Edwards Campaign Press Release - Edwards Announces Bold Plan For Paid Family And Medical Leave

The Edwards plan goes further to help families than either Clinton or Obama; New plan introduced as part of "Promise of a Better America Week"

Manchester, NH – Today, Senator John Edwards outlined his bold policies for a more family-friendly America with universal paid family and medical leave, universal pre-kindergarten for four-year-olds, more affordable care for other children and job benefits for independent workers. Among the most significant policy proposals of the Edwards plan is for at least eight weeks of paid family and medical leave that will help American workers balance their jobs and their families.

"The broken system in Washington has forgotten America's families for too long," said Edwards. "In the past generation, an unprecedented number of women have taken jobs outside the home, changing the face of the American workforce. But while two-thirds of mothers are now working, it has never been harder for American workers to balance the needs of their jobs and their families.

"No parent should have to go back to work before their newborn is old enough to go into child care or to lose their job if their child needs to go to the emergency room. Millions of families cannot afford to take unpaid time off, but only 8 percent of American workers have access to paid family leave. The vast majority of countries in the world offer paid leave – it is long past time that America made sure that paid leave is there for every worker."

The Edwards plan is also more bold and family friendly than other candidates' plans. It goes further faster by setting a national goal of eight weeks of paid leave by 2014 and it provides more federal resources – $2 billion a year – to help states meet that goal.

Edwards' plan for balancing work and family is based on three core proposals: (1) offering universal paid family leave, (2) creating universal preschool and affordable child care and (3) promoting economic fairness for independent workers.

Universal Paid Family Leave: Edwards will ensure that workers have time off when they need it by working with states to offer eight weeks of paid family and medical leave to all American workers. He will give an additional 13 million workers the right to take family leave without losing their jobs. Finally, Edwards will require all businesses to offer their workers a minimum of seven paid sick days a year.

Universal Preschool and Affordable Childcare: Edwards will help make quality preschool education as common as kindergarten by helping all states offer "Great Promise" universal high-quality programs for four-year-olds. He will help parents pay for child care by more than doubling the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, and will help improve child care quality by encouraging teacher certification and training for care givers.

Economic Fairness for Independent Workers: Edwards supports updating benefits for independent workers, who are largely excluded from retirement, health care, unemployment insurance, sick days and other benefits of traditional employment. Edwards has called for the creation of Health Care Markets and new subsidies so independent workers can get affordable health insurance, offering a new portable universal retirement account, modernizing our unemployment insurance program, and extending sick days and family leave benefits to part-time workers. Edwards will also crack down on the misclassification of workers as independent contractors that allows employers to avoid paying taxes and benefits.

Edwards' proposals for balancing work and family were introduced during the second day of the campaign's "Promise of a Better America Week." Yesterday, Edwards kicked off the week with his plan to restore the sacred promise to America's veterans. Edwards will travel to Iowa on Wednesday, where he'll hold a series of town hall meetings focusing on the need to rebuild the American middle class and help American manufacturers. On Thursday in Nevada, Edwards will highlight his plans to ensure we meet the educational promise of our children.

Below, please find the full fact sheet on John Edwards' plan to help American workers balance work and family.

Balancing Work and Family for a Better America

The face of the American workforce has changed in the past generation as women have entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers. Two-thirds of mothers are now working, most of them full-time. Between 1979 and 2000, middle-income families with children added over 500 hours of work a year, about 10 hours a week. Greater economic participation is a good thing, but American workplace laws are now badly outdated. Paid maternity and paternity leave, flexible work schedules, and affordable child care are too rare. As a result, it has never been harder for American workers to balance the needs of their jobs and their families. [EPI, 2007; DOL, 2007]

Caregiving Falls on Women

The sad reality is that the burden of balancing work and family often falls particularly heavily on working women. Working mothers earn 27 percent less than men. Although both men and women are taking on more caregiving responsibilities than in the past, women spend up to 50 percent more time caregiving on average. [Blades, Rowe-Finkbeiner, 2006; FCA, 2001]

Nearly Alone in the World on Paid Maternity Leave

The U.S. fails to fund the minimum of six weeks of maternal leave recommended by doctors for both mothers and newborn children. Many parents must rush back to work, leaving their newborn babies in suboptimal or ad hoc care. In many states, day care centers are prohibited from accepting children that young due to the risk of infection. By not guaranteeing any mothers paid leave, America departs with a worldwide consensus of 169 countries to stand with only five countries including Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Swaziland. [ACOG, 2007; NPWF, 2003; IHSP, 2007]

Parents Are Forced to Choose Between Their Jobs and Their Children

No parent should have to choose between paying the bills and caring for a new child or seriously ill family member, but only 8 percent of American workers have access to paid family leave. Forty percent of working parents report that their jobs have negatively affected their children's health by, for example, forcing them to miss doctor's appointments or getting care later than they needed it. Often, sick children are left home alone. Parents whose children have extended illnesses requiring hospital stays frequently find themselves without options. Family leave is not just for parents, either: nearly two-thirds of workers under the age of 60 expect to care for an aging relative in the future. [IWPR, 2007; Heymann, 2000; NPWF, 2003]

John Edwards believes it is past time for America to update our work-family policies to support the way families work today. Today, he outlined his policies for a truly family-friendly America with paid family and medical leave, universal pre-kindergarten for four-year-olds and more high-quality, affordable child care, and job benefits for independent workers.

