Paid leave is one of those hot-button issues that is currently in the spotlight for employers and employees alike. What do employees want? What do employers want to give?
Here’s Five Fast Facts About Paid Leave:
- 🏥Stay - As it currently stands, federal law does not guarantee workers a single paid day off. Leave (including medical, parental, caregiving, and deployment) is considered a perk and employers are within their rights to penalize you for missing work. The U.S.A. is the only industrialized nation that does guarantee it.
- 🩹 First Aid - Critics say paid leave hurts businesses with 50 or fewer employees, adds undue costs, that it will lead to discrimination against women and that it will reduce an employee’s attachment to their job.
- 🏢 Walking Wounded - The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that only 24% of private sector employees have paid family leave and 76% go without. Worse, one in three Americans lose their job due to needing time off for serious illness. Crazy, right?
- 📃 Just a Little Bit - The only guaranteed leave comes from the federal level due to the 1993 Family Medical Leave Act that gives qualified employees unpaid leave to help loved ones (or themselves) recover from a medical condition.
- 💰Take it or… - While guaranteed leave is deadlocked at the federal level, 12 states have passed laws for paid leave. Minnesota recently passed theirs. Two states have a voluntary law for employers.
🔥Bottom line: As anyone who’s had to deal with leave time can tell you, it’s a nasty maze to navigate. Sadly, this is an issue that’s not going to be resolved any time soon on a federal level. In fact, it probably will never be resolved. States picking up the baton and running with it may not be a perfect solution, but it’s certainly a move in one direction rather than none at all.
Have you had to deal with taking sick leave?
Let us know by connecting with us on Facebook and Instagram! Also, remember to share this newsletter with your friends & coworkers!
Btw, If you’ve read this far and haven’t yet signed up for the weekly Paycheckology newsletter, CLICK HERE!
