Workers and Families in D.C., California and New Jersey Have Reason to Celebrate Today

Since 2004, July 1 has been a significant day for working families and the movement to make paid family and medical leave available to every working person in the United States. As I explained to Congress earlier this year, workers' access to paid leave is deeply connected to their health, economic security and well-being and that of their families, to the stability and security of businesses, and to reducing health and economic disparities across race, ethnicity, gender and income levels. Workers’, families’ and employers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic only underscore its importance.

California’s and New Jersey’s first- and second-in-the-nation paid family leave programs took effect on July 1, 2004 and 2009, respectively, and have served millions of people. And today, July 1, 2020, marks new milestones for these states as their programs implement improved benefits. It is also a milestone for the District of Columbia (D.C.), which has implemented an entirely new program and, today, joins California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Washington state in guaranteeing paid family and medical leave to working people; Massachusetts (Jan. 2021), Connecticut (Jan. 2022) and Oregon (Jan. 2023) will soon follow suit. From each of these states' experiences, we are learning how equitable wage replacement, employment protections and coverage for a range of family care relationships can help close the gaps and make leave available, accessible and affordable to everyone.

New as of July 1, 2020

• The District of Columbia’s paid family and medical leave program begins making paid leave benefits available to anyone who spends more than 50 percent of their time working in or telecommuting to a job based in the District of Columbia. The District’s program provides up to eight weeks of paid family or medical leave available to each worker, including the full eight weeks to care for a newborn, newly adopted or newly placed foster child; up to six weeks to care for a family member with a serious illness, injury or disability who is in need of care; and two weeks for a worker’s own serious health issue. The program in D.C. is structured with sliding-scale wage replacement so that the lowest-wage workers receive 90% of their typical wages, helping to ensure they can continue to pay their bills and put food on the table; workers earning the District’s median wage will receive about 61% of their typical wages. D.C.’s program is funded through small employment taxes of about six-tenths of one percent of payroll, levied on employers.
• New Jersey’s paid family and medical leave program begins offering more generous paid family leave benefits: paid family benefits are now available for up to 12 weeks and provide 85% of a worker’s typical wages (up to a cap of $881 per week). This means parents caring for a new child and workers who need time away from their jobs to care for a loved one with a serious illness, injury or disability will have more weeks available to provide care and at a wage replacement rate that will provide greater financial security, especially to lower- and middle-wage workers. From the program’s original implementation in July 2009 until now, benefits were only available for six weeks and provided just two-thirds of a worker’s typical wages. Previous improvements to New Jersey’s original program include providing job protections to more workers when they take paid family or medical leave and expanding the range of family members to whom a leave-taker can provide care. New Jersey’s program is funded through joint payroll deductions on employers and employees for paid medical leave and through employee-only payroll taxes for paid family leave.
• California’s paid family leave program begins offering eight weeks of paid leave to new parents and family caregivers, rather than six weeks, the duration of leave available since the program first began providing benefits on July 1, 2004. Previous enhancements to California’s original law include providing job protections to more workers when they take paid leave to care for a new child, expanding the range of family members to whom a leave-taker can provide care and improving the wage replacement rate from 55% of a worker’s typical earnings to 60% for most workers and 70% for very low-wage workers. Advocates in California are currently working to secure job protection for all workers and higher wage replacement rates to make the state’s programs accessible to all. California’s program is funded solely through employee-only payroll deductions, however, advocates are working to create a fairer system that aligns more closely with other states’ programs by proposing that payroll deductions be shared by employers and employees.

The COVID-19 crisis makes even more clear than before that paid family and medical leave is an essential protection, one which too few workers have and tens of millions of people need. Had the United States had a paid leave program in place when the pandemic struck, working people and employers would have been better and more quickly able to manage the health and care needs that arose. Urban Institute analysis of California and Rhode Island paid family and medical leave claims data shows that state paid leave programs in those states were able to absorb new claims and provide financial security to workers there, without imposing unexpected new costs.

In response to COVID-19, Congress enacted limited, temporary measures to address some workers' need for paid time off to deal with the illness and new child care needs. These limited measures should be expanded to more cover all workers, for more reasons, and for a longer period of time. Paid leave will be essential in helping workers, families, customers and employers navigate the next 12-18+ months of uncertainty.

However, the United States also needs a permanent national solution to address a fuller range of personal health and family caregiving needs. State progress has paved the way for a national paid family and medical leave program that covers everyone, no matter where they live, the job they hold, or the care to a new child, loved one or themselves that they need to give or receive.