Creating Paid Family and Medical Leave

The Family and Medical Leave Act guaranteed up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a new child or illness in the family. Despite this important step forward, less than half of workers are eligible and three out of four eligible workers still do not take leave because it is not paid. Too few new mothers can follow the medical recommendation that they stay at home with newborns for at least six weeks. Employers suffer when family and medical concerns force workers to quit, as they pay an average of 25 percent of workers' salaries – and in retail trades, 43 percent – to replace them. Parental care during children's illnesses improves health outcomes, but three out of five working parents do not care for their children themselves. Parents with paid leave are five times more likely to care for their children when they are sick. [DOL, 2003; IWPR, 2007 and 2003; Heymann, 1999]

John Edwards will ensure that workers have time off when they need it. He will:

Provide Paid Leave to All Workers by 2014

Edwards will create a $2 billion National Family Trust to achieve the goal of offering paid family and medical leave benefits to all workers by 2014. The Trust will help states create paid leave systems with challenge grants to help finance benefits, technical assistance and public awareness campaigns to inform workers of the new laws. Rather than subsidizing piecemeal tax credits or employer incentives, the National Family Trust will support states that offer minimum benefits, including eight weeks of leave for new parents. Edwards will also make the federal government a model employer with a generous paid leave benefit. [IWPR, 2007; LPWF, 2007]

Expand Job Protection under the Family and Medical Leave Act

The Family and Medical Leave Act exempts businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Edwards will expand the right to job-protected family and medical leave to 13 million more workers by reducing the threshold for exemption for the law from 50 workers to 25 workers. Because workers today often work one or more part-time jobs, he will also extend the protection to long-term part-time workers.

Offer Paid Sick Days

Nearly half of all private-sector workers – and nearly 80 percent of low-wage workers – cannot miss a day's work without losing pay or, in many cases, risking their jobs. Edwards will require businesses to offer their workers seven paid sick days a year, with pro-rated leave for part-timers. [IWPR, 2007]

Universal Preschool and Affordable Child Care

More than 11 million children under five are in regular child care. Children whose mothers work spend an average of 36 hours a week in child care. But despite the growing need for educational care during early childhood and an emerging consensus about its importance for children's healthy development, the quality, affordability and standards for child care have not changed in over 30 years. [Brauner, et al., 2004]

Universally Available for Four-Year-Olds

To make quality preschool education as common as kindergarten, Edwards will help all states offer "Great Promise" universal high-quality programs for four-year-olds. Programs will be free for low-income families and tuition will be charged on a sliding scale for higher-income families. Great Promise programs will develop children's early academic skills, as well as helping emotional and physical development, with parental involvement and lead teachers who have four-year college degrees. [CDF, 2005]

Affordable Child Care

Child care is a huge expense for the majority of families with children under 5, costing up to $10,000 a year on average. Today, most families get less than $1,000 from the government's child care tax credit. Edwards will help parents pay for child care by more than doubling the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to pay up to 50 percent of childcare expenses up to $5,000. He will make it partially refundable to benefit low-income working families and let stay-at-home parents get the credit to help pay for child care for newborn infants. [NACCRRA, 2006]

High-Quality Child Care

Decades of study has produced a consensus about what constitutes quality preschool: small group size, good child-staff ratios, and well-trained caregivers. Yet most of the country's child care is rated between poor and mediocre. Edwards will help other states duplicate North Carolina's innovative Smart Start program, which improves child care quality with certification and teacher training that leads to higher pay, reduced turnover and better outcomes for children. [Brauner, et al., 2004; Helburn, Bergmann, 2003; Smart Start, 2007]

Economic Fairness for Independent Workers

Nearly a third of our workforce is now in nontraditional jobs, including employees who are part-time, seasonal, temporary, or on-call, freelancers and independent contractors. Women hold the majority of many of these jobs, which are often cheaper for businesses but have disadvantages for workers. Temporary workers earn less than they would were the same job permanent and are much less likely to have health and pension benefits. Nearly half of all contingent workers would prefer a permanent, full-time job. [BusinessWeek, 5/23/2007; BLS, 2005]

Updating Benefits for Independent Workers

Independent workers are largely excluded from the benefits of traditional employment: retirement, health care, unemployment insurance and sick days. Edwards will:

• Create Health Care Markets and new subsidies so independent workers can get affordable health insurance. They will also be able to take their health care from job to job.
• Require employers to offer all workers a new universal retirement account, similar to a 401(k), that workers can take from job to job and freelancers can enroll in on their own. The federal government will match up to $500 in workers' savings a year and encourage businesses to offer their own match.
• Modernize our unemployment insurance program, which has not been improved in over 70 years, leaving the majority of workers ineligible for benefits. Edwards will help states provide UI coverage to 500,000 more workers a year, changing eligibility formulas to cover more low-wage and part-time workers.
• Extend sick days and family leave to part-time workers. [Freelancers Union, 2006; NELP, 2006]

Cracking Down on Misclassification

A Department of Labor study revealed that up to 30 percent of employers were misclassifying their employees as independent contractors to avoid paying taxes and benefits. Edwards will crack down on this practice, requiring companies to document their payments to subcontractors, increase penalties for employers who routinely pay "off the books," and give workers more rights to question their status. [DOL, 2000]