The Family And Medical Insurance Leave Act (The FAMILY Act)

The Family And Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act MARCH 2021 People across the country are working hard to make ends meet, yet the nation fails to provide the support they need to manage the demands of job and family, and that businesses and our economy need to thrive. [...] Just 21 percent of the workforce has paid family leave through their employers, and just 40 percent has personal medical leave through an employer-provided short-term disability program.1 The Family And Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act would address America’s paid family and medical leave crisis and benefit working people, their families, businesses and our nation’s economy. [...] Benefits for Workers, Families, Businesses and Our Economy Strengthens Families’ Economic Independence Working families lose an estimated $20.6 billion in wages each year due to a lack of access to paid family and medical leave.3 The FAMILY Act would cut by nearly 75 percent the share of families who fall into poverty after taking the unpaid leave provided by the federal Family and Medical Leave A. [...] New mothers are better able to initiate and continue breastfeeding, and new parents can more easily get babies to the doctor for check-ups and immunizations.9 Paid leave also allows ill or injured adults to get critical care and take needed recovery time, and it enables caregivers to help ill parents, spouses and children fulfill treatment plans and avoid complications and hospital readmissions.10. [...] Seven states have paid family and medical leave insurance programs in effect (California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Washington state and the District of Columbia) and paid family leave programs will take effect in Colorado, Connecticut and Oregon in coming years.14 Analyses of California’s program show that employers and employees have benefitted.15 In New Jersey, program.