Saying the U.S. is the only industrialized nation without it, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was in Troy today as a part of a statewide tour to promote federal legislation that would establish national paid leave.
Senator Gillibrand visited with employees at 1st Playable Productions in Troy, a video game company of 46 employees that offers its own paid leave policy to its workers, to push her Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act.
Federal law requires companies with more than 50 employees to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave for new parents, but requires no paid leave. That policy covers about 60 percent of the U.S. workforce, but the Democrat said many workers cannot afford to take that leave.
Surrounded by workers and their families, Gillibrand said because the country does not require employers to have a paid leave policy, it creates an unnecessary drag on the economy.
“Because we don’t have paid leave, parents, caregivers are ramping off their careers often to meet those emergency needs. And every time, particularly women, when they ramp off, when they come back on they’re going to earn less. They’re going to miss out on that Social Security and that earning capability. They’re going to start lower in their career, and so they’re never actually going to reach their full earning potential.”
Three states have implemented a paid leave policy – New Jersey, Rhode Island, and California.
Gillibrand said in New York small businesses favor family leave, and said that according to a poll conducted by the Small Business Majority, 6 in 10 entrepreneurs in the state support a publicly administered family and medical leave program.
The Senator has been traveling across this state this week to push her legislation, including stops in Long Island, Dutchess County, Broome County, Syracuse and Buffalo.
“Just yesterday when I was in Binghamton, I met a woman whose mother was diagnosed with dementia but lived three hours away. Because the woman didn’t have paid leave, she couldn’t help her mother, and in fact, she wasn’t there when her mother passed away. Not only was this heartbreaking and devastating for this woman, but it meant she wasn’t focused at work. How could she possibly have done her best work if she was distracted and thinking about her ailing mother?”
Gillibrand said it’s important the legislation remain gender-neutral.
Justin Candeloro was one part of 1st Playable Productions’ “baby boom” last year. Holding his young son, Wesley, Candeloro said paid leave allowed him to take time off to bond with family.
“When he was born it was nice to be able to be home and help take care of him because we really didn’t have any other options. We didn’t have anyone that could come stay with us to help, so that was really a great benefit to have and it allowed me to spend time and bond with him as he was a newborn.”
CEO Tobi Saulnier said her employees worked together to establish a paid leave policy, and that Gillibrand’s FAMILY Act would help the company extend its policy and encourage other small businesses adopt their own.
“For small businesses in particular it can be quite challenging to make a paid leave [policy] work. Not only do we have staffing logistics required to still meet our business commitments, the financial impact can be quite daunting.”
She says the costs of hiring and training somebody new are greater than providing leave to current employees.
Fellow Democratic Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have signed onto Gillibrand’s bill.
