From Nat Baldino
The DC Council has unanimously voted in favor of the Budget Support Act for Fiscal Year 2022 of 2021, which will greatly strengthen Washington, DC’s paid vacation program. Thousands of workers have benefited from the program since DC passed the Universal Paid Leave Act (UPLA) in 2016 and subsequently in July 2020. However, access to paid leave – both within the district and nationally – is unequal as black and brown working-class families in DC face disproportionate needs and a higher likelihood of inability to take leave. With this vote, DC’s paid vacation program will be more accessible than ever.
Key changes to paid vacation include increased vacation times and improved access to vacation. The Budget Support Act will increase personal sick leave – which allows workers to take time out for their own serious illness – from two weeks to six weeks. Going forward, DC will join states like Washington, Oregon, and Colorado by gradually expanding benefits to include 12 weeks of parental leave, family care, and personal medical leave. Having the time to care for yourself and families is critical to helping working families with medical problems and preventing future illnesses.
The law also extends access to vacation by strengthening job protection and changing application requirements. The new provisions include in particular:
- Strengthening job protection. DC’s paid vacation will now comply with federal Family and Sick Leave Act (FMLA) to ensure workers who take vacation don’t have to risk their jobs to get it. Fear of a lack of job security is one of the most common reasons why employees do not take vacation.
- Retroactive benefits. Employees can now apply for benefits retrospectively, which means that in the event of a crisis they can prioritize care and know that they can continue to receive paid vacation pay.
- Elimination of the 7-day waiting period. Workers no longer have to wait 7 days to get benefits to ensure working families get the help they need, when they need it.
- Extended lookback period. Recognizing the high level of unemployment among workers, which disproportionately affects black workers in DC, the program will include an extended period of reported wages that will be used to determine benefits for a year after the pandemic. This means that wages are not calculated based on the last 5 quarters, but now based on the highest 4 quarters of the last 10. This ensures that workers who have lost income during the pandemic receive the amount that closest to their actual cost of living prior to a pandemic job loss.
All of these changes, which will benefit the half million workers employed in DC, will have a significant impact on the large population of colored workers in the district. Colored workers made up more than 80 percent of those who applied for leave in the first six months of the program, and they are also the workers who are most disproportionately at the forefront of low-wage jobs during the pandemic. With these new regulations, DC’s paid vacation can now be made more accessible to the workers who need it most.
Sample tweets:
With @CouncilofDC’s vote, #paidleave is now more accessible than ever to DC workers
Thanks to the hard work of the @ DCPaidLeave coalition, @CouncilofDC has extended the sick leave to 6 weeks and increased the accessibility measures for #DCpaidleave
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