Family Leave Insurance for New Jerseys Workers

1
Family Leave Insurance for New Jerseys Workers
ITS TIME TO CARE FOR NEW JERSEYS FAMILIES!
2
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

• FMLA was signed into law by President Clinton in
  1993
  
• It covers employees in companies with 50 or more
  employees who have worked for that employer for
  12 months or more
  
• It provides 12 weeks of job-protected leave a
  year for
  
• Recovery from ones own serious illness
• Serious illness of a close family member
• Parental leave to bond with a new child

3
How the FMLA Helps Working Americans and their
Families

• Over 50 million Americans have taken leave under
  FMLA since its passage in 1993
  
• 42 of leave-takers are men
• 58 of leave-takers are women
• Most family leaves are over in 10 days or less
• Under the law, while on leave these workers
  covered by FMLA have
  
• Guarantee of return to their own or equivalent
  job
  
• Health insurance (if they had before leave)
• Seniority accumulation

4
Current New Jersey Law NJ Family Leave Act (NJ
FLA)

• Provides 12 weeks leave over 24 months for
• Birth or adoption of child
• Serious illness of parent, child, in-law or
  spouse
  
• Employees own illness or pregnancy is not
  covered by NJ FLA
  
• Applies to workers in firms with 50 or more
  employees
  
• Under the law, while on leave, these workers
  have
  
• Guarantee of return to their own or equivalent
  job
  
• Health insurance (if they had before leave)

5
Current New Jersey Law NJ Temporary Disability
Insurance Act (NJTDI)

• Covers nearly all NJ workers, including those who
  work for small employers (
• Provides cash benefits to workers who cant work
  because of their own disability or serious health
  condition (includes pregnancy)
  
• NJTDI provides 2 types of benefit plans
• State Insurance Plan eligible employees receive
  2/3 weekly salary up to 488 in 2006, for up to
  26 weeks
  
• Private Insurance Plan employer created plan --
  benefit must be at least equal to State Plan

6
Limitations of the Current Family Leave Laws

• FMLA and NJ FLA DO NOT cover all workers - nearly
  half of the private sector workforce isnt
  covered
  
• UNPAID!!!

7
Caregiving or a Paycheck? No-win Choices for
Families

• Almost 4 in 5 (78) of employees who need leave
  but dont take it, do not take it because they
  cannot afford to
  
• Almost 1 in 10 (9) of those who take leave
  without full pay are forced on to public
  assistance while on leave.

8
Do Employees Get Paid by Using Other Types of
Paid Leave or Benefits?

• Under FMLA, employers, NOT employees get to
  decide about using other benefits such as sick or
  vacation days
  
• The official Employer Policy for most
  employers Use sick day -- if you have any
  
• Many workers have no leave benefits to use to
  care for a family member
  
• Nearly 1 in 2 private-sector workers in the U.S.
  do not have a single day of sick leave
  
• In New Jersey, almost a quarter of small
  businesses and 18 of large businesses do not
  provide any sick leave
  
• This hits low-income workers the hardest

9
Which Countries Do Not Have Paid Parental Leave?

• Bangladesh
• Botswana
• Brazil
• Cameroon
• Canada
• India
• Iran

• Mongolia
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Swaziland
• Sweden
• U.S.
• Zambia

10
How the U.S. Stacks Up

• 100 Pay
• Bangladesh
• Brazil
• Cameroon
• India
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Sweden
• Zambia

• Partial Pay
• Canada 50 weeks, 55
• Botswana 12 weeks 25
• Iran, 16 weeks, 66
• Mongolia 17 weeks, 70
• No Pay
• Swaziland
• U.S.

11
Existing Paid Leave Laws

• Federal NONE
• States Patchwork of laws
• 5 states with Employee Temporary Disability
  Insurance (NJ, CA, NY, RI, HI)
  
• 2 states with paid parental leave for lower
  income families (VT, MO)
  
• 2 states with sick leave to care for sick family
  members (HI, WA)
  
• 1 state with Family Leave Insurance (FTDI) law
  (CA)
  
• Municipality
• 1 City with paid sick leave (San Francisco)

12
Californias Family Leave Insurance Program

• Expands CAs existing Temporary Disability
  Insurance Fund to provide partial wage
  replacement to a worker who must take time to
  care for a seriously ill family member or
  newborn, adopted, or foster child
• Like CA, NJ also has an existing insurance fund
  that provides partial wage replacement while
  recovering from ones own serious illness or the
  birth of a child.
• And, like CA, NJs fund can be expanded to
  provide family leave insurance.

