A Better Balance Issues Public Comment on Labor Department Notice

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 -- A Better Balance, New York, has issued a public comment on the Department of Labor notice entitled "Request for Information: Paid Leave". The comment was written and posted on Sept. 14, 2020:

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A Better Balance (ABB) is writing to comment on the request for information (RFI) issued by the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on July 16, 2020. A Better Balance is a national legal advocacy organization dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace. Through legislative advocacy, strategic litigation, and direct legal services, we use the power of the law to advance justice for workers, so they can care for themselves and their loved ones without jeopardizing their economic security. We believe that when all working parents and caregivers have a fair shot in the workplace, our families, our communities, and our nation are healthier and stronger. To that end, we have been working on paid family and medical leave throughout the country for over a decade.

The RFI notice indicates that the DOL seeks to "gather information concerning the effectiveness of current state- and employer-provided paid leave programs, and how access or lack of access to paid leave programs impacts America's workers and their families," in order to "identify promising practices related to eligibility requirements, related costs, and administrative models of existing paid leave programs."

Although it is not mentioned in the RFI, there is already a vast wealth of information demonstrating the effects of not having paid family and medical leave and the benefits of state programs that provide it. DOL itself enabled several valuable studies on paid leave program design and implementation through the innovative Paid Leave Analysis Grant Program administered by the Women's Bureau, and the Chief Evaluation Office-funded Worker Leave studies. The overwhelming weight of the research is clear: the private sector as a whole has failed to solve the paid leave crisis faced by America's workers, and publicly funded social insurance represents the only viable path forward.

I. Paid Family and Medical Leave Must Work for All Workers

Question 1: Who benefits from paid leave and who bears the costs? (Also see Section III(A) below)

At some point in their lives, nearly every working person will welcome a new child, deal with their own serious health issue or need to provide care to a seriously ill, injured or disabled loved one. Yet despite progress, most people still do not have the security they need to take time away from their jobs. Millions of people are forced to choose between their wages and their ability to care for themselves or their families. Just 19 percent of the workforce has paid family leave through their employers, and only 40 percent has personal medical leave through an employer-provided disability program./1

The reality is especially stark for people of color and low-wage workers, who face the greatest disparities in their ability to access and afford leave. In fact, access to paid family leave for the lowest-income workers has increased by just 2 percentage points in the last 7 years, to a paltry 5 percent in 2019,/2 even after the enactment in 2017 of tax credits intended to incentivize employers to offer paid leave. These low access rates prove that private sector policies alone are insufficient to solve our nation's paid leave crisis.

Additionally, recently released data from the DOL's 2018 FMLA surveys shows that though the FMLA does not require that leave be paid, access to paid leave for all workers is crucial. The most common reason cited by workers who needed leave but didn't take it was that they couldn't afford to take unpaid leave/3--nationwide, a striking 34 percent of workers receive no pay while on leave./4

Low-wage workers and workers that are ineligible for FMLA are much more likely than their counterparts to lack access to paid leave./5

The survey also confirmed that for many, receiving partial or no pay while on leave results in the worker struggling to make ends meet./6

American families have a critical need for paid family and medical leave insurance programs, especially as there are fewer non-working family members to provide care to children and elderly relatives. Paid leave is a cross-cutting societal issue that has specific benefits for different populations including women, children, LGBT families, the elderly, and businesses, as well as for society as a whole. Access to paid leave increases workforce attachment for mothers and rates of breastfeeding, saves businesses money through retention of employees, and reduces stress for family caregivers, among numerous other benefits. Paid leave also helps society as a whole as families who have access to it are healthier, more economically secure, and less likely to require taxpayer-funded public assistance resources. The lack of paid leave costs U.S. workers and their families $22.5 billion each year in lost wages alone./7

Evidence from the states with paid leave programs has shown that in order to truly meet the needs of working people, a paid family and medical leave program must meet certain basic standards. It must be comprehensive by allowing leave for all FMLA-covered events, particularly as our nation ages and the shortage of paid caregivers means more working people are called upon to care for their family members.

It must provide the same amount of leave regardless of a worker's gender. It must replace individuals' wages at an adequate level so that people can actually afford to take time off, as well as a meaningful duration of leave, so that people have enough time to meet their family or medical needs. It must allow leave to care for an inclusive range of family members in order to adequately reflect the way our families really look--particularly for families of color, immigrant families, and the LGBTQ community. It must guarantee job protection so that people can take the time off they need without having to worry if their job will still be there for them when they return. And it must be funded affordably and sustainably, without cutting other essential programs that working people need.

