For the past several years, the Southwest Women’s Law Center has led a coalition campaigning for the New Mexico state legislature to pass the Law on Paid Family and Sick Leave. PFMLA would set up a government-administered trust fund to ensure that no one has to choose between working and caring for a new child, family member with serious health concerns, or their own serious illness.
Last year, the Doña Ana County Early Childhood Education Coalition, part of the Prenatal and Vocational Education Initiative called SUCCESS Partnership, joined a growing number of organizations, individuals and small business owners calling on the state to make this important investment to work in working families. Bringing paid family and sick leave to New Mexico is a goal of the Network of Action for Children Born into Healthy Homes, and the reasons for this are obvious.
In states with PFML programs, families who take paid leave to take in a new child have better outcomes. PFML programs have been found to reduce child abuse injuries and child mortality, increase vaccination and breastfeeding rates, and improve parents’ physical and mental health in the first two years of life. The United States is the only wealthy nation that does not offer guaranteed paid vacations to new parents. We can and must find ways to help New Mexicans strike a balance between duty to work and caring for their health and families.
The proposed program for New Mexico is based on models that have been adopted and are now being implemented in other states, including Washington, Oregon and (most recently) Colorado. After an initial investment of $ 30 million, which will be repaid to the state within the first five years of the program, the employee and employer contributions will finance the equalization payments and administration of the fund.
After contributing at least six months to the fund and submitting an application to the Department of Workforce Solutions, employees will receive a percentage of their average weekly wage for vacations of up to 12 weeks. Self-employed people can register for the program. Employees and the self-employed receive vacation compensation payments directly from the trust fund. While an employee is on vacation, employers benefit from wage savings that can be used to pay overtime wages for current employees, hire a temporary replacement, or otherwise invest.
The cost to any worker is modest, as a full-time minimum wage worker pays only $ 109.20 per year and his employer pays $ 87.36 per year. Both employers and employees benefit from paid family and sick leave programs. Employers who offer paid family and sick leave have a competitive advantage in hiring and retaining. PFML programs are effective in improving worker performance and engagement. Workers who take paid vacation two years later are more likely to be in the same company, less on sick leave when they return to work, and more likely to report high morale and job satisfaction.
Like the NM public sector, large corporations understand this competitive advantage. These companies are increasingly offering private paid vacation programs to attract and retain a highly skilled workforce. However, some of our native NM businesses are large enough to easily bear the cost of offering this benefit. New Mexico prides itself on providing entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses the opportunity to innovate, experiment, and grow here in the Land of Enchantment. PFMLA can help small businesses improve employee recruitment and retention, and drive innovation by enabling entrepreneurs to take business risk without losing income if they or a loved one falls unexpectedly ill.
By making a PFMLA commitment, our government can support working families, level the playing field for small businesses, and create a safety net for entrepreneurs and their workers. An investment in paid family and sick leave is an investment in the future of New Mexico.
The Coalition for Paid Family and Medical Vacation is led by the Southwest Women’s Law Center. More information is available at www.swwomenslaw.org.
Others read:
Comments are closed.