Workers and families urgently need paid leave. The time is now for Congress to deliver.

By Sharon Terman, Director of the Work and Family Program, CA Legal Aid at Work

The pandemic has exposed the devastating consequences of our nation’s failure to provide paid leave for all. Without paid leave during COVID, millions of workers have faced the untenable choice of staying home to recover and keeping their families safe, or going to work and keeping their families housed and fed. Inadequate access to paid leave has fueled a mass exodus of women – disproportionately women of color – from the workforce, reversing decades of progress and harming their long-term financial stability. 

Fortunately, Congress has a chance to fix this right now. We can rebuild our economy and promote gender and racial justice by including meaningful investments in paid leave in the budget reconciliation package. Members of Congress are debating what should go in a budget bill. It is a moral imperative that this package guarantee paid leave for all.  

We in California know this is possible. We passed the nation’s first paid family leave program nearly two decades ago. An overwhelming body of research has shown that paid leave helps families, communities, and our economy thrive.  California’s program has allowed millions of workers to be there for their families during moments that matter most — welcoming a new child, helping a spouse recover from a stroke, or saying goodbye to a parent with a terminal illness.  

Ana, a receptionist in San Francisco, took Paid Family Leave to care for her mother when she was dying of cancer. “I stayed with her in the hospital while she recovered from major surgery, and learned how to clean and tend to her wounds,” Ana said. “Of course I cared for all her emotional needs too, which no one else could have done. Having access to Paid Family Leave made an intense and difficult time less stressful.” Without paid leave, Ana wouldn’t have been able to afford to take time to be with her mother during her final days.

For most people in this country, being there for a loved one means taking on financial hardship.  Just 21% of workers have access to paid family leave through their employers, and this figure is even lower for low-paid workers and workers of color. Only 40% have access to employer-provided paid medical leave.

Even before the pandemic, too many workers struggled to make ends meet, with 40% of adults unable to cover an unexpected cost of $400 without going into debt and 17% unable to meet their monthly expenses, regularly having to leave rent, mortgage or utilities at least partially unpaid. When a worker lacks paid leave and faces a family illness or the need to care for a child, the result can be homelessness and food insecurity which have lifelong impacts.  

Access to paid leave shouldn’t depend on where you live or work. COVID has reminded us that we are all vulnerable to illness.  Every one of us deserves time to heal and care without risking our livelihood.  Paid leave makes families healthier and financially stable. It also strengthens businesses and our economy by increasing labor force participation and improving employee retention, productivity, and morale. 

A federal paid leave program must include at least 12 weeks of comprehensive paid family and medical leave readily available to all workers. We know from California’s experience that for leave to truly be accessible to those who need it most, it must have sufficient wage replacement, especially for lower-paid workers; it must ensure that workers can return to their jobs after taking leave; and it must recognize all families. 
Effective paid leave isn’t just good policy — it’s also good politics. Members of Congress have a historic opportunity and a historic responsibility to meet the urgent needs of their constituents for a meaningful care infrastructure. Now is the time to build back a more just economy by creating policies that center equity and allow all families to thrive.