Why Paid Leave Advocates Are Skeptical About a Last-Minute GOP Tax Incentive for Paid Leave
Article/Op-Ed in Better Life Lab
Flickr -- USCapitol
Nov. 17, 2017
Roselyn Miller, Millennial Fellow with Better Life Lab, interviewed Vicki Shabo of the National Partnership for Women & Families and Ellen Bravo of Family Values @ Work for Slate's Better Life Lab about a last-minute paid leave incentive included in the Republican proposed tax overhaul.
According to both Shabo and Bravo, lawmakers should use the national interest in paid leave as a catalyst to revisit the research on paid leave and look to states that have passed bills with bipartisan support as evidence this could work.
"States are paving the way for a national solution," Bravo remarks. Washington state recently passed a comprehensive bipartisan paid family leave policy and brought multiple community stakeholders together to pass one of the most generous paid family leave bills in the United States. People employed in Washington are guaranteed 12 weeks of paid leave funded through weekly paycheck contributions by both the employer and employee.
Shabo thinks paid leave legislation at the federal level still stands a chance: "If people could take off their ideological hats, comprehensive and inclusive paid family leave should absolutely be a reality."