We all want children to be well cared-for, and most people agree that quality and quantity time with parents nurtures a child's healthy development. Similarly, we know that sick and/or aging adults benefit from the care of their loved ones. We all want to live in communities in which people of all ages are well cared-for and connected to each other. To achieve this, we need universal policies that provide significant financial support to those who are providing family care. We need:

• social security for family caregivers
• health insurance that is available to those outside of the paid workforce
• a child allowance that could be used either to pay for child care or to reimburse a stay-at-home parent for his/her labor
• to include unpaid care work in the calculation of the GDP

Our children need high quality care and early learning opportunities when their parents are at work. And we all benefit - children, families, and communities - when children are well cared-for.

We need to re-weave the web of care around our children. To some extent, extended family members can fill the need. But we have a staggering gap between the need for quality, affordable care and the availability.

We need:

• Vastly increased funding for child care and after-school care
• Increased regulation to go along with that funding
• Higher salaries and increased professionalization for child care workers
• Longer school days and/or longer school years
• Flexible workplaces that allow parents to adjust their schedules to better match school schedules and school-children's needs
• Bold new approaches to matching school and work schedules - i.e. increasing hours and/or days at school at the same time as decreasing the work week in the same community

We know that children and communities thrive when parents have ample time to spend with their kids. We all want to live in communities in which families have access to good jobs and have the time that they need to care adequately for their children and aging or sick family members.

For families, part-time work with equitable (pro-rated) pay and benefits can be the ticket to greater economic security, improved health and well-being. Equitable part-time work would help keep parents, especially mothers, connected to the workforce. It would greatly improve their long-term earnings and economic security.

We know that children and communities thrive when parents have ample time to spend with their kids. We all want to live in communities in which families have access to good jobs and have the time that they need to care adequately for their children and aging or sick family members.

Workplace flexibility refers to practices that allow workers to schedule their work so that they can still provide for the day-to-day care needs of their children and families. Examples include the ability to work different hours on different days, have a predictable work schedule, work a compressed workweek, take time out of a day to meet with a child's teacher, or telecommute.

What we have now:

Right now, some (but not all) workers have the right to take unpaid family leave for the birth or new adoption of a child, or to care for a seriously ill family member. The 1993 Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that provides employees with up to 12 weeks of job- protected but unpaid time off for family care. However, this federal requirement only applies to employers of 50 or more employees. In 1995, Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) made unpaid family leave a requirement for employers of 25 or more employees

Why this is inadequate:

There are several reasons:

• Only 60% of American workers are covered by FMLA. The other 40% have no guaranteed leave at all because they work for a small organization, or do not meet tenure and hours requirements.
• Many workers who are covered by FMLA can't afford to actually take it. According to independent studies commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor, 78% of employees who did not take family leave when they needed it reported they did so because they could not go without a paycheck.
• The population needing care is growing, yet most family caregivers have jobs: 95% of fathers and 72% of mothers of children under 18 years work for pay and 40% of workers provide care to an elderly parent or parent-in-law.

What we need and why we need it:

We need universal paid family leave insurance after the birth or adoption of a new child, or when a family member is seriously ill. A successful paid family leave program will:

• provide partial wage replacement with a minimum wage replacement that is equivalent to the minimum wage
• include all workers, including those at small organizations, and those who work part-time or have only been with their employer for a short time
• be funded through state funds or payroll deductions, but not be paid by employers

Paid family leave benefits families:

• Long-term job security and financial stability increase.
• Pediatric mortality decreases.
• Sick or injured children recover faster.
• Educational achievement is higher.

Paid family leave benefits businesses:

• Businesses profit from higher productivity, greater morale, lower turnover and training costs, and reduced absenteeism.
• Mothers who have paid leave are more likely to return to their jobs after the birth of a child.
• Family leave policy relieves individual employers of the cost of offering leave benefits themselves.

Paid leave benefits whole communities:

• Most people have a family member — a parent, a brother, a spouse — who at some point will need care. Paid family leave provides a direct benefit to any employee needing to provide care for a family member — not just parents with new children.
• Whole communities benefit from the greater health and economic stability that paid leave provides.

Are there any current examples of this type of program?

