Paid leave to benefit Conn. families

Effective Jan. 1, Connecticut began a new state program called Paid Family and Medical Leave. It is a large step toward recognizing that many workers struggle to pay the bills when the worker or a family member is seriously ill, often having to choose between serious debt or the loss of a job when caring for a loved one.

Our continuing pandemic has served to highlight the health vs. employment dilemma and the need for a safety net where federal and other programs have failed. Most of us know or have heard of someone who contracted the virus and suffered stress and financial hardship as a result.

For example, a constituent in her late 20s told us that she contracted COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic. She had to use all her sick and vacation time to recover from the virus. But she was also pregnant and planned on using that time when she had her baby. Then her husband contracted COVID-19. She wanted to stay home and care for her husband and their 2-year-old, but that was not an option. So, she returned to work, distracted by concern for her family and anxious about how they would make it.

This isn’t an unusual situation, and while the pandemic has made it much more common, this problem existed before COVID-19. As the co-chairs of the Labor and Public Employees Committee, we considered the public testimony of more than 130 people who spoke in support of the Paid Family and Medical Leave bill in 2019.

We heard stories about difficult pregnancies and recovering from surgeries, of wondering whether the job that someone had held for 10, 20 or 30 years would still be there for them — or if they were going to have to declare bankruptcy for lack of a paycheck.

We talked to older workers near retirement who questioned how this program could help them. We explained that Paid Family and Medical Leave could be used by their children — or by another close family member — to care for them if they got sick, or went into the hospital, or had an accident. They got it — this program is designed to help Connecticut families, young and old, in their time of need.

Paid Family and Medical Leave is a hugely popular program. A 2019 poll found 88 percent support among Connecticut residents, including 78 percent of Republicans and 86 percent of unaffiliated voters.

A 2018 national poll found that Paid Family and Medical Leave topped all other workplace perks, ranking higher than remote work options and student loan repayment assistance. And 83 percent of “millennials,” who are the largest group of new parents in America, say they would leave their current job for one with better family benefits.

The program is funded by employees (not employers) through a halfpercent payroll tax that began Jan. 1. This year, the program will build up the fund to begin paying benefits in 2022 to workers who qualify for this critical financial lifeline. In January 2022, Connecticut residents will be eligible for up to 12 weeks of Paid Family and Medical Leave to care for themselves, or to care for a seriously ill family member, or to care for a newborn baby, without losing a job and without losing an entire paycheck.

For the highest wage earners in the program — those making more than $143,000 a year — the maximum they will pay into the fund is $714 over the course of 2021. In 2022, they’ll be eligible for as much as $10,030 in paid leave benefits over three months if they qualify. Connecticut workers earning $30,000 a year will pay $2.88 per week, and their benefit payout in 2022 will be about $530 per week or more than $6,300 over three months.

Business lobbying groups have opposed this program from the beginning. While other states with a PFML program require employers to pay some portion of the contribution, lobbyists blocked any employer contribution in Connecticut. Now, they say they are worried about workers paying for the plan. They also suggest small businesses will be hurt by having to hold a job open for a sick employee. But the fact is, small businesses rarely fire employees for getting cancer or having a baby. Small businesses will benefit from a program that mirrors those previously available only at larger corporations.

While getting a paycheck while struggling with illness is important, working families experiencing the ravaging effects of a pandemic understand the Connecticut’s new Paid Family and Medical Leave programs does much more than that — it provides a much larger benefit: safety and security.