FV@W Joins Experts From Across the Country to Release Paid Safe Leave Report

CONTACT: Safiya Simmons

Washington DC – Family Values @ Work is proud to join with national, state, and tribal partners from across the country today to release, “The Need for Paid Safe Leave & Model Legislative Language.” This new resource is the first product of the safe leave working group, of which FV@W is a proud member. 

“Our Network has been leading the charge in passing safe leave within paid sick and safe days and paid family and medical leave laws since 2008 when the first safe days law passed in DC,” said Preston Van Vliet, Leading State Policy Organizer at FV@W. “We now have 6 paid family and medical leave laws that include safe leave. I’m proud of FV@W and our Network for continuing to improve these policies so that survivors and their families have more of what they need to be economically, physically, emotionally, and spiritually well.”

This report is a resource for policymakers, advocates, and stakeholders that provides key context for the importance of paid safe leave. The document includes model policy language for providing paid safe leave, which can be used directly or adapted to appropriate contexts. 

The safe leave working group is made up of state, national, and tribal experts and advocates from across policy spaces, based on the principle that paid, protected leave from work is an essential tool for the safety, agency, and economic security of survivors of all types of violence, including gender-based violence and harassment, family and domestic violence, and sexual violence. The Center for American Progress and Futures Without Violence co-chair the working group.