Monday, May 16, 2016
By Erin Macey
Contact: emacey@incap.org
Recovery from a C-section: six weeks. Stroke rehabilitation:
months. The ability to bond with a newborn, care for a recovering spouse, or
sit at the bedside of a dying parent without worrying about lost wages:
priceless. On June 6th, the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2016 Paid
Leave Analysis Grant Program will accept applications
from state, county, or local agencies seeking to study how best to implement a
statewide system of paid family leave. Indiana should apply. It’s an
opportunity too vital to Hoosiers’ well-being to miss.
Paid family leave is, in essence, an insurance plan for an
employee’s most valuable asset: his wages. When a qualifying event occurs – a
parent enters hospice or a baby is born, for example – the employee can file
for wage replacement during his or her leave of absence. Many employees are
already entitled to unpaid leave
during these events through the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), but these
unpaid absences can take a serious toll on a family’s financial well-being or on the bottom line of a company that
continues to pay its employee through a difficult time.
In the United States, paid family leave programs are as
unique as the states implementing them. New
York is the most recent to create a program; it will soon offer 12 weeks of
paid leave to bond with an infant, care for a seriously ill family member, or cover
for a family member called to active military service. Massachusetts has
proposed legislation that will require employers to fund family leave and
temporary disability insurance, while other states fund their programs entirely
through a small employee payroll deduction. States
vary on how much of an individual’s wages they will replace as well; for
example, California
formerly offered only 55% of an individual’s wages up to a ceiling, but recently
changed to a progressive scale topping out at 70% for low-income families, who couldn’t
afford to take the leave at lower wage replacement levels.
If Indiana is serious about supporting all Hoosiers and
attracting and retaining talent, paid leave is a no-brainer. Many of Indiana’s
larger employers already offer it and could see cost reductions from
participating in a state-administered plan, while small businesses that currently
cannot afford to offer paid leave on their own could benefit from buying in to
a larger pool. In fact, under a paid
family leave program, businesses won’t be required to fund an employee’s wages
while the employee is on leave; instead, the business can use the freed-up
funds to hire a temporary replacement. This doesn’t even factor in the many
benefits to families and the state, including increased breastfeeding rates,
decreased need for public assistance, and the priceless gift of the ability to
be present during life’s most important moments.
Please join the Indiana Institute for Working Families in
calling on Indiana to capitalize on this grant opportunity. Engaging in a careful
study of other paid leave programs and Indiana’s distinct needs will enable us
to craft smart legislation that will successfully cover all families and businesses during the inevitable times when we
must place our work lives on hold to live out our Hoosier family values.
Encourage Indiana and your city and county to apply at: www.dol.gov/wb/media/paidleavegrants.htm
