California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico have temporary disability insurance (TDI) programs covering all workers in their states. The details of these programs vary, but all workers receive a percentage of their usual pay when a non-job related illness or injury prevents them from working. All are funded through modest payroll premiums, and most have been in place since the 1940s.
These programs have covered pregnancy and childbirth-related disability since passage of anti-discrimination legislation in the 1970s. As a consequence, birth mothers in these states have been guaranteed six to eight weeks of paid maternity leave for several decades, with the ability to take longer leaves for complicated pregnancies and childbirth.
California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island have added paid family leave (PFL) to their TDI programs. Now all new parents in these states have access to paid leave to care for their new child, and workers can also care for ill family members.
Over 20% of American workers are already covered by these highly successful programs. We can make Family and Medical Leave Insurance work in Washington state, too!
Learn more – Studies on state disability and family leave insurance:
Health Impact Review of SB 5459, Implementing Family and Medical Leave Insurance: Evidence indicates that Washington’s proposed family and medical leave insurance bill has potential to: improve financial security; improve maternal, child, and family health; and decrease health disparities by income, educational attainment, and race/ethnicity.
Policy Matters: Public Policy, Paid Leave for New Parents, and Economic Security for U.S. Workers, Center for Women and Work at Rutgers, 2012
Pay Matters: The Positive Economic Impacts of Paid Family Leave for Families, Businesses and the Public, Center for Women and Work at Rutgers, 2012
Leaves That Pay: Employer and Worker Experiences with Paid Family Leave in California, Eileen Appelbaum and Ruth Milkman, 2011
Washington Work and Family Coalition 