More time off for US caregivers? - Building Gender Balanced Business

• During his campaign to become president, Barack Obama expressed support for expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 by 13 million workers by making the US law apply to companies with 25 or more employees instead of the current minimum of 50 employees.

• The act requires employers to let workers take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year for a serious illness, to care for an immediate family member, or following an adoption or birth. It now applies to about 94 million US workers.

• But the National Center for Policy Analysis sees risks, especially for working women, in expanding the act. Already the act costs businesses about $21 billion (in 2004).

• Besides its conjecture that additional costs might reduce hiring, the center expressed concern that companies that already have generous leave plans or flexibility might limit such policies or other benefits as they replace their own policies with the government-mandated and -regulated system.

• The center quotes US Labor Department statistics that show that 6 in 10 businesses with 25 to 49 workers offer unpaid leave for employee and family illnesses or a new child; 3 in 4 offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a seriously ill family member.

• These numbers, however, are significantly lower than the rates for companies with 50-99 workers — the result of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

• “[F]irms not covered by FMLA show more flexibility in providing leave for reasons beyond those guaranteed by the law. For example, smaller firms are more likely to allow additional leave for routine medical appointments than the FMLA-covered group,” the center said, and while it provided figures for how many smaller firms had actually granted leaves, they were significantly below 100%.

• Women are particularly affected by the act or similar voluntary arrangements: While women made up slightly less than half of the workers at companies surveyed, they took 58% of the leaves granted. The center warned that expansion of the program might lead to fewer job offers to women.

• Instead of expanding the act, the center proposes, “the government should consider policies that increase workplace flexibility.” One suggestion it makes is to allow the saving of compensatory time instead of payment of overtime pay.

The National Center for Policy Analysis paper