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How the FAMILY Act Will Help Direct Care Workers, Their Clients, and Our Economy
Next Tuesday, December 12, will be an important day in the fight to help direct care workers and their families and other hard-working people in the U.S. On that day, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) will introduce the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY Act), [link to http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/paid-leave/family-act-fact-sheet.pdf] a national paid family and medical leave program, into Congress. Under the bill, nearly all U.S. workers would be able to take a limited period of time off from work w
How Congress Can Deliver for Working Families #FAMILYAct
This post originally appeared on Human Rights Watch. When Samantha learned she was pregnant, she hoped for a healthy delivery, a happy baby, and a smooth return to work. Life did not go according to plan. Samantha had a C-section, and the wound got infected. She took eight weeks of leave from work, much of it unpaid. Samantha went into debt, deferred student loans, and dipped into savings. She was in pain when she returned to work, barely able to walk. Her employer then laid her off, saying they wanted someone who could work late shifts with little notice. This week a bill will be introduced
Paid Family Leave: We Shouldn’t Have to Choose Between Our Families and our Jobs #FAMILYAct
This post was originally published on the AFL-CIO website. Only 12% of the workforce has paid family leave. While the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)—the nation’s only federal law designed to help working people meet the dual demands of job and family—has kept millions of people from losing their jobs when serious medical needs arise, it doesn’t cover 40% of people on the job. In addition, the FMLA only guarantees unpaid leave, which is unaffordable for many working women and families. The issue of access to paid family leave was one of the serious problems raised earlier this week, when I
TODAY
The FAMILY Act: A Long Overdue Investment in Our Families
This blog post was originally published on A Better Balance Blog. When a family member is confronted with a serious illness, or when a new child is born or adopted, many American workers are forced to choose between their jobs and the well-being of their families. Even though most workers will experience the need to provide care to a loved one at some point in their lives, no federal law guarantee
Breastfeeding, Health and Work: Why We Need the FAMILY Act Now
Breastfeeding has significant health benefits for babies – from protecting them from illness to reducing the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Children who were breastfed are less likely to develop asthma or become obese. Breastfeeding is also associated with health benefits for women, including decreasing the risk of certain cancers. Families that breastfeed can save hundreds or
Paid Leave Keeps Women in Their Jobs and That’s Good for the Economy #FAMILYAct
August marked the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA); a groundbreaking law that has been used more than 100 million times, helping workers keep their jobs while they care for a family health crisis or a new baby. Unfortunately, because FMLA leave is generally unpaid and has eligibility restrictions, millions who qualify for it can’t afford to take it, an
Bridging the Gap: Bringing the Benefits of Paid Family Leave to American Workers #FAMILYAct
This blog post was crossposted from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research FemChat blog. In its founding year, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) analyzed the costs to workers of not having unpaid leave for childbirth, personal health needs, or family caregiving in its inaugural publication, Unnecessary Losses: Costs to Americans of the Lack of Family and Medical Leave. IWPR’s res
The Ripple Effects of the FAMILY Act
This blog was crossposted from Family Values @ Work “Unintended consequences” – this is the term we hear all the time from lobbyists for mega corporations when they try to block new policies that would allow people to care for their loved ones and provide for them. “You’re well-intentioned,” they drone, “but you’ll bring about unintended consequences that will hurt the very people you want to help
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 Must be Expanded to Provide Paid Leave #FAMILYAct
Will the US join the rest of the modern world – and California, New Jersey and Rhode Island – by supporting, with real policies, family values? That’s the question that the proposed expansion of family and medical leave raises. The extension to the act, to be introduced into the US Congress in early October, proposes paid leave for mothers at the birth of a child and also provides for paid leave
My need for Family Leave #FAMILYAct
I blog to help share my story so others who have been through it know they aren’t alone and to educate those who haven’t been through it. This is a topic that not only affects caregivers but parents, children and entire families. I think it’s important for everyone to understand how interconnected all of these issues are and how we need to work together to accomplish change. I have been asked to
YESTERDAY
Women Who Code – Why Including Motherhood in STEM Discussions Matters
With millions of students taking part in “Hour of Code,” a campaign supported by technology companies as part of National Computer Science Week, there is a lot of internet chatter about the importance of high-tech skills in an innovation economy. By late Tuesday, more than 60 percent of the students who had taken one of the intro coding tutorials were girls. This came as a surprise to the organiz