Paid Family Leave in NJ?
The law would allow for up to 12 weeks of paid leave after the birth of a child or to care for a seriously ill family member. The employers won't be financing this benefit, either. Workers would pay for the benefit through a 1 percent deduction from salaries into state Temporary Disability Insurance, which is essentially how the California law--passed in 2004--works.
The small business community is up in arms about NJ bill, saying it will be a huge burden to hold a job open for 12 weeks. But family leave advocates argue that small business owners already give time off for a new baby or family illness--they just have a hard time providing pay when they do. Advocates also point out that this legislation might cut back on turnover and the cost of hiring and training new workers.
The U.S. is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that doesn't guarantee paid maternity leave, according to a recently released study by Harvard and McGill University researchers. In its survey of 173 countries, it found only the U.S., Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea didn't have a federal law insuring paid leave. At least 145 countries provide paid sick days, with 127 providing a week or more annually. The US, in contrast, provides only unpaid leave.
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posted by pam at 9:38 AM
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