Personal Stories Express Need for Paid Family and Medical Leave in Massachusetts

Advocates for paid family and medical leave in Massachusetts shared personal stories that make clear the need for paid leave at a legislative hearing at the State House yesterday.

Paid family and medical leave would allow workers to take time to take care of their health or the health of a loved one without fear of losing their job or the risk of financial ruin, and ensure that all parents can take time off to nurture and bond with their new children.

“The first few months after a child is born are an essential bonding time between parent and child. The absence of a paid family leave policy adds more stress to an already stressful situation,” said Damali Simmonds of Boston, who received only four days of paid leave when she had her baby earlier this year. “This is not the time that you want to be worrying about how you’re going to pay the bills, or how you’re going to find daycare for a newborn, when most places won’t even provide care for a baby under three months old.”

“When my oldest daughter became ill, my employer wouldn’t let me take time off because my daughter was not under age. I was forced to work while dealing with this difficult situation,” said Ana Vasquez of Everett. “It took a lot out of me to manage my work and my child’s needs. I felt helpless that I was not able to help my own child and it is a desperate feeling to have your own children in need of help and not being able to act on it because you have to work.”

Legislation filed this session, The Family and Medical Leave and Temporary Disability Insurance Program Act (H.1718/S.1008), would make employees eligible for up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave to recover from a serious illness or injury, to care for a seriously ill or injured family member, or to care for a new child. It prohibits employer retaliation against workers who take time off under these conditions.

“Emergencies arise for all of us at some point, but 1.2 million Massachusetts workers risk losing their jobs if they take time off work to take care of a family medical emergency or after the birth of a child,” said Deb Fastino, co-chair of Raise Up Massachusetts. “For most working families, unpaid leave is not a financially viable option. We need paid family and medical leave for a simple reason: hardworking people shouldn’t have to choose between the job they need and the family they love.”

“Workers in every other industrialized country in the world can count on paid family leave. Massachusetts has an opportunity to be a national leader on this key issue for all working families,” said Senator Karen E. Spilka, who represents Framingham and is the Senate Ways and Means Chair and the lead Senate sponsor of the legislation.

“No worker should have to choose between keeping a paycheck and caring for a new child or a sick relative. We need to allow people of all income levels to stay in their jobs and move up the economic ladder,” said Spilka.

“As the US Secretary of Labor has said, the most important family value is time, and this bill provides the time for our families when they need it most,” said Rep. Ken Gordon (D-Bedford), the lead House sponsor of the legislation. “It will not only help Massachusetts’ families, it will help our businesses and economy. It will lead to healthier, more productive and motivated employees. It will help Massachusetts’ businesses retain their valuable employees and put them on a level playing field with those from California, Canada, Europe and Asia, all of which offer paid family leave as a matter of law. Paid family and medical leave allows working families to spend time with each other during times of joy and times of sorrow, without the worry of how they will make ends meet during that time.”

Under the legislation, employees would be eligible for temporary disability benefits equal to a percentage of their average weekly wages, capped at $1,000/week. These benefits would last up to 12 weeks to care for a family member or new child, and up to 26 weeks for an employee’s own serious illness or injury.

“This legislation will provide the dignity and financial stability of paid time to care for new babies--something all parents deserve,” said Megan Amundson, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts. “Establishing paid parental leave for the Commonwealth is critical to ensuring reproductive freedom for all families in Massachusetts.”

Benefits would be funded through employer contributions to the new Family and Employment Security Trust Fund. The bill exempts employers who already provide equivalent paid leave benefits, creates a one-week waiting period before employees can receive benefits if they are out of work due to their own illness or injury, and uses existing agencies for administration and enforcement, keeping costs down.

“The Massachusetts economy would be strengthened by paid leave as businesses will benefit from healthier and more productive employees and a reduction in worker turnover,” said Ann Bookman, Director of UMass Boston’s Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy. “When workers do not have to choose between their paychecks and their families, they have stable incomes and spend money that stimulates our local economy. This translates into a reduction in the use of public assistance.” Bookman served as director of the bipartisan Commission on Leave that studied the impact of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which guarantees unpaid leave to employees of large companies. She explained that “fifteen years of research on FMLA has shown that the law benefits both employees and their employers.”

California and New Jersey have had paid family and medical leave for years, and both workers and businesses report positive effects. Six years after California’s law was implemented, 89 to 99 percent of employers reported that paid family and medical leave had either a “positive effect” or “no noticeable effect” on productivity, profitability/performance, turnover, and employee morale.1

“As a mother and an employer, I know that paid family leave is the right thing to do for the good of our community,” said Beth Monaghan, co-founder of InkHouse, a PR firm that employs 80 people. “Working for a business must be a two-way street. If the business doesn’t support employees in their personal lives, how can we expect employees to support the business in its professional life?”

At the hearing, anonymous testimony was read from a woman from Beverly who, after disclosing her pregnancy, was fired from the small company where she worked as a bookkeeper and office manager. “It was devastating,” her testimony read. “I was already so stressed about what we were going to do financially once our baby arrived and here I was 3 months away from my due date with no job and no hope of returning to a job. Having access to paid family medical leave would have given both my employer and me some guidelines on how to deal with this situation. The state and companies need to support people starting families, not punish them.”

Jane Piercy of Brookline testified about managing a team of software developers, including several new mothers who returned to work after maternity leave as short as 6 weeks. “As a manager I can tell you I worried about these people working on our code with so little sleep. Imagine people with jobs that are actually dangerous or could result in danger to others if the new mother is completely sleep deprived after only 6 weeks of giving birth.”

Stephanie Shapiro Berkson of Boston shared her story of dealing with her mother-in-law’s cancer, the birth of her son nine weeks early, and a car accident that left her with a head injury that required hospitalization as well as rehab, all within a two year period. “I sincerely hope that we can pass a paid family and medical leave act here in Massachusetts,” she said. “It is a simple measure that nearly every other country in the world guarantees that would greatly contribute to the well-being of families and employers alike. Nobody’s financial suffering should be attributed to becoming a new parent, to an accident, or to the decision to care for a loved one.”