STATE DEMOCRATS REVIVE PUSH FOR PAID LEAVE POLICY POLITICS

With efforts to enact a federal paid family and medical leave policy stalled, Wisconsin Democrats are reviving an effort to implement one at the state level.

Sen. Janis Ringhand, D-Evansville, and Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Mount Horeb, told reporters on Monday they are reintroducing a bill to create a Wisconsin Family and Medical Leave Insurance program.

The legislation would make all Wisconsin workers eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid leave for personal or family illness, or to care for a new child. It would also expand the definition of "family" under the law to include a grandparent, grandchild or sibling.

The bill would create a state-run family and medical leave insurance program, funded by employee contributions - estimated by the bill's supporters to be between $2 and $3.50 per week.

Most employees would have about two-thirds of their wages replaced, but the percentage would increase for lower-wage workers up to about 95%.

Under current state law, a business with more than 50 employees must allow them (as long as they have been employed for more than a year and have worked more than 1,000 hours during that time) to take up to six weeks of unpaid family leave per year to care for a new child, up to two weeks to care for a child, spouse, parent, domestic partner or spouse's parent who has a serious health condition, and up to two weeks per year for a serious personal health condition.

"While we were holding out hope that paid leave would be possible through the federal 'Build Back Better' plan, we don't want to wait any longer," Ringhand said in a news conference. "As highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly everyone will need to take some time away from work at some point to deal with a serious personal or family illness."

Pope added: "Whether you're a new parent, a cancer patient, a victim of domestic violence or a working mom with kids who have tested positive for COVID - paid family and medical leave benefits all of us."

Although both have set standards for unpaid leave, neither the U.S. nor Wisconsin currently require employers to provide paid leave.

The state's family and medical leave law came first, signed by Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson in 1988. Wisconsin has followed both laws since 1993, when the federal version was signed by President Bill Clinton.

Both of those laws provide important protections, said Wisconsin Alliance for Women's Health executive director Sara Finger in a statement - but unpaid leave is also not feasible for many employees.

"Access to paid family and medical leave is an extremely important issue for working women and has a direct impact on their personal and financial health," Finger said. "The burden of our inadequate paid family and medical leave policies falls disproportionately on women, who make up nearly half of the workforce but are still far more likely than men to care for children or other family members who are sick."

The legislation is unlikely to pass in a Republican-led Legislature that has declined to advance it in previous years, but both lawmakers encouraged supporters to continue to advocate for it.