13
The Opportunity for Paid Family Leave in New
Jersey Its Time to Care!

• NJs existing TDI system offers a perfect
  framework for a family leave insurance program
  
  
• Senate Bill 2249 and Assembly Bill 3812 would
  expand the current TDI program into a family
  syst
  
• Californias new law has shown us that this
  system works!

14
A Family TDI Program in NJ (Senate Bill 2249
Assembly Bill 3812)

• Senate Bill 2249 and Assembly Bill 3812 would
  provide a family temporary disability insurance
  system in New Jersey
  
• Costs entirely paid by employees workers make
  a small additional payment into TDI fund from
  0.28 per week for a worker making 7.15 per hour
  to 1.81 for someone making 90,000 or more. The
  average worker would pay less than a dollar
• Benefits Up to 12 weeks of paid family leave per
  year family leave insurance would replace 2/3
  weekly wages up to 488 per week in 2006

15
Why do we need Paid Family Leave Now? A problem
of Supply Demand

• The population needing care is growing
• Affordable elder care facilities are filling up
• The population of available full-time caregivers
  is in decline
  
• Americans are working more and have less time for
  life outside of work

16
Demand is expanding The Population Needing
Care Is Growing

• Millions of Americans each year face a serious
  illness or disability
  
• They rely heavily on family caregivers to help
  them recover from or manage this illness.

17
The U.S. Population is Aging
Nearly 1 in 3 people under 60 expect they will
have to care for an older relative in the next
decade
States with 15 of population over age 65
1995
2025
Data US Census Bureau, 1997
18
Institutional Care Options Recede

• ADULT CARE Demand for care by institutions
  (e.g. home-health and nursing care) will far
  exceed supply in the next decade (demand will
  grow by 50)
• INFANT CARE Cuts to state and federal infant
  care programs threaten to continue, further
  widening the gap between the supply and demand
  for infant care

19
Supply of Full-Time Available Caregivers is
Shrinking

• Mothers with children under 6 are the fastest
  growing segment of the workforce
  
• Nearly 1 in 2 working women are their families
  primary breadwinner
  
• Proportion of fathers who are sole wage earners
  has dropped from 51 in 1977 to 33 in 2002
  
• 78 of the workforce consists of dual-earner
  couples
  

20
The Problem in a Nutshell

• The need for family caregiving is great and will
  only grow
  
• Most potential family caregivers have jobs and
  jobs in the U.S. consume more and more of their
  time
  
• Most of these jobs come with no paid family and
  medical leave

21
In Summary. . .

• The workplace is badly out of sync with the needs
  of our families
  
• Demographics are changing demand for caregiving
  is increasing, but supply of caregivers is
  decreasing
  
• Families are struggling
• Workers are forced to choose between caring for
  their families a pay check
  
• Family Leave Insurance helps working families and
  the economy thrive
  
• We know it works polls and state initiatives
  prove that this is the solution for our families

22
Paid Leave Is Good For Business
Reduced absenteeism Increased productivity Enhan
ced Recruitment
Improved Retention
23
Interested in Getting Involved?

• Make sure your organization signs on to the NJ
  Time to Care Coalition Statement of Principles
  you can sign on as an individual, too!
  
• Contact New Jersey Citizen Action or the Center
  for Women and Work to find out how you can get
  involved
  
• Share your stories Let us know if you or
  someone you know has been affected by the lack of
  family leave insurance in NJ
  
• Also, let us know of any employers that support
  family leave insurance in New Jersey

24
For more information contact.

• New Jersey Citizen Action
• Atif Malik, 973-643-8800
• www.njcitizenaction.org
• Center for Women and Work
• Karen White, 732-932-4614
• www.njtimetocare.rci.rutgers.edu
• National Partnership for Women Families
• Taylor Hatcher, www.nationalpartnership.org
• Paid Leave Clearinghouse www.paidleave.org

25
A Closer Look atSavings from Retention

• Increased Retention Survey data show
• 94 of leave-takers who are fully paid return to
  their same employer after taking leave
  
• 76 of those who are not paid do so - an 18
  drop
  
• Increased retention means lower costs in hiring
  and training replacement workers.

26
Common Confusion Paid Leave is NOT More Leave

• Paid leave laws, proposed or passed
• DO NOT create additional job protections
• DO NOT extend existing job protections

27
Paid Leave and Small Employers

• What paid leave means for small- and mid-sized
  employers (
• No mandate to keep open a job for an employee
  faced with a family or medical crisis
  
• Increased retention when desired
• Cost savings from reduced turnover
• Increased ability to compete with larger
  employers in recruitment retention of workers