Not for Women Only
The Family and Medical Leave Act has given millions of workers job security as they face family crises, but many who need the leave can’t afford to take it.
MILWAUKEE
In the six years since the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) went into effect, it has helped more than 20 million workers maintain their job rights as they have taken leave to welcome a new child, care for a sick family member or recover from a serious personal illness.
There is one major drawback for FMLA as it currently stands, however. Thousands of workers who are eligible to use the leave can’t afford to. They need every paycheck to keep a roof over their heads and care financially for their families.
RESCUE PLAN. AFSCME has negotiated language in a number of contracts that protects workers’ income in these family crises. AFSCME is also working with other unions and progressive groups to find ways to provide paid family leave. Some of the ideas are catching on.
The two most popular plans for providing paid leave are: expanding temporary disability insurance (TDI) in the five states that provide it — and encouraging other states to establish such programs — and broadening unemployment insurance (UI) coverage to include temporary separation from employment for FMLA reasons.
In 1997, Vermont was the first state to propose covering workers on family and medical leave through UI. When the U.S. Department of Labor raised some legal issues, Vermont pulled back. Along with advocates in Massachusetts, they redrafted the original bill. Maryland, Washington and Connecticut are considering similar proposals.
DORSEY FAMILY. Paula and Rosalind Dorsey are thankful for the FMLA. It has helped the two sisters care for their father as he battles bone cancer — without fearing they will lose their jobs.
They also benefit from Wisconsin’s unique law that entitles them to use two weeks of paid sick leave to care for him.
Paula works for Milwaukee’s library system; Rosalind for the Department of City Development.
“I have used 77 hours of leave,” says Paula, who is president of Local 426 and Council 48. She used part of that leave to be at the hospital when her father was in intensive care with his second bout of pneumonia. Part of it is spent taking her father to treatment including a monthly slow-drip bone-strengthening treatment.
When Paula has used her two weeks of paid leave, Rosalind, who is in Local 428, will use hers. They will use annual leave if they need more time.
MODEL LEGISLATION. On May 24, 1999, President Clinton issued a memorandum directing the Secretary of Labor “to develop innovative ways of using the Unemployment Insurance system to support parents on leave following the birth or adoption of a child” and to develop model state legislation.
In this time of low unemployment, many states have trust fund surpluses, so activists see UI as a good way to proceed. Other options: California has just enacted legislation ordering employers who provide sick leave benefits to let employees use up to six months of their accrued leave for family and medical leave.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION. U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) have introduced S. 1355/H.R. 2500, The Family Income to Respond to Significant Transitions Insurance Act (FIRST) in Congress. It would authorize funding for demonstration projects in states or local communities to experiment with partial wage replacement for workers on leave. States could consider different funding mechanisms like TDI and UI, and the states would have the discretion on how broadly to expand coverage.
As a union officer, Paula Dorsey has known co-workers forced to choose between jobs and family. She and Rosalind are grateful that they can focus totally on their father’s health because of the FMLA. They look forward to the protections the new programs will give future workers.
By Susan Ellen Holleran
