While preparing to welcome our second child, Karter, my family faced a difficult choice. I could keep my job, earning barely enough to get by and missing out on critical time to nurture my baby, or I could stay home with him, giving up my job to live in poverty.
When it comes to schools providing care, the problem is largely one of funding, says Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families. The federal government, she says, should do more to help. A cohesive federal policy to fund after-school care, rather than what she calls today’s “patchwork” of programs, would “ease the burden on local school districts.”
[M]any employers aren’t making it easy for [women] with their limited family leave policies, rigid cultures and business models that, in practice, often really don’t support working parents.
The problem with policies that don’t distinguish between leisure time and sick time, however, is that workers often will go to great lengths to avoid taking off for the latter. As such, many have a tendency to come to work sick, which pretty much benefits no one.
Statement of Debra L. Ness, President, National Partnership for Women & Families
The county legislature is considering a bill to require all employers provide some sick time, even for part-time workers – although the smallest businesses would be able to make it unpaid. [Includes video.]
Donating sick and vacation days may seem like a thoughtful way to have a colleague’s back, but it’s also a spotlight on a gaping need to fix an utterly broken system.
Washington, D.C. — The National Partnership for Women & Families — which advocates for fairness in the workplace, access to quality, affordable health care, reproductive health and rights, and policies that help women and men meet the dual demands of work...
Statement of Debra L. Ness, President, National Partnership for Women & Families
Employees without paid sick benefits – of which there are 34.2 million in the private sector – are three times more likely to have family incomes below the poverty line, according to research from Florida Atlantic University and Cleveland State University published in Social Work in Health Care.
“We’re here tonight to speak up for the 350,000 people currently who do not have [paid] sick time,” local business owner Julio Lopez said.
Rather than further stressing our retirement system, a paid leave plan that is supported with very modest payroll contributions would ensure that American families have access to paid leave when they need it without compromising their ability to retire on time.
[New father Charlie] Camosy’s support for paid family leave doesn’t stem only from his positive personal experience. He feels called to advocate for it because of his Catholic faith, which teaches that both work and parenthood are important pursuits.
Dawn Dalton, the policy director at the Washington, D.C., Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said scheduling demands are consistently the largest obstacle standing between the victim and a different life: “I hear, again and again, ‘I just can’t get time off work.’”
“We appreciate that Sen. Rubio and Rep. Wagner are looking for a way to provide the paid leave America’s families urgently need,” said the Partnership’s president, Debra L. Ness, “but a program that only covers parents caring for new children, provides no leave for family care and personal medical needs, and forces parents to choose between paid leave and retirement security is absolutely the wrong way to go.”
Statement of Debra L. Ness, President, National Partnership for Women & Families
People need time to care for themselves or a sick loved one, which is why 44 jurisdictions have passed paid sick days. Yet, lobbyists are urging Congress to give wealthy corporations a way to evade state and local laws and go back to putting limits and punishments on their employees for using the paid sick time they’ve earned.
Maythe made the decision to stay home from the bakery where she works to take care of her 9-year-old son. It turned out he had the flu, and she had to miss three days of work. She didn’t get paid for those days, and it set her family back on their bills.
The absence of a paid family and medical leave policy in the United States is hurting my employees and my business. It doesn’t have to be this way, however, because a plan to solve this problem has been on the table for years – only Congress declined to act on it.
While Rhode Island’s paid sick and safe leave law protects survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault so they don’t have to worry about losing their jobs while going to court or seeing a doctor, advocates argue that H.R. 4219 – the Workflex in the 21st Century Act currently on the table – would put these protections at risk.
