“The Family and Medical Leave Act [FMLA] provides only 12 weeks of unpaid leave around the birth or adoption of a child,” says Vicki Shabo, the vice president for workplace policies and strategies at National Partnership for Women & Families. “So it’s up to employers across the country, including employers in congress like Senators [to decide] whether they offer pay during that time.”

Vicki Shabo, vice president for workplace policies and strategies for the National Partnership for Women & Families, called the paid sick leave program “an extremely welcome sign” and said in an interview that Starbucks had “essentially taken what paid sick leave policies say and extended that to their entire workforce.”

That view is shared by Vicki Shabo, vice president for workplace policies and strategies at the National Partnership for Women & Families, an advocacy group, who said it will primarily benefit workers at companies already offering paid family leave. The new tax credit “just perpetuates the boss lottery,” she added.

The movement may be divided, but there’s still progress, according to Sarah Fleisch Fink, director of workplace policy at the National Partnership for Women & Families. “I think the important thing right now is we’re having the conversation – that some of these experiences that people have faced, are being surfaced,” she said.

According to Vicki Shabo, vice president at the National Partnership, the way to fix these patchwork and uneven policies is simple: a national paid leave policy. “It’s another indication in the growing sense that it is time for the U.S. to have national paid leave,” said Shabo. “It’s obviously beneficial to workers, it’s something that is beneficial to employers, and it will be beneficial to the U.S. economy.”