February 5, 2003

Washington, D.C. — At an event celebrating the tenth anniversary of the signing of the historic Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), legislation championed by Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) that to date has allowed more than 35 million Americans to take time off from work to care for a new baby or sick family member, Senator Dodd today announced he would introduce a bill to expand FMLA's scope and coverage to help ensure that eligible employees do not have to choose between the job they need and the family they love.

"Family leave is literally a lifeline to those struggling to keep their head above water when it comes to increased job and family responsibilities," said Dodd, who serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families. "This measure can help build upon that success by ensuring that more families are able to access the critically important benefits of family and medical leave."

Originally enacted ten years ago today, the Family and Medical Leave Act responded to the seismic change in American society that saw more working families than ever before forced to juggle the competing demands of work and family. In 1997, more than one in five working parents were members of the "sandwich generation," providing primary care to both young children and older relatives, and by 1999 the percentage of working mothers with infants had risen from 27 percent in 1960 to nearly 60 percent. The Act, which guarantees workers 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in times of family emergency, including the birth or adoption of a child and serious illness of a close family member, was hailed as a triumph for working families.

While FMLA has proven invaluable to many Americans, far too many workers are not covered by the law and others cannot afford to take unpaid leave. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 3.5 million people who qualified for family and medical leave in the year 2000 were not able to take it. Seventy-eight percent of that group did not take leave because they could not afford to do so. At least 128 countries provide paid and job-protected maternity leave, with an average basic paid leave of sixteen weeks.

The Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act would create a $400 million pilot grant program to help states to design ways to offer six weeks of partial or full paid leave, which would count toward the FMLA-allowed 12 weeks of leave, for eligible employees who take time to care for a child or a family member. States would be able to provide for wage replacement directly or through an insurance program, such as a state temporary disability program or a state unemployment compensation program, or other mechanism. A parallel grant program, to be managed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), would be created for FMLA-eligible federal employees. The bill would also make an additional 13 million working men and women eligible for FMLA by covering employers with 25 or more employees (the law currently only applies to workers at businesses with more than 50 employees), and would allow eligible employees to take FMLA leave to help themselves or their families address the effects of domestic violence.

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Listen to portions of Dodd's statement