Paid Family & Medical Leave
Paid family and medical leave combats poverty, gives children a healthy start, and lowers the wage gap between women and men by providing structural support to balance work and family.Know the Facts
- Right now only 13 (!!!) percent of Americans have access to paid family leave through their employer and only 37% have personal medical leave provided through an employer.
- Although the current Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows some employees to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave, it only covers about 60 percent of employees.
- A quarter of all poverty spells in the United States are because of having a baby.
- The U.S is one of the only countries in the world that doesn't offer paid leave to new mothers.
- Paid family leave has been shown to reduce infant mortality by as much as 20% (and the U.S. ranks a low 37th of all countries in infant mortality).
- Paid leave improves worker retention, which saves employers money through reduced turnover cost.
What You Can Do
Blog posts
Take Action
Can you believe that in the United States only 15% of workers have access to paid family and medical leave?
The Oregon legislature adjourned the 2018 legislative session without taking action to pass paid family and medical leave. Contact your state lawmakers and urge them to make paid leave a top priority in the 2019 session.
Washington is expecting…paid family and medical leave in 2020! The Washington State Legislature passed a best-in-nation paid family and medical leave law in June 2017 that covers all workers and includes options for self-employed individuals. The new program will provide paid leave while employees are away from work for the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a new child; to care for a seriously ill family member; or to recover from a serious medical condition themselves. And businesses won’t have to carry the financial burden while their employee is on leave – payments will come directly from the Economic Security Department. Now we need your help to spread the word about this new program so that families know about this important benefit. Sign up to join our Washington State MomsForce for paid family and medical leave. You'll get the latest and greatest information on the program and receive tools to take action and help Washington families prepare for this MOMumental leap forward.
