, according to The Washington Post. Their interest in expanding family leave reflects a changing business attitude toward labor issues following the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought to light how vulnerable many workers are to global and national crises.
March 24, 2021
About 200 companies signed a letter this week calling on Congress to pass permanent paid family and medical leave, calling it “one of the critical solutions to our nation’s economic recovery.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, right about this time last year, Congress did pass a law requiring many businesses to offer two weeks of paid sick leave and 12 weeks of paid family leave for COVID-related reasons. But it was temporary.
Let’s look at why businesses are interested in making government-sponsored family leave permanent.
One of the lines in the letter to Congress says: “In short: paid leave is good for business.”
March 23, 2021
Are we seeing a shift in thinking when it comes to paid family leave?
Years ago, legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and Family and Medical Leave Act received plenty of pushback from the business community. The typical narrative was that such legislation was a “job killer.” And in recent years, politicians, with the implicit backing of companies, have introduced bills that would weaken those laws.
Now, it appears more business leaders realize that giving their employees time and space to take care of their families in times of need — without confronting economic hardship — is actually good for the bottom line.
March 23, 2021
As business owners and employees continue to struggle with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and look toward our economic recovery, the need for a long-term national paid leave program has never been stronger. For over a decade, despite strong bipartisan support for such a policy, America remains one of the only countries in the world without a national paid family program. Why is that?
The plight of small businesses is often raised as a key hurdle. Paid leave programs, opponents say, would put too much of a burden on small business owners, who employ approximately 49.2 percent of Americans working in the private sector. As two small business owners, we cannot stay silent on the issue. Our firsthand experience has shown us the opposite: Paid leave is good for our businesses and valuable for our bottom line.
March 23, 2021
Nearly 200 businesses are pressing Congress for paid and more expansive family leave, a sign of the shifting political momentum over U.S. labor policy after the overlapping crises of the coronavirus pandemic exposed workers’ vulnerabilities.
In a letter sent Tuesday, executives for such brands as Patagonia, Etsy, Levi Strauss and Danone urged congressional leaders to extend comprehensive paid family and medical leave to all working people.
Annie Sartor, a senior director at the advocacy group PL+US (Paid Leave for the United States), said the pandemic may have helped turn the tide of public opinion — and shift political will — to address the need for additional protections for workers.
March 23, 2021
Arguing that "when families thrive, we all thrive," nearly 200 companies and organizations on Tuesday sent a memo to U.S. congressional leaders urging them to work with the Biden administration to include paid parental leave in its proposed $3 trillion "Build Back Better Recovery Plan."
Addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the memo from Paid Leave for the U.S. (PL+US), a "national campaign to win paid family and medical leave by 2022," calls on lawmakers to "respond to the unprecedented economic, health, and safety challenges faced by the business community as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic" by passing "permanent paid family and medical leave" as part of the administration's next recovery package.