II. A Comprehensive, Publicly Run Paid Leave Program Is the Best Option for Our Nation

Question 2: What are the needs of workers and employers when it comes to paid time off for care obligations? What elements of the existing public (e.g., state-administered) and private (employer-provided) options work well? Why do they work well? Are there any features and provisions that make a paid leave program successful for all stakeholders?

Question 3: What does not work well and why; and what are the existing gaps? What could be done to improve the existing patchwork of programs, which include state and employer-sponsored paid options? What are the impediments, costs and otherwise, faced in implementing those improvements?

Question 8: What are the features of an ideal paid leave program, from the perspective of a worker or employer?

America's working families need permanent, comprehensive paid family and medical leave. Fortunately, states are leading the way toward a more universal model that is proven to work. Nine states, including the District of Columbia, have enacted paid family and medical leave social insurance programs. Under this model, employees and/or employers contribute a small percentage of wages into a public fund, out of which benefits are paid as a percentage of an employee's wages. This ensures that employees can access leave regardless of their employer, position, or part-time/full-time status--meaning that the workers most in need of leave can access it. It also eliminates employers' large up-front costs of providing paid leave out of their own pockets--especially important for small businesses, who otherwise might not be able to afford this benefit, making it harder to compete with large businesses for the best employees. When workers need family or medical leave, the insurance system pays their benefits. This means that employers do not have to pay workers' wages out of pocket when they are out on leave, making providing paid leave inexpensive to the employer. Polls of small businesses repeatedly demonstrate overwhelming support for a national paid leave policy structured as social insurance, and hundreds of small businesses have endorsed federal paid family and medical leave legislation.

Publicly administered paid leave programs are meant to create baseline benefits that employers are free to build upon. For example, employers can "top-up" paid leave benefits provided through a public plan to replace more or all of their workers' wages and they can offer a longer period of leave. As a national paid leave system is developed, employers and insurers could work together to create products that fulfill the needs of workers and employers while ensuring an affordable, inclusive baseline program for all workers. While opponents of publicly provided and administered paid leave often claim some workers will lose better benefits that they currently have if a public program is implemented, there is absolutely no evidence from states that this has happened. The incentives that high-road employers have to use paid leave as a recruitment and retention tool will remain as it is now and the insurance market will adjust.

From the experience of the states, we know that there are certain key policy elements that must be included for a strong paid family and medical leave program. The following are key policy points that should be included in a comprehensive bill.

A. Paid leave must cover health, caregiving, bonding, and military family needs.

Strong paid family and medical leave programs ensure the ability of workers to take paid leave to address their own serious health needs, care for a loved one dealing with a serious health need, bond with a new child, or address the impact of military deployment. All four purposes are already embodied in the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and address the most important needs for leave across workers' lifespans. All state paid family and medical leave programs cover or will cover leaves for workers' own health, for family caregiving, and for bonding with a new child (including foster or adoptive children, for parents of any gender), while most also cover the needs of military family members dealing with the impact of deployment.

Nationwide, about 3 in 5 private sector workers lack access to short-term disability insurance through their employers, leaving them vulnerable when they need time off from work to address their serious health needs./8

Among low-income workers, these numbers are even more stark. Over 80% of those in the bottom quarter of earners and nearly 90% of those in the bottom tenth of earners lack access to short-term disability insurance through their employers./9

When workers do not have the leave they need, they may defer or forego necessary medical treatment./10

Today, nearly one in three U.S. households provide care for an adult loved one with a serious illness or disability./11

With an aging population, these numbers will only increase in the future. Family caregivers can help these individuals recover more quickly and spend less time in hospitals./12

Policies that support family caregiving create savings that benefit all taxpayers. Unpaid family caregivers not only help to ease the burden on our crowded hospitals and long-term care facilities but also create enormous financial savings. For example, recipients of family caregiving are less likely to have nursing home care or home health care paid for by Medicare./13

Because most caregivers providing care for adults are employed,/14 the demands of providing care are in constant tension with earning a much-needed income. In addition, seriously ill children benefit when their parents can afford time off to care for them. Research shows that ill children have better vital signs, faster recoveries, and reduced hospital stays when cared for by parents./15

