Good Ideas on Paid Family Leave in Ohio

I'm still smarting after the failure of a paid family leave bill in the Oregon legislature this past session, but I am heartened to hear of other states that are making progress in this area.  Ohio, for one.  In yesterday's New York Times, there's a short article about that state's efforts to expand its maternity leave benefits.  The state Civil Rights Commission proposes to:

1. Extend family leave benefits to pregnant women who work for employers with four or fewer employees (the FMLA only applies to employers with 50+ employees; Oregon's law is broader than most states and applies to employers with 25 or fewer), and
2. Eliminate the length-of-service requirement that applies to the FMLA (12 months!), so that women are eligible for benefits regardless of how long they have worked for their employer (because, after all, one can't always plan a pregnancy/adoption to perfectly coincide with one's benefit package, though sadly it's not a bad idea given our options).

For more information on existing family leave benefits in the U.S., check out this excellent summary of state family leave laws that are more expansive than the federal FMLA; it was prepared by the National Partnership for Women and Families, the organization that drafted the original FMLA. It's heartening to see that Oregon scores comparatively high!

The issue of paid family leave is likely to be pushed again in Oregon in the next legislative session.  If we Activistas take this up as a main goal, we can simply support what others suggest (not a bad tactic for a new group...) or get creative and supply ideas that we think are effective and workable.  What features would you like to see in a paid leave bill?   Is there any one aspect that really riles you up? 

Comments

[hau]

Lisa, this is great stuff! With my second pregnancy, I just had started a new public service position. Luckily my benefits started a few days prior to him being conceived. It was stressful being pregnant at a new job since I had to figure out all of the FMLA / OFLA rules. Despite the agency having the appropriate HR staff, they had never dealt with a new employee that wanted to take advantage of the FMLA and OFLA 10 months after starting a job. It was hard for me to believe. While my job was secure, I really had to read between the lines and figure out if I took more than 9 weeks off, then I'd have to deal with the lapse of insurance (you get full coverage during your leave after a year with the agency). Anyway, dealing with the insurance and figuring out how to transfer over to my husbands insurance just for the brief time I was on leave did seem worth the stress or the hassle. I would have definitely taken more time if that had not been the case.

[olivia]

Lisa, thanks for posting this info. It is good for us to know about the other ways we can accomplish better Family Leave options, aside from pushing for PAID family leave.

With both of my pregnancies/deliveries, I was a new employee at two different public service agencies. Each time I delivered, I was only 2 or 4 months on the job and was, therefore, not protected by FMLA. It was a scary notion, but I simply trusted that my managers would not backfill my position. It all worked out fine, though I knew that - if anything did happen - I would not be protected by FMLA.

The healthcare issue another difficulty. I negotiated extending my healthcare coverage when I took over 5 months with my first daughter. Otherwise, my health care coverage would have expired after the first 3 months of leave. With my second daughter, I came back to the job (my employer said that I needed to be back after 9 or 10 weeks) before the time came for my health care to expire.

Eliminating the length-of-service requirement and applying FMLA to employers with fewer than 50 employees are both really good steps. In my instances, I would have been covered by FMLA if we had these two modifications to our family leave act. Are we considering those options in Oregon?

[Kristin]

Lisa,

You so rock. I agree that this is a great focus for a new group, particularly because, as your article showed, PFL, once a seemingly far-fetched dream, is now becoming more of a possibility, and for some states, an actual reality.

As for what I would like in a bill, much of it is embodied in the Ohio bill -- I feel particularly strongly about the small employer aspect of this. My reason has to do with the fact that many politically oriented groups are small and if women feel that such an environment is not family-friendly, they won't work there and subsequently their voices won't get heard in the social change realm. Whew -- long train of thought -- sorry.

I have a lot of other preferences (too bad it can't be retroactive! Can I get my leave now, even though my youngest is two? Just a joke....) and I look forward to hashing it all out with such smart women!

Kristin

[ltfdbc]

The LA Times has an editorial supporting Ohio's new legislation today, and it includes some good context, as well. Check it out here: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-maternity18aug18,0,1055840.column?coll=la-news-comment-editorials. The writer (a Californian) says to Ohio: Welcome to the club. Hopefully they'll be saying that to Oregon soon, too!!! There is federal legislation pending that's worth a look, too, called the The Family Leave Insurance Act of 2007. Check it out on Senator Dodd's web site: http://dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=node/3953. That one could be a good one to write your legislator about if you're so inclined.