Three states have passed legislation to create paid family leave programs. California's program has been up and running since 2004, New Jersey's started in 2009, and Washington's program is in process. Research in California has shown that workers at all earning levels (except those part-time and intermittent workers earning less than $12,000 per year) received benefits in proportion to their representation in the workforce.

To learn more:

• Sloan Work and Family Research Network
• Institute for Women's Policy Research
• National Partnership for Women and Families
• Center for Economic and Policy Research
• Economic Opportunity Institute
• California Senate Office of Research
• MomsRising

To get involved in Oregon:

• Time To Care For Oregon Families

What we have now:

Currently, no state or federal law guarantees paid sick days for working people. Therefore, nearly half of private-sector workers (approximately 94 million people) are without a single paid sick day to recover from an illness or care for a sick family member. And for low-income workers, the situation is even worse – only one out of every four workers has access to paid time off from their job. As a result, workers have no choice but to go to work sick, exposing others to illness, or lose pay and risk their job.

Yet the health of all Americans would significantly benefit if workers earned paid sick days and used them when ill or when a family member needs care.

Why this is inadequate:

Women shoulder an unfair financial burden without a minimum standard of paid sick days because they are more likely to be providing family care that requires time away from work and are also more likely to be working in jobs and industries that do not provide paid sick days.

Women need sick days for themselves, but they also need them because of the care they provide to others:

• Most moms are working moms, with nearly three in four mothers (71%), with children under 18 years of age, in the labor force.1
• One in three working women report that they provide care for an elderly relative, for persons with disabilities or for special needs children.2
• Half of working mothers miss work when their child gets sick. And of these mothers, half do not get paid when they take this time off. Among low-income working mothers, two in three report losing pay when their kids are sick.3
• Being female doubles the chance of experiencing job loss because of a family illness.4

It costs too much:

In 2008, when a worker at a Chipotle restaurant in Kent, Ohio had no choice but to come to work sick with thenorovirus, over 500 people become violently ill. The outbreak cost the Kent community between $130,233 and $305,337. Each year, there are approximately 76 million cases of food-borne illness in the U.S.7

“Presenteeism” – the practice of coming to work even when you are sick – costs our national economy $180 billion annually in lost productivity. This costs employers an average of $255 per employee per year – and exceeds the cost of absenteeism and medical and disability benefits.6

What we need and why we need it:

Working people need a basic labor standard of paid sick days. Like a minimum wage, or a 40-hour workweek standard, paid sick days are needed and overwhelmingly supported by workers. Providing paid sick days to all workers is good for the economy, good for public health, and good for business.

Paid sick days are good for the economy:

If workers were offered seven paid sick days a year, our national economy would experience a net savings of $8.1 billion a year due to increased productivity and reduced turnover.8

Paid sick days are good for the public’s health:

Workers who most often lack paid sick days are the most likely to come into frequent contact with the public.

In fact, more than three in four food service and hotel workers (78%) don’t have a single paid sick day. Workers in child care centers, retail and nursing homes also overwhelmingly lack paid sick days.9

Paid sick days are good for business:

While a paid sick days policy would impose modest costs, the estimated business savings total $11.69 per week per worker from lower turnover, improved productivity, and reduced spread of illness.10

Also, requiring a labor standard of paid sick days would also level the playing field for businesses that already provide paid sick days.

Current examples:

In 2006, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to guarantee paid sick days for all its workers. Since then, Washington, DC and Wilwaukee, WI have also passed paid sick day initiatives that guarantee a minimum number of paid sick days for all workers – and provide safe days for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

A movement is growing, and currently there are more than fifteen active campaigns in states throughout the nation. A federal initiative, the Healthy Families Act, has also been proposed, which would guarantee workers seven paid sick days a year to recover from their own illness, care for a sick family member or attend diagnostic and medical appointments.

To learn more:

• Support Paid Sick Day
• National Partnership for Women and Famlies
• MomsRising
• Institute for Women’s Policy Research Paid Sick Days Toolkit

To get involved:

Support the Healthy Families Act (HR 2460/ S 1152), which guarantees workers up to seven paid sick days a year, accrued at a rate of one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Paid sick time can be used to recover from short-term illness, to care for a sick family member, for routine medical care or to seek assistance related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. Small-business employers with fewer than 15 workers are exempt from the law.

Learn more and “take action” here.

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