For over a decade, the FMLA has provided essential leave protections to military families for deployment-related needs. Recognizing the importance of honoring our nation's heroes, most states with paid family and medical leave programs have followed suit--New York, Washington State, California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut all allow or will allow paid family leave to be used to address certain military family needs. Alarmingly, the RFI omits military family leave as a covered purpose for paid leave, and only refers to the other covered FMLA purposes. Military families lack the protections they need when their loved ones are called to active duty service of our country. In one recent national survey, the amount of time service members spend away from family was ranked as the top issue of concern for service members and military spouses./16

Families that make these sacrifices deserve the paid time off they need to address the effects of deployment on their families and their lives. Moreover, due to the impacts of the military lifestyle, a shocking 30% of military spouses are unemployed, despite actively seeking employment, and many more are underemployed./17

52% of military spouses reported that unemployment and underemployment are the main obstacles to financial security./18

Ensuring that these patriots can take the time away they need and then return ready to work can help them maintain employment and better support their loved ones serving abroad and those who remain at home.

B. Workers need a decent wage replacement in order to be able to take time off,

especially workers at the bottom of the economic spectrum.

A strong paid leave program provides a progressive wage replacement rate that workers, especially low-income workers can afford to use. Under progressive wage replacement systems, lower-income workers, who need to use all of their income to meet their basic needs, receive a higher proportion of their income while they are on leave. Progressive wage replacement systems strike a reasonable balance between meeting the needs of low-wage workers and offering a reasonable maximum benefit to help protect the solvency of the fund.

The wage replacement rate (the percentage of their own income workers receive while on leave) is an extremely important element of a paid family and medical leave program: if the rate is too low, workers will not be able to afford to take the leave they need. This problem can be especially acute for low-income workers living paycheck to paycheck, who need every dollar of their income to pay their bills. Moreover, for programs that are partially worker-funded, it is particularly essential to ensure that workers will not be required to pay for a program they cannot afford to use.

Though low-income workers are the most vulnerable, workers of any income level can find themselves unable to afford to take leave if the wage replacement rate is too low. In a major California study, workers across income levels reported that the 55% wage replacement level made it difficult to afford to use the program, potentially contributing to low rates of use./19

For this reason, California amended their statute to raise the wage replacement rate, especially for low-wage workers. The nation can learn from the experience of existing programs and create a benefit level that works for workers.

Most state paid family and medical leave laws provide a progressive wage replacement rate./20

Typically, this means that the program replaces a higher percentage of income up to a threshold amount (often called the "bend point"), then replaces a lower percentage of income above that amount. In effect, this creates a sliding scale of income replacement. For example, the paid family and medical leave program in Washington State provides 90% of workers' wages up to a bend point of 50% of the state average weekly wage and provide 50% of workers' wages above that amount./21

Washington State's program currently caps benefits at $1,000 per week, but benefits will be adjusted to 90% of the state average weekly wage in subsequent years./22

Washington, D.C.; Massachusetts; Connecticut; and Oregon all use or will use progressive wage replacement systems following this model, though their exact bend points and rates of replacement vary./23

California already provides progressive wage replacement benefits, though it uses a somewhat more complex system./24

C. Workers must have sufficient time to care for themselves and their families.

A strong leave program would provide at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. This minimum benchmark, which is also consistent with the FMLA, ensures that workers have the time they need to attend to their own or a family member's serious health needs, address the impact of a family member's military deployment, or bond with a new child. Providing 12 weeks of coverage would also match the length of paid family leave coverage in New York (once the program is fully phased in) and Massachusetts and of paid family and medical leave coverage in Washington State, Connecticut, and Oregon. At the same time, programs should recognize that workers who experience multiple needs in a year may need additional time, such as those who need medical leave for recovery from childbirth as well as time to bond with a new child.

