Paid family and sick leave could expand for the first time in decades because of the pandemic
Just two weeks into Bill Clinton’s nascent presidency, the 1993 Family Medical Leave Act was the first bill he signed into law. Advocates said the FMLA, which guarantees certain employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off for family or medical reasons, would be a springboard to expansive leave protections. Instead, it proved to be a stopping point: More than 28 years later, Congress hasn’t passed significant legislation to broadly expand family and medical leave.
As the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate workers — particularly women — a new generation of advocates are hopeful a more expansive iteration of the FMLA might finally have a shot.
On Friday, Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) reintroduced the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act, which would grant workers up to 12 weeks of paid leave, whether to recover from illness or childbirth, or provide care for a loved one.
“Long before this crisis, there has been a desperate need for paid family and medical leave,” DeLauro said in a statement Friday. “This problem, made worse by the pandemic, must be addressed in a permanent way.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/06/coronavirus-paid-leave/
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