State Paid Leave Act
Issue: Defending Workers & Families
Target Level of Office: State
Policy Origin: Washington State Legislature
Poilcy/Bill Number: House Bill 1457
Link: www.YEONetwork.org/2013policy/?i=190
Summary Narrative of the Policy: This bill, also known as the Family & Medical Leave Insurance
Act, expands and fully funds the Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FMLI) policy adopted in
2007. FMLI would provide up to 12 weeks to care for a new child or seriously ill family member
and 12 weeks for the worker’s own serious health condition. Furthermore, this would provide
the benefits of two-thirds of weekly pay for each week of leave, and pay for benefits through
payroll premiums shared by workers and employers. Lastly, these weekly benefits are indexed
to inflation for urban wage earners and clerical workers.
Relevant Talking Points & Important Information:
• At some point, nearly everyone will need to take time away from work to deal with a
serious personal or family illness, or to care for a new child. However, according to the
National Partnership for Women & Families, fewer than 40 percent of American workers
have access to personal medical leave through employer-provided short-term disability
insurance and only 12 percent have access to paid family leave through their employers.
• Laws providing paid family and medical leave allow workers to continue to earn a
portion of their pay while they take time away from the office to: address a serious health
condition, including pregnancy; care for a family member with a serious health condition;
or care for a newborn, newly adopted, or newly-placed foster child.
• Paid medical and family leave allows American workers of every sector and wage-level to
meet their health and family needs without jeopardizing their economic security.
• According to a 2011 joint study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the
Rutgers University Center for Women and Work, the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor
and Employment, and the Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies at
CUNY, six years after California enacted a statewide paid family leave program, both
workers and their employers – representing private businesses, public-sector sites, and
non-profit organizations – report significantly positive results from paid leave including an
increase in workplace morale, productivity, and profitability/performance with a decrease
in turnover.
10
State Level
Policy
2014 Book