Washington Work and Family Coalition

Attitudes Shift on Paid Leave: Dads Sue, Too

WASHINGTON — For decades, women who believed their employers had punished them with lower wages and missed promotions after they had become mothers have been filing gender discrimination complaints and bringing lawsuits.

Now, as men shoulder more responsibilities at home, they are increasingly taking legal action against employers that they say refuse to accommodate their roles as fathers.

“The huge thing that’s changed only in about the past five years is suddenly men feel entitled to take time off for family,” said Joan C. Williams of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. “They’re willing to put their careers on the line to live up to that idea. It’s revolutionary.”

Family, business, health advocates cheer Department of Labor award to Washington

Press release: WASHINGTON | Advocates for paid family and medical leave applauded the U.S. Department of Labor’s decision to award $247,000 to Washington state to study the economic impacts of implementing a paid family and medical leave program.

“The Washington Work and Family Coalition is excited by this news and what it could mean for the families of our state,” said Marilyn Watkins, policy director of the Economic Opportunity Institute. “I’ve gotten calls from pregnant women who don’t know how they’ll be able to afford more than a couple weeks off after giving birth, from people struggling to help an aging parent through a health crisis while going to work and tending to their own kids, from small business owners who would love to find a way to provide employees with 12 weeks of paid family leave – but just can’t do it on their own.”

For well over a decade, the Coalition – including a number of women’s, labor, senior, children’s, faith, small business, and health organizations – has advocated for paid family and medical leave.

“From a public health standpoint, the evidence for paid leave is overwhelming,” said Representative June Robinson, sponsor of House Bill 1273 to establish family and medical leave insurance (FMLI). “Babies are healthier for the long term when they are breast fed and their parents can stay home with them for the first several months. Adults are healthier and more productive when they have adequate leave to recover from their own serious health conditions or care for sick family members, without the stress of family financial crisis.”

House Bill 1273 and companion Senate Bill 5459 would provide workers with up to 12 weeks of partially paid leave to care for a new child or seriously ill family member, or for their own serious health condition. Benefits would be provided through a trust fund, financed through payroll premiums of about $65 per year for the state’s typical worker and their employer. In 2007, the Legislature passed a stripped down version of paid family leave that only provided 5 weeks for new parents and did not identify a funding source. Because of the recession, the program was postponed indefinitely rather than being implemented as intended in 2009.

Washington is one of eight states receiving Department of Labor grants.

“I think the research from this grant is just what we need to get family leave ‘unstuck’, and I applaud Governor Inslee’s leadership on this,” said Senator Karen Keiser, current sponsor of SB 5459 and prime sponsor of the 2007 bill. “Showing people just how much the state can save on public assistance, child care subsidies, and home care for seniors, along with how much more effective programs like home visiting can be will help some of legislators on both sides of the aisle understand the full benefits of family and medical leave insurance.“

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About the Economic Opportunity Institute: www.eoionline.org

About the Washington Work and Family Coalition: www.waworkandfamily.org

Gender Wage Gap For Union Members Is 40 Percent Smaller Than For Non-Union Workers, NWLC Analysis Shows

The gender wage gap among union members is 40 percent smaller than for non-union workers, according to new analysis by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) of data released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Today’s data show that union membership boosts wages for all workers—but especially for women,” said Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security. “The wage gap for women in unions is much smaller than for women who are non-union workers. But last year the rate of union membership for women was flat. To promote equal pay for women, it’s time for lawmakers to stop the attacks on unions—and strengthen workers’ rights to organize.”

Gender wage gap for union members is 40 percent smaller than for non-union workers.

Among union members, women working full time typically make 89.1 percent of what their male counterparts make weekly—a wage gap of 10.9 cents.
Among non-union workers, women working full time typically make 81.8 percent of what their male counterparts make weekly—a wage gap of 18.2 cents.*

Women’s union wage premium is 1.2 times as large as men’s.

Union members typically make more per week than non-union workers—but the bonus is larger for women.
Female union members who work full time typically make $904 per week—32 percent ($217) more than female non-union workers who typically make $687 per week. In contrast, male union members who work full time typically make $1,015 per week—21 percent ($175) more than male non-union workers who typically make $840 per week.
Among women, Latina workers experience particularly high financial benefits from union membership. Among full-time workers, Latina union members typically make 46 percent more ($237 per week) than Latina non-union workers. Among African American women working full time, union members typically make 34 percent more than non-union workers—a wage premium of $202 per week. For Asian women this figure is 14 percent more ($116 per week) and for white women it is 32 percent more ($225 per week).

The rate of union membership remained flat for women between 2013 and 2014

The number of union members increased by 48,000 workers between 2013 and 2014 but the rate of union membership—the percentage of employees who were members of unions—declined 0.2 of a percentage point to 11.1 percent.
The percentage of employed women who were union members remained constant between 2013 and 2014 at 10.5 percent, while the rate for men dropped by 0.2 of a percentage point to 11.7 percent.

Read the complete report from the National Women’s Law Center »