NationalPartnership.org
@NPWF
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Washington, DC 20006
info@NationalPartnership.org
202.986.2600
NOVEMBER 2023
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 27 percent of the workforce has paid
family leave through their employers, and just 41 percent has personal medical leave
through an employer-provided short-term disability program.
1
Sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the
Family And Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act would create a
through a shared fund that makes paid leave
affordable for employers of all sizes and for workers and their families.
Provide workers with for
their own serious health conditions, including pregnancy and childbirth recovery; the
serious health condition of a family member; the birth or adoption of a child; to
address the effects of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking and/or to make
certain arrangements arising from the military deployment of a spouse, child or
parent.
Enable the lowest-paid workers to earn up to 85 percent of their normal wages, with the
typical full-time worker earning around -.
. Younger, part-time, lower-
wage, contingent and self-employed workers would be eligible for benefits.
Ensure that workers who have been at their job for more than 90 days have the
following their leave, and that all workers are protected from
retaliation.
NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR WOMEN & FAMILIES | FACT SHEET | THE FAMILY ACT
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Allow to continue administering them.
Be funded responsibly by of
two-tenths of 1 percent each (two cents per $10 in wages), or less than $2.20 per
week for a typical worker.
2
Be administered through a . Payroll
contributions would cover both insurance benefits and administrative costs.
Working families lose an estimated $22.6 billion in wages each year due to a lack of
access to paid family and medical leave.
3
The FAMILY Act would cut by 80 percent the
share of families who fall into financial insecurity after taking the unpaid leave provided
by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
4
Paid leave can help new parents keep their families on track to meet new expenses. In
the year following a birth, new mothers who take paid leave are more likely than those
who take no paid leave to stay in the
workforce and 54 percent more likely to
report wage increases.
5
When fathers take
paid leave, their involvement at home
increases and is more equitable, making it
easier for women to return to the workforce.
6
R
Nearly half of employed caregivers who take
time off to fulfill their responsibilities at home
report losing income.
7
On average, workers
50 or older who leave the workforce to care for a parent lose more than $300,000 in
wages and retirement – and, for women, losses are even greater.
8
Paid leave would help
keep more family caregivers – and people with their own health conditions – employed
and strengthen their financial positions over time.
Paid leave contributes to improved newborn and child health. 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
NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR WOMEN & FAMILIES | FACT SHEET | THE FAMILY ACT
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help ill parents, spouses and children fulfill treatment plans and avoid complications and
hospital readmissions.
10
The FAMILY Act would spread the cost of leave, reducing the burden on individual
employers and allowing many more workers to access paid leave. Paid leave contributes
to reduced turnover and increased employee engagement and loyalty, leading to
significant employer cost savings.
11
In California, where a family leave insurance
program has existed for nearly two decades, workers in low-wage, high-turnover
industries are much more likely to return to their jobs after using the program, and nine
out of 10 businesses report positive or neutral effects on profitability and productivity.
12
The United States would add $775 billion to its GDP per year if women participated in
the labor force at rates similar to those in comparable countries with more robust work-
family policies.
13
A national paid leave insurance program would help keep new parents
and family caregivers in the workforce and boost their incomes and savings over time,
all of which would contribute to economic productivity and growth. In contrast, when
people have to forgo pay or lose a job when a serious medical or caregiving need arises,
they often jeopardize their ability to afford even the most basic necessities. This hurts
workers, their families and the businesses that depend on revenue from these
purchases, and it stifles economic growth.
Ten states including the District of Columbia have paid family and medical
leave insurance programs in effect (California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of
Columbia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and
Washington state) and paid family leave programs will take effect in Delaware, Maine,
Maryland, and Minnesota in coming years.
14
Analyses of California’s program show that
employers and employees have benefitted.
15
In New Jersey, program costs are even
lower than expected and public attitudes toward the program are favorable.
16
Research
on Rhode Island’s program also shows favorable results for new parents and small- and
medium-sized businesses.
17
It is well past time for a national paid leave policy that meets the country’s needs and
truly honors families. It’s time for the FAMILY Act.
NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR WOMEN & FAMILIES | FACT SHEET | THE FAMILY ACT
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1
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2023, September). National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March
2023 (See Excel tables, Civilian workers, Short term disability and Leave). Retrieved 9 November 2023, from
https://www.bls.gov/ebs/publications/annual-benefits-summary.htm
2
U.S. Census Bureau. (2022, September). Wage and Salary Workers--People 15 Years Old and Over by Total Wage and Salary Income
in 2021, Work Experience in 2021, Race, Hispanic Origin, and Sex (Table PINC-10). Retrieved 5 May 2023, from
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/cps-pinc/pinc-10.html (Unpublished calculation based on
median wage or salary for full-time, year-round workers in 2021.)