Programs vary in the number of weeks of benefits workers can receive. For their own medical needs, workers can receive benefits for 52 weeks in California, 30 weeks in Rhode Island, 26 weeks in New York and New Jersey, 12 weeks in Washington State (with an additional 2 weeks for certain pregnancy-related health needs), and 2 weeks in Washington, D.C. Workers will be able to receive benefits for their own medical needs for 20 weeks in Massachusetts and 12 weeks in Connecticut and Oregon (with an additional 2 weeks for certain pregnancy-related health needs in each of these states). For paid family leave, workers can receive benefits for 12 weeks in New Jersey and Washington State, 8 weeks in California, and 4 weeks in Rhode Island. New York currently offers 10 weeks of paid family leave benefits and, when the program is fully phased in in 2021, will offer 12 weeks. Washington, D.C.

provides 6 weeks of benefits to care for a seriously ill or injured loved one and 8 weeks of benefits to bond with a new child. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Oregon will each offer 12 weeks of paid family leave benefits./25

Programs vary in the extent to which workers can combine family and medical leave benefits sequentially.

The health benefits of providing 12 weeks of leave for bonding are overwhelming for children, mothers, and fathers. Children whose mothers do not return to work full time in the first 12 weeks are more likely to receive medical checkups and critical vaccinations./26

Mothers who take at least 12 weeks of leave are also more likely to breastfeed, with important lasting health benefits for their children./27

Fathers who take longer leaves experience greater engagement in their children's lives;/28 greater paternal engagement has cognitive and developmental advantages for children./29

For foster children, the first few months are a critical adjustment period in the transition to a new placement,/30 during which children need time to bond with their foster parents. Experts including the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that healthy full-term infants should not be enrolled in child care until they are at least 12 weeks old due to rapid developmental changes and the risk of developing severe undetected illness./31

For new birth mothers, having less than 12 weeks of family leave is associated with increased symptoms of postpartum depression./32

For working fathers, taking longer paid family leave means increased satisfaction in their contact with their children./33

D. Job protection is critical to the ability of a worker to take this benefit.

A strong paid family and medical leave program protects the jobs of workers taking paid family and medical leave by ensuring they have the right to return to work following leave. Job protection for all employees covered by the program is an essential element--without it, it's not leave. This is especially important for low-income workers, who will often have less job security than other workers, and, because they change jobs more often than other workers/34 and are more likely to be working part time/35 (including many part-time workers who would prefer to be working full time), may be less likely to be covered by leave laws like the Family and Medical Leave Act./36

States are leading the way in providing paid leave with job protection. Massachusetts will provide job protection to all employees covered by its paid family and medical leave law./37

Connecticut and Oregon will provide job protection to workers taking family or medical leave who have been employed by their current employer for approximately three months./38

New York and Rhode Island provide job protection to all employees covered by their paid family leave laws./39

The need for job protection for workers in a paid family and medical leave program cannot be overstated.

The need for such leave occurs at some of the most stressful times in a person's life: the arrival of a new child, a health crisis in the family, or a looming deployment. At these times, workers shouldn't have to worry whether they will have a job to return to after their leave. Without a legal right to get their job back, many workers will be unwilling to risk their livelihood by taking the leave they need--the risk to their long-term economic security will be too great. Without job protection, workers will pay for a program they can only use by risking their long-term economic survival. In one California study, fear of being fired was a commonly cited reason workers who were eligible for paid family leave under that state's program did not take it./40

In Rhode Island, 45% of workers who took leave under their state's paid family leave law (which provides job protection) said that without the law they would not have taken leave for fear of losing their job./41

The evidence is overwhelming: paid leave is a win-win for workers and businesses, and the most equitable, sustainable model for paid leave is a national, publicly run social insurance program that builds on the innovation that states have pioneered.

We appreciate the opportunity to submit this comment. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected] or 212-430-5982.

View full comment at: https://downloads.regulations.gov/DOL-2020-0004-0126/attachment_1.pdf

Sincerely,

A Better Balance

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Footnotes:

1/ U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2019, September). National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2019 (Table 16, Table 31). Retrieved 27 August 2020, from https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2019/employee-benefits-in-the-united-states-march2019.pdf

2/ See note 1; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2012). National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2012 (Table 32). Retrieved August 27 2020, from https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2012/ebbl0050.pdf

3/ Sixty-six percent of employees report that their reason for not taking needed leave is their inability to afford unpaid leave. Employee and Worksite Perspectives of the Family and Medical Leave Act: Results from the 2018 Surveys at Exh. 6-3 (2020), https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OASP/evaluation/pdf/WHD_FMLA2018SurveyResults_FinalReport_Aug2020.pdf.

4/ Id. at iv.

5/ Low-wage workers (52%) less commonly report having access to paid leave for their own illness or medical care than do other workers (80%). Only 39% of low-wage workers have access to paid leave to care for a family member, compared to 65% of non-low-wage workers. Id. at Exh. 35.

