Legislative & Workplace Actions: Mothers and Caregivers Economic Rights

The National Organization for Women has been fighting for Economic Justice for more than 40 years. NOW's chapter activists continue to advocate for a wide range of economic issues ranging from breaking through the glass ceiling to lifting our sisters from the sticky floor of poverty.

NOW won passage of the landmark Pregnancy Discrimination Act, to prohibit pregnancy discrimination in employment, and we continue to fight for paid family and medical leave, and universal child care, and more family-friendly work policies.

The Fight Continues

NOW activists continue their work for women and families through NOW's Women Friendly Workplace campaign and the Mothers Matter, Caregivers Count initiatives to ensure the recognition of the value of family care work.

Your help is needed to advance the Policy and Program Goals for Mothers and Caregivers Economic Rights (MCER) and encourage employers across the country to adopt family-friendly policies. Many forward-thinking, feminist business owners and managers are leading the way by negotiating flexible work schedules, providing on-site childcare, and providing paid family leave and sick leave options. Corporate leaders also should be encouraged to work within their communities to develop affordable, quality full-day childcare programs for working families.

Unfortunately, many of these policies will only be integrated into U.S. workplaces by policy and incentives implemented through federal law and state and local legislation and ordinances. That is why it is critical for NOW chapters to develop and nurture activists who wish to join together to focus on mothers and caregivers projects across the country.

What You Can Do Locally -- Ideas, Large and Small

• What's happening at home: Investigate the policies, laws, and business practices in your community. Review the NOW MCER policy list as the first step in deciding which federal legislation your task force or chapter want to focus on and then consider pressing for similar legislation at the state level. Family-friendly legislation is one piece of the action.

• Track the bills: Use your municipal and/or state legislative websites to keep track of relevant legislation -- (you can find links to your state legislature's website here and try your state's website or a search engine to find municipal websites).

• Let elected leaders hear from you: Contact the bill's sponsor in your state Senate or Assembly and ask to speak with the person responsible for that bill. Identify yourself as a leader for your NOW chapter regarding mothers and caregivers economic rights advocacy. Prepare talking points and other information that mothers and caregivers activists will need to make their case to the legislature.

• Media matters: Monitor your local paper, radio, and cable television to see how issues important to mothers and caregivers are covered by the media in your community. Read the op-ed pages and featured columnists for writings about work/life balance and the economics of caregiving, to see if they give balanced perspectives. Monitor local radio and television stations, and track local political and business news. Gather your group to share information about the reports that don't give the complete story on an issue affecting mothers and caregivers, and develop an action to contact the media.

• Join or form a coalition: Contact your local Advisory Commission on Women and Families, Human Relations Commission, state Division on Women or Division on Civil Rights. Also make inquiries of local labor groups, health & caregiver organizations, citizen action, legal services and/or civil rights advocacy groups. Arrange to speak with their legislative leaders. Build alliances. Work together to advocate for MCER bills.

• Speak out: Attend coalition actions, offer to speak, and invite them to participate in your local NOW events. Host town hall meetings and arrange statehouse press conferences. Engage allies to work with you on new MCER legislation. Take the lead!

• Host a roundtable: Invite feminist business owners to come together to talk about their programs and policies that improve the workplace.

• Lead a petition drive: Collect hundreds of signatures supporting the Mothers Matter, Caregivers Count campaign and MCER legislation; deliver petitions to your lawmakers to demonstrate the importance of supporting bills advancing opportunities for mothers and caregivers.

• Engage your co-workers: Speak with your colleagues about economic justice and family-friendly policies. Identify shared problems and goals for work/life balance. Develop a dialog with management on creating a flexible, caregiver-friendly workplace. Form a Working Mothers NOW Club or a Working Caregiver lunch hour to connect on the issues. Utilize the NOW MCER policy list in developing your own strategy to improve working conditions for yourself and others.

• Maximize your own role: If you are a business owner or manager, implement family-friendly policies for your employees. Support groundbreaking MCER legislation and speak out for caregiver policy and programs in your communities. Lead by example and change the workplace for the better.

• Tell NOW about the work you're doing!

Federal Legislation

 Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act

Directs the Secretary of Labor to make five-year grants to a state or local government to pay for the federal share of the cost of carrying out projects that assist families by providing wage replacement for eligible individuals responding to caregiving needs resulting from the birth or adoption of a son or daughter or other family caregiving needs.

Family and Medical Leave Fairness Act of 2005 [sic]- Amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) to extend coverage to employees at worksites where the employer employs at least 25 (currently, 50) employees at the worksite and within 75 miles of that worksite.

Amends FMLA and federal civil service law to entitle to leave those employees who must address the effects of domestic violence.

Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2005 [sic]- Permits the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to contract with one or more employing agencies to conduct a grant project that provides paid leave for eligible individuals who are responding to caregiving needs resulting from the birth or adoption of a son or daughter or other family caregiving needs. Requires the leave to last for at least six weeks during a 12-month period.

Time for Schools Act of 2005 [sic] - Amends FMLA to allow employees covered by such Act to take up to 24 hours, during any 12-month period, of school involvement leave to participate in: (1) an academic activity of their child's school, such as a parent-teacher conference or an interview for a school; or (2) literacy training under a family literacy program. Amends federal civil service law to provide the same school involvement leave allowance for federal employees.

Healthy Families Act

This legislation would provide for a set number of days annually for an employee to take paid time off from work to recuperate from an illness, visit a healthcare provider or to care for an ill family member. Sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), this legislation would guarantee seven sick days a year to individuals working 30 hours per week in businesses with 15 or more employees. Several state and municipalities are working on similar legislation.

State & Local Legislative Initiatives

In 2006, the city of San Francisco, California adopted The Sick Leave Ordinance requiring small businesses (fewer than 10 employees) to provide a minimum 5 days of paid sick leave. Employees of larger employers will accrue up to 72 hours per year. Learn more.

Only 22 states and Puerto Rico specifically prohibit employers from inquiring about applicants' marital status. That means "maternal profiling" is a real problem for many women. Learn more.

While it may be referred to as "maternal profiling" this type of workplace discrimination impacts anyone with caregiving responsibilities. Advocates in Pennsylvania led a well publicized campaign to correct their anti-discrimination law in 2006, but the bill failed to pass. Learn more.

Get Started!

Legislation is one way to make a difference. Mothers and Caregivers can advocate for family-friendly legislation. If you'd like to start your work on state or local MCER activity contact NOW-MCER or visit www.now.org/issues/mothers.