81 Percent of New Moms Don’t Even Qualify for the FMLA

The United States has many accomplishments to be proud of – our inability to provide job-protected leave for new moms is not one of them.

Twenty years ago, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was signed by President Clinton – giving new moms their first right to job-protected, but unpaid, leave for the birth or adoption of a child.

But FMLA has a number of restrictions on who can qualify for leave such as the number of people at a company or how many hours worked in a year. The result? Only 19 percent of moms-to-be are eligible for the FMLA.

In the world’s richest country, we’re leaving the health and well-being of new moms and their children up to chance. That’s unacceptable.

A number of studies have demonstrated that paid leave improves childhood early development, early childhood health due to extended breast feeding and early family bonding. The argument that more paid leave is bad for business is, quite frankly, unfounded. With the exception of the U.S., the world’s leading economies all manage to provide paid maternity leave while cultivating strong economic growth.

We need family and medical leave programs that recognize the needs of today’s working families – that means being able to care for a new baby and pay the bills.

Family and Medical Leave Insurance does just that. FMLI allows workers to take time off for certain family or medical emergencies while receiving partial wage replacement. California, New Jersey and Rhode Island have successfully rolled out FMLI while New York and Hawaii have statewide disability insurance that covers all workers.

In 2014, EOI and the Washington Work and Family Coalition will be working to pass a statewide FMLI program for Washington state. It’s time for Washington – and the U.S. – to catch up with the 21st century and implement the next generation of leave programs.

When Family Comes First: Stories of FMLA’s Impact

Since it was enacted in 1993, the Family and Medical Leave Act has been used over 100 million times.  MomsRising, a member of EOI’s Washington Work and Family Coalition, recently gathered stories from members about how FMLA has impacted their lives.

Gwenne was 23 when her father was diagnosed as terminal. After her employer denied her request to go home and care for him in his last few weeks, Gwenne used a local version of FMLA that had been passed in Washington, D.C.

“I’m really grateful for the time I had…giving back to my parents in terms of caring for them and time together was huge. It influenced how I parent. And it has helped me move on with my life. I don’t have the guilt that others I know who have lost parents have. And it granted me a certain amount of serenity knowing that I spent that time with them in my father’s final days. In the scheme of things, 5 weeks was not a lot of time, but it meant everything. So, I credit FMLA with that and also for not derailing a rewarding career.”

For Marya, FMLA allowed her to be with her son during grueling bouts of chemotherapy:

“I can’t imagine how much the stress would have been compounded if I had also had to face losing my job. So, I was able to take 12 weeks to care for my son and not worry that I wouldn’t have a job…Our son was born with Down Syndrome, so we knew he was likely to have some intense health issues, we just never imagined leukemia would be one of them. We were close to 50 percent of the time in-patient for 6 or 7 months. The chemo was so intense that they didn’t want him to be out of the hospital because his blood count was so low…He’s 15 now and he did really well with the treatment. And I think some of what helped him to get through so well was that we were able to hold it together as a family because of FMLA.”

But for many families, FMLA doesn’t go far enough, as Danielle points out.

“FMLA is a great thing, but it’s only great if you have the means to support yourself. If you don’t, it’s tough to make ends meet. FMLA protects your job and gives you the time, but it assumes you have a pot of money there to help meet needs. I think legislation to have paid sick leave and paid leave would be something for which to strive. In an ideal world, there would be paid leave available to families.”

Twenty years after enacting FMLA, it’s time for lawmakers to step up and pass the next generation of family leave protections. In Washington, we’re working to pass Family and Medical Leave Insurance and Paid Sick Days standards. Paid leave is good for workers and business and it protects our most vulnerable – young children and ailing seniors. Demand action from Olympia today.

10 Years of Advocacy and Two Presidential Vetoes: The Political Backstory of FMLA

Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, testifying before Congress on FMLA in 2009

On August 5th, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed his first bill into law: the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The bill had been introduced to Congress each session for 9 years and was vetoed twice by President George H.W. Bush. But after nearly a decade of advocacy, U.S. workers were given their first federally protected right to unpaid time off for medical and family emergencies.

FMLA allows qualifying U.S. workers to take job-protected unpaid time off for certain medical emergencies such as the birth of a child or caring for a dying parent. It’s hard to believe that as recently as 1993 not even pregnant women could take a few days off to give birth to their child without risking their job. FMLA set a key baseline for U.S. labor practices by affirming that sometimes family must come first.

Calls for federal family leave policy were first spurred by the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, a law making it illegal to discriminate or fire women because they are pregnant. Coalition members recognized that the law didn’t fit all the needs of new families and that a comprehensive, gender-neutral policy was needed to best protect working families.

FMLA legislation was first drafted in 1984, led by the National Partnership for Women and Families (then known as “Women’s Legal Defense Fund”), and it was reintroduced every year until its passage in 1993. A key part of the National Partnership’s success was broad coalition support. In their near decade of advocacy, the National Partnership cultivated support from diverse advocacy groups working for women, labor, faith, disability, children, and seniors. These groups were instrumental in expanding FMLA to cover a diverse range of family needs – from paternity leave to taking care of elderly family members.

But 20 years after FMLA was first passed, nearly 40 percent of workers are not covered by the law and many workers can’t afford to take unpaid time off. It’s time to pass the next generation of family and medical leave protections. Several states have successfully created family leave insurance programs including California and New Jersey. It’s time for Washington to catch up. In 2014, EOI and the Washington Work and Family Coalition will be working to pass and implement Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance in Washington – join us and demand action from our lawmakers on paid leave.