STATEMENT OF MomsRising.org Executive Director on House Passage of the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act
Statement of
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director, MomsRising.org
On House Passage of the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act (HR 5781)
CONTACT: Gretchen Wright, 202/371-1999
June 19, 2008
Today the U.S. House of Representatives took an important first step toward ensuring paid family leave for all workers in our country by passing the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act.
Everyone needs paid family and medical leave and it’s past time to start putting this policy in place. We know that paid family leave helps provide children with a healthy start and keep families out of poverty, yet the United States lags behind every developed country in the world in offering paid leave to new mothers.
In fact, it’s a national embarrassment that we don’t have this policy—particularly since we are one of only four countries, in a Harvard study of more than 170 countries, that doesn’t offer some form of paid leave for new mothers. We share that dubious distinction with Papua New Guinea, Liberia, and Swaziland.
With more than 1.8 million civilian employees, the federal government is the nation’s largest employer. Currently, federal workers don’t have any guarantee of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Some have accrued paid sick or vacation time that they may be able to use while on unpaid FMLA leave. However, others, especially younger workers who haven't accrued sick or vacation time, have no choice but to take unpaid leave.
If passed, the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act would guarantee qualifying federal workers four weeks of paid parental leave for the birth or adoption of a new child. It would also enable federal workers to use up to eight weeks of accrued paid sick time immediately following the first four weeks of parental leave.
It's time for the federal government to become a model employer by offering their workforce paid parental leave, and to pave the way for the rest of the nation to follow. The House of Representatives has taken the first step and we now urge the U.S. Senate to follow suit.
In the last 24 hours alone, MomsRising.org members have emailed more than 9,330 letters to their Members of Congress for a total of 16,966 emails in support of this crucial bill.
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MomsRising.org is an online grassroots organization that is working for paid family leave, flexible work options, excellent childcare and healthcare for all children, and to stop the wage and hiring biases that penalize so many mothers today. MomsRising.org, has more than 160,000 members across the United States.
