Report underscores want for nationwide paid depart program : Augusta Free Press

By Last updated Feb 12, 2021

Posted on Wednesday February 10, 2021 at 11:13 am

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Fifty-five percent of Virginia workers are either not covered by family and sick leave law or cannot afford to take the unpaid leave.

That emerges from an analysis of demographics in Virginia released today by the National Partnership for Women and Families, which highlights the urgent need for a national family and sick leave plan.

“Even if COVID-19 cases continue to rise, millions of Americans across the country risk missing a paycheck when they have to take time off to care for themselves or a loved one.” said Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families.

“The pandemic has exacerbated inequalities in our economy that disproportionately affect women and people of skin color who are least likely to have access to paid family and sick leave. As Americans continue to grapple with the effects of the pandemic, Congress must prioritize the introduction of short-term family vacation and medical leave as a down payment for a national program in the future, “Ness said.

Women, especially black, Latin American, AAPI, and Native American mothers, are hardest hit by pandemic closings, according to the analysis.

Women of color work in many of the hardest-hit industries, bearing the brunt of increased care without the support of personal schooling or childcare.

In Virginia, almost eight times as many women were unemployed at the end of 2020 than a year earlier.

Analysis suggests that a national paid vacation schedule would reduce the number of working families in Virginia who are faced with significant economic uncertainty when they have to take family and medical vacations by 83 percent.

State-to-state analysis is done after the expiry of the Emergency Paid Leave provisions enacted under the Family First Coronavirus Response Act and amended by the CARES Act that expired late last year.

The momentum is growing for the introduction of a family paid vacation and medical vacation with President Biden, including extended family vacation and medical vacation in the American rescue plan.

In addition to the federal policy on paid family and medical leave passed in 2020, voters in Colorado supported an electoral initiative that allows all workers in the state to have up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave and the total number of state paid family and medical leave Sick leave until 10, including Washington, DC

It is important that paid vacation is supported by voters across the political spectrum as well as the majority of small businesses.

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