We believe all children born in our state deserve the best possible start in life – no matter where their parents work. We want aging parents and grandparents to be surrounded with loving family during their final weeks. We think families should have a measure of financial security if an accident or doctor’s diagnosis means someone needs extended time away from work for their own health or to care for another’s.
Today’s status quo – where most people have little (or no!) paid leave – hurts all of us, especially women, babies, and elders. Several states have proven there’s a better way, by enacting paid family and medical leave programs that ensure people can cover the basics if they need extended time away from work. We’re committed passing a paid family and medical leave program in the Washington legislature.
You can help make it happen! Pledge your support now, so we can all put the pressure on our elected leaders to do the right thing during the next legislative session (starting January 2017).
Previous Successes
2016: Spokane Paid Sick and Safe Leave (with the Spokane Alliance and Spokane Earned Sick Leave Coalition) ensures most people working in Spokane can earn 24 to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year beginning in 2017.
2015: Tacoma Paid Sick and Safe Leave (with the Healthy Tacoma coalition) ensures people working in Tacoma can earn at least 3 days of sick and safe leave.
2011: Seattle Paid Sick and Safe Leave (with the Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce) guarantees most people working in Seattle the right to earn 5 to 9 days of paid sick leave per year.
2007: We almost succeeded in passing paid family and medical leave in 2007. State legislators passed a stripped-down version of the policy we proposed – but some wanted more study before putting the “Paid” in Paid Family Leave, so they didn’t include funding. You can guess how that went. Then the Great Recession intervened – but even as our economy started growing again, so has the level of partisan brambling.
2006: The Washington Family and Medical Leave Act is passed, protecting workers in the event federal law or rules change to limit their access to leave under the existing federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
2002: The Family Care Act is updated to allow workers to use most forms of paid leave to care for ill children, spouses, partners, parents, parents-in-law and grandparents.
Washington Work and Family Coalition 