Sens Heitkamp & Gillibrand discuss paid leave policy

Jamestown (CSi) U.S. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) , in Jamestown Friday, highlighted what they believe is the need to implement, as they say, “a proactive, common-sense federal paid leave policy to make sure working families have the flexibility they need to care for their loved ones while strengthening the ability of small businesses to support and retain employees.”

CSi Photos by Thomas Ravely.

Speaking with local leaders, advocates, and working families at a daycare in Jamestown, Heitkamp and Gillibrand discussed the challenges many family members face when they lack the paid leave to care for a newborn, a sick child, or an elderly parent. Pointing to the fact that almost half of North Dakota’s private-sector workforce cannot earn a single paid sick day – and that only about a third are eligible for or can afford paid leave – the Senators underscored the immediate need to invest in working families to prevent North Dakotans from choosing between their families and their jobs.

Earlier Friday, Heitkamp and Gillibrand visited Zandbroz, a small family-owned business in Fargo, where they spoke about the plight of many small businesses that cannot afford to offer paid leave, and too often risk losing good employees when they need to care for a newborn or a family member. Across the country, businesses spend an average of one-fifth of an employee’s salary on replacing workers, and over a lifetime, men and women will lose a respective $284,000 and $324,000 because of the lack of paid leave policies in their workplaces. And in North Dakota – where 62,100 serve as caregivers to ailing or family members, and 74 percent of children live in households where both parents work – the urgent need for a practical paid leave policy is apparent.

Heitkamp says “To build a strong future for North Dakota, our state needs to invest in working families. But right now that isn’t happening as almost half of private sector workers in the state can’t get a single paid sick day to care for themselves or a newborn, sick child, or elderly parent. We can’t predict what life throws our way, but we can help families and employers prepare rather than just crossing our fingers. That’s why I’m proud to support Senator Gillibrand’s FAMILY Act which would help both small businesses and working families get the flexibility they need to care for their families without risking their livelihoods. This commonsense solution would help businesses attract and maintain a strong, healthy workforce, and help families plan for the life events that matter most while preventing anyone from having to choose between their family and their job.”

Gillibrand adds, “Every American man and woman who works should have access to paid leave when they need it – not just the 13 percent who are lucky enough to have it today. We are the only industrialized country in the world that still doesn’t guarantee its workers some form of paid leave. We must change this. I’m grateful to Senator Heitkamp for her leadership on this important issue, and I look forward to working with her in Washington to pass the FAMILY Act and give every American worker access to paid leave.”  (CSi Photo)

The Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act – introduced by U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and supported by 20 other senators – would provide working families with up to 12 weeks of partial income when they take leave for their own serious health condition, including pregnancy and childbirth recovery, the serious health condition of a child, parent, spouse, and the birth or adoption of a child. Funded through small employee and employer earned benefit of less than 0.2 percent of wages each, or about $1.50 per week for a typical worker – about the cost of a weekly cup of coffee. This legislation would create a self-sufficient program that would provide working families the flexibility they need without adding to the federal budget.

Currently, the United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not offer paid maternity leave. The other countries that do not offer it are Swaziland, Lesotho, and Papua New Guinea.

Previously…

Bismarck (CSi) U.S. Senator, Heidi Heitkamp will join U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), in Jamestown on Friday April 1,  to discuss the need for Paid Family Leave with North Dakota Working Families.

The senators will meet with working families and community leaders at a daycare facility in Jamestown to talk about how a strong federal paid family and medical leave policy as the senators’ FAMILY Act would create would enable working families to get the paid leave they need to care for a newborn, a sick child, or an elderly parent.

Heitkamp says, about half of the private sector workforce in North Dakota can’t earn a single paid sick day to care for a loved one. And only about a third of North Dakota’s working adults are eligible for let alone able to afford unpaid leave.

The roundtable will be held at the James River Family Fitness Center Facility at 3:45-p.m. Enter through the Larson door.

Attendees joining Heitkamp, and Gillibrand will be:

District 12 North Dakota State Reprepresntative Jessica Haak (D) of Jamestown

Renee Stromme, Director of ND Women’s Network

Nick Archuleta, President of North Dakota United

Verla Jung, North Dakota Child Care Aware

Tammy Hoggarth, North Dakota Community Action

Adoptive parents who faced challenges with accessing paid family leave.