[NOW Actions] Paid Parental Leave -- Urge Senators to Support This First Step

Support NOW's Work |	March 5, 2009	| Tell a Friend

Action Needed Background All NOW Actions Take Action NOW!		Paid Parental Leave Urge Senators to Support This First Step Ask your senators to support upcoming legislation to guarantee federal workers four weeks of paid parental leave for a new child, as a first step toward universal paid leave. Action Needed: Providing paid leave to parents is only fair to working families who need to both care for a new family member as well as maintain an income. Most industrialized nations have provided paid parental leave for decades. Paid parental leave for 2.7 million federal workers can be the model that we can work to achieve for the rest of the country. This important "balancing work and family" legislation would help ensure that federal workplace benefits are competitive with the private sector and it also sets an important precedent demonstrating that our country values the "work" that parents and caregivers provide. Send an email message to your senators using our website. We need your help to increase the number of co-sponsors in the Senate so that this legislation has a better chance of passage. Take Action NOW Background: This January, a paid leave bill was introduced in both the Senate and the House. Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) introduced S. 354, the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act, which will guarantee four weeks of paid leave for federal workers for the birth or adoption of a child. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) is the chief sponsor of the House counterpart, H.R.626. Under the current Family and Medical Leave Act, federal employees are allowed twelve weeks of unpaid leave. For many workers who are either at the lower pay grades or haven't built up their vacation time, having a child means that they will either lose several weeks of pay that is crucial to their family's survival or be forced to return to work after only a week or two. The Paid Parental Leave Act addresses this important issue by ensuring that parents can spend at least four weeks at home with a new child without suffering devastating financial consequences. As more working families struggle to make ends meet during this devastating economic downturn, it is especially important to ensure that workers are not forced to choose between their mortgage and their new child. To read more about the background to this important legislation, visit our website. Take Action NOW!
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