The Family and Medical Leave Act has now been with us for 30 years. It requires some employers to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave to certain workers.
There is still no national paid leave law, although 11 states, including New Jersey and New York have such laws, along with Washington DC.
Dr. Avenel Joseph of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said paid leave makes a big difference in the lives of new mothers.
“We see a decreased incidence of low birth weight and pre-term birth, increased rates of breast feeding, reduced rates of hospitalizations among infants, and improved maternal health,” she said.
About 100,000,000 people, or 80% of U.S. workers, do not have paid time off after birth or adoption.
Joseph said there are racial disparities among those who do get paid leave in the US.
“Black workers are both more likely to be at jobs that don’t offer paid leave as a benefit and perhaps aren’t meeting some of the minimum requirements necessary, the hurdles that are in place by the employer, in order to access that benefit in the first place,” she said.
In the US, 34% of workers in the highest wage bracket get paid leave through their jobs while just 7% in the lowest wage bracket do.
And Joseph said the absence of a national law really hurts Black working women.
“Women of color are more likely to take unpaid time off or just give up their job altogether to provide sick or elder care and that has resulted in workforce shortage of Black women,” she said.