6/ Two-thirds (67%) of employees who did not receive full pay while on leave report finding it much more or somewhat more difficult to "make ends meet" during their leave. Id. at 33.

7/ Glynn, S. J. (2020, January 21). The Rising Cost of Inaction on Work-Family Policies. Retrieved 27 August 2020 from Center for American Progress website: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2020/01/21/479555/rising-cost-inaction-work-family-policies/

8/ U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Benefits Survey: Mar. 2019, Table 16 (2019), https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2019/ownership/private/table16a.pdf.

9/ Id.

10/ See Abt Associates Inc., Family and Medical Leave in 2012: Technical Report 131 (Sep. 2012), https://www.dol.gov/asp/evaluation/fmla/FMLA-2012-Technical-Report.pdf.

11/ Catherine Albiston & Lindsey Trimble O'Connor, Just Leave, 39 HARV. J. L. & GENDER 1, 16 (2016).

12/ See, e.g., A. Houser & M.J. Gibson, Valuing the Invaluable: The Economic Value of Family Caregiving, 2008 Update, AARP Public Policy Institute (Nov. 2008), pp. 1-2, 6; Valuing the Invaluable: A New Look at the Economic Value of Family Caregiving, AARP (June 2007), p. 6.

13/ Houser & M.J. Gibson, Valuing the Invaluable: The Economic Value of Family Caregiving, 2008 Update, at 6.

14/ Caregiving in the U.S., AARP & National Alliance for Caregiving (June 2015), p. 56, available at http://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2015/caregiving-in-the-united-states-2015-report-revised.pdf.

15/ See S. J. Heymann, A. Earle & B. Egleston, Parental Availability for the Care of Sick Children, Pediatrics, Vol. 98 No. 2 (Aug. 1996), p. 226-30; S.J. Heymann, THE WIDENING GAP: WHY AMERICA'S WORKING FAMILIES ARE IN JEOPARDY AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT (2000), p. 57.

16/ Military Family Lifestyle Survey: Comprehensive Report, BLUE STAR FAMILIES, p. 20 (2018), available at https://bluestarfam.org/wpcontent/ uploads/2019/03/2018MFLS-ComprehensiveReport-DIGITAL-FINAL.pdf.

17/ Id. at 10.

18/ Id.

19/ Cal. Senate Office of Research, California's Paid Family Leave Program: Ten Years After the Program's Implementation, Who Has Benefited and What Has Been Learned? 6 (July 1, 2014), http://sor.senate.ca.gov/sites/sor.senate.ca.gov/files/Paid_Family_Leave_FINAL_A1b.pdf; Andrew Chang & Co., Paid Family Leave Market Research, Cal. Emp. Dev. Dep't 70 (July 13, 2015), https://www.edd.ca.gov/Disability/pdf/Paid_Family_Leave_Market_Research_Report_2015.pdf.

20/ Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code Secs. 3301(b), 2655(e) (West 2019); D.C. Code Ann. Sec. 32-541.04(g)(1)-(2) (West 2020); Wash. Rev. Code Ann. Sec. 50A.15.020(4) (West 2020); Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 175M, Sec. 3(b) (West 2019); S.B. 1, 2019 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. Sec. 3(c)(2) (Conn. 2019); H.B. 2005, 80th Legis. Assemb., Reg. Sess. Sec. 7 (Or. 2019).

21/ Wash. Rev. Code Ann. Sec. 50A.15.020(4) (West 2020).

22/ Wash. Rev. Code Ann. Sec. 50A.15.020(5)(a) (West 2020).

23/ D.C. Code Ann. Sec. 32-541.04(g)(1)-(2) (West 2020) (provides 90% of a worker's average weekly wage up to an amount equal to 40 times 150% of the D.C. minimum wage and 50% of a worker's average weekly wage above an amount equal to 40 times 150% of the D.C. minimum wage); Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 175M, Sec. 3(b) (West 2019) (provides 80% of a worker's average weekly wage up to an amount equal to 50% of the statewide average weekly wage and 50% of a worker's average weekly wage above an amount equal to 50% of the statewide average weekly wage); S.B. 1, 2019 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. Sec. 3(c)(2) (Conn. 2019) (provides 95% of a worker's average weekly wage up to an amount equal to 40 times the state minimum wage and 60% of a worker's average weekly wage above an amount equal to 40 times the state minimum wage); H.B. 2005, 80th Legis. Assemb., Reg. Sess. Sec. 7 (Or. 2019) (provides 100% of a worker's average weekly wage up to an amount equal to 65% of the statewide average weekly wage and 50% of a worker's average weekly wage above an amount equal to 65% of the statewide average weekly wage).