3
Glynn, S. J. (2020, January 21). The Rising Cost of Inaction on Work-Family Policies. Retrieved 5 May 2023, from Center for American
Progress website:
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/rising-cost-inaction-work-family-policies/
4
diversitydatakids.org. (2021). Working adults living in families under 200% FPL before and after wage loss due to paid or unpaid FML
(percent) by parent status. diversitydatakids.org calculations of Current Population Survey, 2014-2017 March Annual Social and
Economic Supplement, Public Use Microdata Files, IPUMS-CPS, University of Minnesota, www.ipums.org. Retrieved 5 May 2023, from
https://data.diversitydatakids.org/dataset/pfml_pov_par_p-working-adults-living-in-families-under-200--fpl-before-and-after-wage-
loss-due-to-pa
5
Houser, L., & Vartanian, T. P. (2012, January). Pay Matters: The Positive Economic Impacts of Paid Family Leave for Families,
Businesses and the Public. Center for Women and Work at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey Publication. Retrieved 5 May
2023, from https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/pay-matters-2.pdf
6
Bartel, A., Rossin-Slater, M., Ruhm, C., Stearns, J., & Waldfogel, J. (2015, November). Paid Family Leave, Fathers’ Leave-Taking, and
Leave-Sharing in Dual-Earner Households (Working Paper No. 21747). Retrieved 5 May 2023, from National Bureau of Economic
Research website: http://www.nber.org/papers/w21747.pdf
7
Aumann, K., Galinsky, E., Sakai, K., Brown, M., Bond, J. T. (2010). The Elder Care Study: Everyday Realities and Wishes for Change.
Retrieved 5 May 2023, from Families and Work Institute website:
https://cdn.sanity.io/files/ow8usu72/production/55b5d7835f6cb2463118ca1076cbedaa77d6c304.pdf
8
MetLife Mature Market Institute. (2011, June). The MetLife Study of Caregiving Costs to Working Caregivers: Double Jeopardy for
Baby Boomers Caring for Their Parents. Retrieved 5 May 2023, from http://www.caregiving.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mmi-
caregiving-costs-working-caregivers.pdf
9
Berger, L., Hill, J., & Waldfogel, J. (2005). Maternity Leave, Early Maternal Employment and Child Health and Development in the US.
The Economic Journal, 115(501), F29-F47. doi: 10.1111/j.0013-0133.2005.00971.x
10
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. (2008, April 11). Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care
Workforce (p. 254). Retrieved 5 May 2023, from https://www.nap.edu/read/12089/chapter/1; Arbaje, A. I., Wolff, J., L., Yu, Q., Powe, N.
R., Anderson, G. F., & Boult, C (2008, August). Postdischarge Environmental and Socioeconomic Factors and the Likelihood of Early
Hospital Readmission Among Community-Dwelling Medicare Beneficiaries. The Gerontologist 48(4), 495-504. DOI:
10.1093/geront/48.4.495
11
Boushey, H., & Glynn, S. J. (2012, November 16). There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees. Retrieved 2 May 2023,
from Center for American Progress website: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/there-are-significant-business-costs-to-
replacing-employees/
12
Appelbaum, E., & Milkman, R. (2013). Unfinished Business: Paid Family Leave in California and the Future of U.S. Work-Family Policy.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
13
Glynn, S. J. (2023, November). The Cost of Doing Nothing, 2023 Update: The Price We STILL Pay without Policies to Support Working
Families. Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor Publication. Retrieved 9 November 2023, from
https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WB/paid-leave/CostofDoingNothing2023.pdf
14
National Partnership for Women & Families. (2023, October). State Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Laws. Retrieved 9
November 2023, from https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/state-paid-family-leave-laws.pdf
15
Bartel, A., Baum, C., Rossin-Slater, M., Ruhm, C., & Waldfogel, J. (2014, June). California’s Paid Family Leave Law: Lessons from the
First Decade. Retrieved 5 May 2023, from U.S. Department of Labor website:
http://www.dol.gov/asp/evaluation/reports/PaidLeaveDeliverable.pdf
16
Press of Atlantic City. (2010, November 15). Paid Family Leave / Working well. Retrieved 5 May 2023, from
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/editorials/article_0d6ba980-3a1d-56f7-9101-258999b5d9d0.html; See also Houser, L., &
White, K. (2012, October). Awareness of New Jersey’s Family Leave Insurance Program is Low, Even as Public Support Remains High
and Need Persists. Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey Center for Women and Work Publication. Retrieved 5 May
2023, from
https://smlr.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/Documents/Centers/CWW/Publications/FLI_Issue_Brief_Final_with_Appendix.pdf
17
National Partnership for Women & Families. (2015, February). First Impressions: Comparing State Paid Family Leave Programs in
Their First Years. Retrieved 5 May 2023, from https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/first-impressions-
comparing-state-paid-family-leave-programs-in-their-first-years.pdf ; Bartel, A., Rossin-Slater, M., Ruhm, C., & Waldfogel, J. (2016,
NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR WOMEN & FAMILIES | FACT SHEET | THE FAMILY ACT
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January). Assessing Rhode Island’s Temporary Caregiver Insurance Act: Insights from a Survey of Employers. Retrieved 13 October 2022,
from U.S. Department of Labor website: https://www.dol.gov/asp/evaluation/completed-
studies/AssessingRhodeIslandTemporaryCaregiverInsuranceAct_InsightsFromSurveyOfEmployers.pdf
The National Partnership for Women & Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group dedicated to promoting fairness in the
workplace, access to quality health care and policies that help all people meet the dual demands of work and family. More
information is available at NationalPartnership.org.
© 2023 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.
