Meric

							        Time to Care:
Family Flexible Policies
     as Work Supports
Families have changed
 Just 30% families have a
  mother at home, caring
  for children, the ill and
  elderly (vs 70% in 1960)
 21 million fulltime workers
  provide care for the
  elderly, disabled or
  chronically. 60% have
  missed work or cut hours.
 Caregivers will increase
  85% between 2000-2050.
Workplace Policies Have Not
                   FMLA (leave for new
                    baby, serious illness of
                    self or family) covers just
                    50% of private sector
                    workforce.

                   Because FMLA is unpaid,
                    many who are covered
                    can’t afford to take leave.
                    (2.7 million a year).

                   Half all workers (three-
                    fourths low-wage) have
                    no paid sick days.
Time to Care: Policy Solutions

 Our nation’s labor laws
  were written 70 years
  ago, when many families
  had mothers at home.

 It’s time to update
  employment laws to
  address today’s working
  families.
Needed: Affordable family leave

 More than 3/5 of
  pregnant workers take
  less than 12 weeks off.

 More than 1/2 (3/4 of
  those without college)
  receive no pay during
  leave.

 Story: Stacy Colvin,
  Atlanta (“[Pregnant]
  women don’t know their
  limitations”)
Time to Care: Global Perspective

                               The US is one of only
                               four countries in the
                               world that does not
                               provide paid maternity
                               leave.


                               The others:
                               Liberia
                               Swaziland
                               Papua, New Guinea
 Needed: Paid Sick Days
 Fewer than 1 in 7 food service
  workers have paid sick days.

 7 in 10 workers – and nearly 9
  in 10 low-wage -- have no sick
  days to care for sick family
  members.

 Story: Monique Evans,
  Portland, ME (“Daughter has
  flu? Come in anyway.”)
Time to Care Helps Families and
Business

 Low-income mothers with
  paid leave have higher
  earnings and are more
  likely to be employed.
  [Heather Boushey]


 A better way to do
  business: reduce
  turnover and
  presenteeism, improve
  quality and productivity.
Time to Care Improves Health
                   Paid leave leads to reduced
                    infant mortality. [Christopher Ruhm]
                   Newborns whose mothers
                    return to work later have better
                    health outcomes. [Jane Waldfogel]
                   Sick children recover quicker
                    with parental care. [Jody Heymann]
                   Chronic conditions are more
                    controllable with parental
                    involvement.
                   Access to health insurance is
                    meaningful only if there’s time
                    to seek care and to heal.
Time to Care Improves Health Across
Generations
 Aging recover more quickly,
  less need for nursing homes.

 Reduces stress on sandwich
  generation, improves their
  health.

 Paid time improves lives of
  paid caregivers, reduces
  turnover, lifts quality of care.

 Reduces risk to PUBLIC
  HEALTH.
Policies that Make Work Pay
Family economic security
  requires:
 INCOME SUPPORTS
  raising the minimum
  standards (EITC, wages,
  insurance).

 CAREGIVING
  SUPPORTS – making
  FMLA accessible,
  affordable; adding new
  minimum standards.
 Reframing the Debate

 “Family Values at Work:
 It’s About Time.”

 www.9to5.org/familyvaluesatwork/
Public Support

 Polling shows over-
  whelming support
  among all likely voters
  across regional, party,
  race and gender lines.
    89% support paid
     sick days.
    76% support family
     leave insurance.
Impacting the Political Debate
 Hillary Rodham Clinton: “Too many Americans feel trapped
  between being a good parent and being a good worker. It’s about
  time we stopped just talking about family values and started
  pursuing policies that truly value families.” (October 25, 2007)

 John Edwards: “No parent should have to choose between paying
  the bills and caring for a new child or seriously ill family member. It is
  past time for America to update our work-family policies to support
  the way families work today.” (November 13, 2007)

 Barack Obama: “We talk a lot about family values, but we don’t as a
  society and as a government value families.”
   (November 12, 2007, announcing support for package including paid sick days and family leave insurance)

 Chris Dodd: “No one should have to choose between the job they
  need and the family they love…[;] today many people are forced to
  make these types of decisions.”
   (June 21, 2007)
 Needed: Leave for routine medical and
 educational appointments
To strengthen schools
  and educational
  achievement:
Parental involvement is
  the key.

For healthy workplaces,
  schools and families:
Preventive care and
  regular visits are key.
Contact Us

 9to5 Natl Assn of Working Women
            www.9to5.org
           1-800-522-0925