One of the toughest parts of this rough economy is that it’s just so damn hard to afford life without two incomes. Of course, if you’re at an age where you’re having kids, that becomes even more problematic because you’re caught between two critical things - getting settled with your new bundle of joy 👶 and being able to afford…well, everything.
To address this, Gov. Whitmer has recently started pushing for a major boost to new moms - paid family leave. Is this a great idea…or a major overreach that will become a problem?
Here are Five Fast Facts about paid family leave in Michigan:
- 🔍 Current State - Federal law currently requires large businesses (50+ workers) to allow up to 12 weeks of time off for family or medical reasons. Binging the latest Netflix craze doesn’t count, unfortunately.
- 💸 The Nudge - Gov. Whitmer is suggesting that Michigan improve upon that, offering up to 15 weeks of paid family or medical leave. My, how generous she is with other people’s money!
- 🤱 It’s For The Economy - Supporters love this idea because it allows working moms time and space to recover and establish a healthy baseline with the new baby while not forcing her to choose between that and continuing to earn money. Whitmer said this would also help bring in more workers from other states, and keep more local workers in the workforce.
- 🙅 Big Time Overreach - Opponents say that this “one size fits all” mandate will inevitably cause problems for many small businesses that simply cannot afford to pay workers who aren’t actually working. It will also be a huge tax increase during an already expensive economy, which will end up hurting all workers.
- ❓ The Plan (Or Lack Of) - While there have been enough attempts in recent years that there are bits and pieces all over the place, there isn’t a specific proposal on the table right now. Speculation is that it would likely be an additional payroll tax on all workers. Well, of course it would. Where else can they get that kind of money?
🔥Bottom line: Once again, this is a terrific sounding idea, but if this moves forward we need to be very careful with it. Any time you ask one group of people to pay for the benefits of another group of people there’s all kinds of potential for both shenanigans and unfairness. Who wouldn’t want paid time off after a new baby? But who would want to pay more taxes to benefit others, especially if they’ll never get the benefit themselves? Rock, meet hard place.
What do you think about this issue?
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