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Paid Family Leave The Wave of the Future?

March 10th, 2008 · 2 Comments

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Via SavvySugar, we learn that New Jersey might become the third state in the union to make paid lead a right for those workers who have a new baby or need to take care of a sick relative.

Workers taking leave would be eligible for two-thirds their salary maxing out at $524 per week for six weeks. The measure would be financed by employee payroll deductions that would cost New Jersey workers a maximum of $33 a year. The assembly is expected to approve the bill next week, and if the bill becomes law it would be effective as of the first of next year.

It goes without saying, at least to me, that this is a good idea. All workers should be in favor of this sort of thing. Why? Because all workers would benefit from it.

It is positively worth it to me to pay $30 or so dollars a year to have this sort of “insurance” available to me. One day, I will have a new baby. One day you will too. Or your son or daughter might.

And one day I’ll have to take some time off to help my aged parents. You will too.

And one day I’ll be the aged parent and my sons and daughters will need the flexibility to look after me. Ditto for you.

And with this sort of insurance, we’d all have the flexibility to take time off for these sorts of things without jeopardizing our careers or our finances.

I can hear the grumbling out there… more taxes… more taxes…

Listen, I’m very much a middle of the road political moderate and fiscal conservative. I’m a businessman, after all. But have we become so inculcated against taxes and anything the government does, that we’re even against things that would directly help us?

That’s why I say every worker should be in favor of this sort of thing. It helps all of us working folk. Every state in the union should offer this.

We middle class and working class people shouldn’t be afraid to be greedy. This isn’t just another government handout to help “someone else.” This is a valuable benefit that can someday help you!

I’m greedy! I want paid leave when I have a kid in a couple of years. And I’m willing to pay $30 a year for the privilege.

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Tags: Working Parents · WorkLife

  • http://www.progressivefuture.org Kate Drazner

    “Listen, I’m very much a middle of the road political moderate and fiscal conservative. I’m a businessman, after all. But have we become so inculcated against taxes and anything the government does, that we’re even against things that would directly help us?”

    Exactly. Thank you for making the case for this policy from the point of view of the very family-values-oriented, middle-American voices that tend to criticize policies such as this. What the American political dialog tends to disregard these days is that progressive policies like Paid Family Leave do keep VALUES at the heart of its ideology.
    Compared to the rest of the developed and industrialized world, the United States lags appallingly behind when it comes to workers’ rights, to health care, to infant mortality, etc…we need to clean up our act when it comes to what many see as a critical malady in our employment policy. More than half of private-sector workers and seventy-nine percent of low-income workers have no paid sick leave. Under current FMLA policy, these workers are forced to use unpaid sick leave, which exacerbates the burden of health care expenses. Again, here we see that the system is set up to put already disadvantaged workers at a further financial disadvantage. This story is hinged around the values of fairness and community, seeing as most workers who are engaged in physically straining, back-breaking labor have no provision for them to take care of their health and secure financial stability. It’s about installing responsible policy to protect an essential sector of our workforce.
    Progressive Future is an organization that unites policies that are responsible to the American public with the values of community, fairness and security. It’s about changing the dialog of the American political consciousness to make room for the idea that progressivism is a concept that unites policy around values. I encourage you to visit http://www.progressivefuture.org/join?id4=BL to find out more.

  • http://www.theprofessionalassistant.net Richard Rinyai

    I completely agree with this. Here in Ontario, Canada, we have parental leave where the mother can take up to 52 weeks with 55% of pay and the father can take an additional 37 weeks with the same pay.

    I’m actually lucky, since my company tops this up to 95% of my pay and my wife’s is 75% of her pay.

    I wouldn’t mind paying the extra bit if I lived in the US, since this will definitely help the family and boost productivity over the long run.

    Thanks,

    Richard Rinyai
    http://www.theprofessionalassistant.net