The Health Case for Paid Family Leave
Is Paid Family Leave a workplace issue, a parent’s issue, or a gap in how we support families in the United States?
Yes.
It’s all of those things.
It’s also a health issue.
Lacking a nationwide mandate or coverage
The United States is quite simply failing women and families in how we support them when a new child arrives. That includes the myriad ways people build their families.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides job protection but no financial support after the birth or adoption of a child. It is worth noting that only 56% of employees in the United States are eligible for FMLA leaving the rest with no protection.
Data shows that 1 in 4 mothers returns to work just two weeks after birth. Two weeks!
The health stakes for the family leave gap
It is easy to see paid family leave solely through the lens of finances. While we can all likely agree that financial stress is challenging, that’s only the beginning.
Let’s talk about the health benefits of paid leave.
Employees were able to tap into paid family leave in California in 2004. In the years since it was implemented several studies have looked at the health outcomes for women and their children.
Those outcomes include:
Infancy-related medical appointments and vaccinations completed more promptly
Less depression in women with infants.
It’s not only about mothers. Fathers who take two or more weeks after their child’s birth are more likely to be engaged parents. Fathers’ engagement leads to better sleep for mothers and babies and higher educational attainment in children.
How do we compare to others around the world?
Of 190 countries tracked by the World Bank on the subject of paid family leave, 118 have paid maternity leave and 114 have paid paternity leave. Who doesn’t? The United States.
As a member country of the Organization for Economic Co-operations and Development (OECD), the United States is the only member without a national paid parental leave policy.
We have left paid family leave to the states, creating an inconsistent patchwork of approaches. California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, and Washington, DC are the only states requiring paid family leave for bonding with a new child.
There are efforts like Marshall Plan for Moms, which published an open letter to President Biden in the New York Times, calling for the needed change. You can join their efforts.
With short-term disability and FMLA, aren’t families covered?
No. No, they are not.
Short-term disability is not full earnings replacement, only covers the birthing parent and covers only a recovery period. The amount of pay and the amount of time are not appropriate to support families.
If women chose to take more time or the non-birthing parent took time, it would quickly be not viable from a financial perspective. A recent survey of how unpaid leave might impact the financial health of women found that 75% of women would have exhausted their cash savings if they took an 8-week unpaid leave.
Companies step in
In the absence of a federal family paid leave requirement, employers have recognized that providing it as a benefit can attract and retain talent. However, only about 23% of workers have access to paid family leave through work.
And relying on companies leaves people vulnerable to those policies changing.
In a 2022 survey from the Society of Human Resource Management, the professional organization for human resources professionals, companies report offering less parental leave than in 2020.
Maternity leave dropped to 35% from 3%
Paternity leave dropped to 27% from 44%
Paid adoption leave dropped to 28% from 36%
The good news is there are strong voices calling for transparency in paid leave policies from companies. Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, founders of the Skimm created a call to action with their hashtag #ShowUsYourLeave. They challenged companies to share, publicly, their leave policies. More than 500 companies have answered the call.
Where to go from here
We can’t rely on employers and individual states to close the gap. We need a federal-level program.
The closest we have come was the Build Back Better act, which included paid sick and family leave and failed to pass. It is also worth noting the act also fell short of inclusive language for the LGBTQ+ community.
There is a long history of the fight for paid leave.
We need to join the ranks of countries that have made supporting families with the financial security and the improved health outcomes of paid family leave.
Sources and resources:
Kaiser Family Foundation Paid Leave in the US
Society for Research In Child Development
National Partnership for Women and Families