The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), enacted in 1993 during President Clinton’s administration, represented a groundbreaking step as the first national policy providing job-protected time off for eligible workers in the United States. Under this legislation, qualified individuals are entitled to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for various reasons, including caring for a newborn or newly adopted child, attending to a family member with a severe health condition, recovering from a personal health issue, or fulfilling military family obligations.[i]

However, over time, the limitations of the FMLA have become evident, leaving a substantial number of individuals and families, particularly those facing economic hardships and poverty, without the necessary support. The eligibility criteria, requiring at least a year of employment with the current employer and excluding part-time workers, make nearly half the workforce ineligible.[ii] Compliance issues and a lack of awareness about the program further contribute to a situation where two-thirds of workers needing family or medical leave reports cannot take it due to financial constraints.[iii] This disproportionately affects low-wage workers, women, and people of color, exacerbating existing inequalities within the workforce and perpetuating cycles of poverty.[iv]

A significant drawback of the FMLA is its provision of only unpaid leave, intensifying economic challenges and disproportionately impacting vulnerable populations facing poverty. The benefits of paid leave are well established. Paid leaves significantly enhance financial security for families and individuals, contribute to healthy child development, improve maternal health, and maintain family cohesion. For example, paid leave is associated with a decreased risk of poverty and food insecurity for families and an increased household income in the year following the birth of a child, particularly for mothers with incomes below the federal poverty level.[v] From a business perspective, paid leaves improve employee retention, heightened productivity, and increased participation in the labor force.

The United States needs a federal law mandating paid family or medical leave, unlike other industrialized nations with established national standards. While public support for paid leave is strong, the passage of federal legislation remains to be determined. Challenges to implementing a federal paid family leave program include determining the funding mechanism, debating coverage and leave duration, establishing administrative structures, ensuring gender and race neutrality, and integrating the new policy with existing state and private sector initiatives.[vi]

There have been several attempts to establish a nationwide plan for paid family or medical leave. Some temporary paid leave benefits programs were enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, though the majority of those have since expired.[vii] In 2020, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) temporarily required employers with fewer than 500 workers and all public employers to provide up to two weeks of fully paid sick leave to workers unable to work due to their quarantine or symptoms of coronavirus. Those requirements expired at the end of 2020.[viii] Besides that, a most recent move at the federal level is that the House bipartisan working group on paid leave has released a modest draft framework to enhance access to paid family leave.[ix] The four-part framework aims to fill in gaps to paid leave across the country with federal grants that would help, but not require, states to implement or enhance their paid leave programs. It would create an Interstate Paid Leave Action Network (I-PLAN) to help streamline programs across states. The proposal would enhance existing tax credits to incentivize small businesses, especially those with low-income workers, to provide paid leave. It would also allow small businesses to pool resources to provide paid leave to their employees more efficiently. However, even if the framework becomes bipartisan legislation, the chances of passage are low.

Despite a lack of a federal scheme, thirteen states and the District of Columbia have taken steps to address this gap by establishing mandatory state-paid family leave systems. These states employ various approaches, with California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Washington, Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, and the District of Columbia utilizing social insurance programs.[x] In contrast, New York employs a mandatory private insurance system.[xi] Additionally, eight states have adopted voluntary paid family leave systems, allowing employers to provide benefits through the private insurance market. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia permit life and disability insurers to write group family leave insurance (FLI) policies for employers.[xii] Meanwhile, New Hampshire and Vermont have embraced voluntary paid family and medical leave (PFML) insurance programs.[xiii]

After thirty years of the FMLA, with the lessons from COVID-19 in mind, we now see what’s worked and what hasn’t. Addressing the intersection of paid leave policies and poverty is crucial for creating a more equitable and inclusive framework that uplifts individuals and families facing economic challenges.

 

[i] US Dep’t of Labor, Family and Medical Leave Act, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla.

[ii] Marci Ybarra et al., Thirty years of the FMLA: What’s worked, what hasn’t, and recommendations for more equitable policies, https://www.irp.wisc.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/W102-2023-Slide-Presentations.pdf.

[iii] Kathleen Romig & Kathleen Bryant, A National Paid Leave Program Would Help Workers, Families, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,  https://www.cbpp.org/research/economy/a-national-paid-leave-program-would-help-workers-families.

[iv] Id.

[v] Julianna Carlson et al., Recommendations for Creating Equitable and Inclusive Paid Family Leave Policies, Child Trends, https://www.childtrends.org/publications/recommendations-for-creating-equitable-and-inclusive-paid-family-leave-policies.

[vi] Paid Leave in the U.S., KFF, https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/fact-sheet/paid-leave-in-u-s/.

[vii] Id.

[viii] Id.

[ix] Leigh Ann Caldwell, House lawmakers release bipartisan paid family leave plan, The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/08/house-lawmakers-release-bipartisan-paid-family-leave-plan/.

[x] State Paid Family Leave Laws Across the U.S., Bipartisan Policy Center, https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/state-paid-family-leave-laws-across-the-u-s/.

[xi] Id.

[xii] Id.

[xiii] Id.