New federal paid leave framework confronts familiar divide on Capitol Hill
By Ryan Golden
Excerpt:
For example, it lacks job protection requirements that would prohibit retaliation against employees who take leave, said Elyse Shaw, director of the Center for Law and Social Policy’s education, labor and worker justice team. The law’s floor for participation is also set at six weeks of leave, a mark short of the 12 weeks of unpaid leave afforded by the Family and Medical Leave Act as well as the amount of paid leave offered under several state programs.
Shaw also criticized the private-partnership model proposed under the bill, stating that similar systems in states like Vermont and New Hampshire have seen lower levels of uptake compared to programs in other states that are directly run by a local government.
“When we think about the privatization of paid leave, we see that it causes a lot of confusion,” Shaw said. “When it’s administered by the state government, there’s a lot more education and outreach that is done by the government to let people know what their options are, what the ins and outs are of the programs and who is eligible.”