24/ California uses a system that creates three tiers of wage replacement. The first tier applies to workers who earn less than a fixed amount set in statute (approximately $71.46 per week); workers in this tier receive $50 per week. The second tier applies to workers who earn at least as much as a fixed amount set in statute (approximately $71.46 per week) but less than approximately 33% of the state average weekly wage (for 2019, this works out to approximately $414.26 per week); workers in this tier receive 70% of their total average weekly wage. The third tier applies to workers who earn at least approximately 33% of the state average weekly wage (for 2019, this works out to approximately $414.26 per week); workers in this tier receive either approximately 60% of the worker's total average weekly wage or an amount equal to 23.3% of the state average weekly wage (for 2019, this works out to approximately $289.57), whichever is greater. See Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code Secs. 3301(b), 2655(e) (West 2019).

25/ Massachusetts will provide up to twenty-six weeks of family leave benefits for military caregivers.

26/ Lawrence M. Berger, Jennifer Lynn Hill, and Jane Waldfogel, "Maternity Leave, Early Maternal Employment and Child Health and Development in the US," The Economic Journal 115, no. 501 (2005).

27/ Id.

28/ del Carmen Huerta et al., Fathers' Leave, Fathers' Involvement and Child Development Are They Related?.

29/ Ann Sarkadi et al., "Fathers' involvement and children's developmental outcomes: a systematic review of longitudinal studies," Acta Pediatrica 97: 153-158 (2008).

30/ Annette Semanchin Jones and Susan J. Wells, PATH/Wisconsin-Bremer Project: Preventing Disruptions in Foster Care (2008).

31/ American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association, and National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education, Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards, Third Edition (2011).

32/ Pinka Chatterji and Sara Makowitz, "Family Leave After Childbirth and the Mental Health of New Mothers," The Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics 15, 61-76 (2012).

33/ Haas & Hwang, "The Impact of Taking Parental Leave on Fathers' Participation in Childcare and Relationships with Children", 85-104.

34/ Jacquelyn Anderson et al., A New Approach to Low-Wage Workers and Employers, MDRC 5 (Mar. 2006), https://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/full_9.pdf.

35/ Pamela Loprest et al., Who Are Low-Wage Workers?, U.S. Dep't Health & Hum. Servs. (Feb. 2009) https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/180021/rb.pdf.

36/ Lonnie Golden, Still Falling Short on Hours and Pay: Part-time Work Becoming New Normal, Econ. Policy Inst. (Dec. 5, 2016), http://www.epi.org/publication/still-falling-short-on-hours-and-pay-part-time-work-becoming-new-normal/.

37/ Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 175M, Sec. 2(e) (West 2019).

38/ Oregon will provide job protection to all covered workers who have been employed with their current employer for at least 90 days. H.B. 2005, 80th Leg. Assemb., Reg. Sess. Sec. 10(1), (7) (Or. 2019). Connecticut made substantial amendments to its existing state unpaid leave law as part of the same bill that created its paid leave program. The amended unpaid leave law provides job protection to nearly all private sector employees in the state who have been employed with their employer for at least three months. Workers receiving benefits for domestic violence-related purposes do not have job protection under that law, although they may have employment protection under Connecticut's family violence leave law. Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. Sec. 31-51nn(a) (West 2019).

39/ N.Y. Workers' Comp. Law Sec. 203-b (McKinney 2019); 28 R.I. Gen. Laws Ann. Sec. 28-41-35(f) (West 2019).

40/ Eileen Appelbaum & Ruth Milkman, Leaves That Pay: Employer and Worker Experiences with Paid Family Leave in California, at 30 (2011), https://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/paid-family-leave-1-2011.pdf.

41/ Barb Silver, Helen Mederer, & Emilija Djurdjevic, Rhode Island's Temporary Caregiver Insurance Program: Findings from the First Year (2015).

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The notice can be viewed at: https://beta.regulations.gov/document/DOL-2020-0004-0001

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