FACT SHEET
The Case for Paid Family & Medical Leave
APRIL 2012
Nearly all workers will at some point need to take time away from their jobs to deal with a
serious personal or family illness or to care for a new child. National or state paid family and
medical leave (“paid leave”) – offered, for example, through an insurance system funded by
employee and employer contributions – would allow workers to take a limited number of weeks
away from work with partial pay.
Paid leave laws allow workers to continue to earn a portion of their pay while they take time
away from work to:
 Address a serious health condition (including pregnancy);
 Care for a family member with a serious health condition; or
 Care for a newborn, newly-adopted child or newly-placed foster child.
Why Do Workers Need Paid Leave?
When workers develop a serious health condition, have a seriously ill family member or become
a parent, they need paid, job-protected time off to ensure that they can address their health
problems or meet their caregiving needs. Employer practices – and our public policies – have
not caught up to this reality. Only a small percentage of workers have access to paid leave to
address their own serious health conditions – and
even fewer have access to paid leave to deal with
Nearly eight in 10 U.S. adults (78
family caregiving issues. As a result, most workers
percent) say that family and
are forced to jeopardize their economic security
maternity leave is a “very
and put their jobs at risk when they need to take
leave.
important” labor standard for
 A meager 11 percent of workers in the United
States have access to paid family leave
through their employers.
workers.
— National Opinion Research Center at the
University of Chicago, June 2010
 Fewer than 40 percent of workers have access
to short-term disability insurance through
their employers. This kind of program provides at least partial pay while workers recover
from medical conditions.1
 Only half of the workforce has access to job-protected unpaid leave under the federal
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).2 This leaves roughly 75 million workers with no
protection under federal law.3 For those workers who do have access to leave under
FMLA, millions can’t afford to take it – forcing them to sacrifice their own health or their
family member’s needs in order to keep a paycheck and prevent job loss.
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 Low-income workers are less likely to have access to any type of leave – yet they are the
ones most in need of financial support when illness strikes or when a new child joins the
family.4
Families, Businesses and Communities Benefit When
Workers Have Paid Leave
Access to paid leave improves working families’ health and economic security.
 Paid leave contributes to improved family health. Parental leave, for example, correlates
to increased likelihood of check-ups, immunizations and breastfeeding for newborns.5 In
fact, mothers who took paid leave through the
California paid family leave program
breastfed for twice as long as mothers who did
“Many of our production,
not take leave.6
management, and even sales staff
 Paid leave contributes to economic stability.
have used paid family leave,
primarily to extend bonding time
with new babies. … The
employees are happier and more
loyal to the company when they
feel the management of the
company cares about them and
their families.”

New mothers who took paid leave were
more likely to be in the labor force and
earn higher wages in the year after
their child’s birth than mothers who
took no leave. Both mothers and fathers
who took paid leave following a child’s
birth were less likely to receive public
assistance than parents who took no
leave.7

A paid leave standard for all workers
of Human Resources at Galaxy Desserts,
could determine whether some workers
Richmond, California,
who care for ill or elderly family
members can hang on financially.
These family caregivers regularly face serious financial pressures due to lost wages,
lost retirement income and even lost jobs. Workers over the age of 50 who leave the
workforce to care for an ailing parent lose an average of $303,880.8
— Rohana Stone Rice, Controller and Director
Leading businesses understand that offering paid leave improves their bottom lines.
 Paid leave is associated with reduced turnover and increased loyalty among workers.
First-time mothers who have access to paid maternity leave are more likely to return to
work after the birth of a child, reducing recruitment and training costs for employers.9 In
California, 83 percent of workers in “lower-quality” jobs who used the state paid leave
program returned to their previous employer – a 10-point gain over workers who did not
use the program.10
 In contrast, businesses that do not provide employees with paid family and medical leave
or job-protected unpaid leave frequently absorb high turnover costs. Replacing a worker is
expensive. Turnover costs are estimated to be anywhere from 25 percent to 200 percent of
annual compensation.11
NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR WOMEN & FAMILIES | FACT SHEET | THE CASE FOR PAID FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE
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States are leading the way with models for successful paid leave policies.
California and New Jersey have successfully implemented statewide paid family leave
insurance programs to complement their temporary disability insurance (personal medical
leave) programs. These insurance funds are paid for
by employee contributions and have been used by
hundreds of thousands of workers.
“New Jersey residents … now have
Public policies make paid leave accessible to
workers, with positive impacts for their economic
security as well as for taxpayers.12 Workers and
their families use family leave and temporary
disability insurance to protect their financial
stability and health. Businesses also benefit from
higher levels of worker satisfaction and retention.
Paid leave insurance systems also help small
businesses compete with their larger counterparts
in attracting top talent by spreading the cost of paid
leave.
a workable, effective program that
gives them some relief from the
stress, financial and otherwise,
that a new child or a sick family
member can cause in a
household.”
— Press of Atlantic City, November 2010
Federal and state paid leave programs would help millions of working families – and support
and momentum are building. For more information and to get involved, go to
www.NationalPartnership.org.
1 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2011, September). Employee Benefits in the United States National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United
States, March 2011 (Tables 17 and 33). Retrieved 30 April 2012, from http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2011/ebbl0048.pdf
2 Waldfogel, J. (2001, September). Family and Medical Leave: Evidence from the 2000 Surveys. Monthly Labor Review, 17-23. Retrieved 30 April 2012, from
http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2001/09/art2full.pdf
3 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2010). Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population by age, sex, and race (Table 3). Retrieved 30 April 2012,
from http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat03.pdf (Unpublished calculation)
4 See note 1.
5 Berger, L., Hill, J., & Waldfogel, J. (2005). Maternity Leave, Early Maternal Employment and Child Health and Development in the US. The Economic Journal, 115(501), F44
6 Appelbaum, E., & Milkman, R. (2011). Leave That Pay: Employer and Worker Experiences with Paid Family Leave in California. Retrieved 30 April 2012, from
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/leaves-that-pay
7 Houser, L., & Vartanian, T. (2012, January). Pay Matters: The Positive Economic Impact of Paid Family Leave for Families, Businesses and the Public. Center for Women and Work
at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey publication. Retrieved 30 April 2012, from
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/DocServer/Pay_Matters_Positive_Economic_Impacts_of_Paid_Family_L.pdf?docID=9681
8 MetLife Mature Market Institute. (2011, June). The MetLife Study of Caregiving Costs to Working Caregivers: Double Jeopardy for Baby Boomers Caring for Their Parents.
Retrieved 30 April 2012, from http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/2011/mmi-caregiving-costs-working-caregivers.pdf
9 Boushey, H. (2008). Family Friendly Policies: Helping Mothers Make Ends Meet. Review of Social Economy, 66(1), 51-70. Retrieved 30 April 2012, from
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all?content=10.1080/00346760701668446
10 See note 6.
11 Sasha Corporation. (2007, January). Compilation of Turnover Cost Studies. Retrieved 30 April 2012, from http://www.sashacorp.com/turnframe.html
12 Houser, L., & Vartanian, T. (2012, April). Policy Matters, Public Policy, Paid Leave for New Parents, and Economic Security for U.S. Workers. Center for Women and Work at
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey publication. Retrieved 30 April 2012, from http://smlr.rutgers.edu/news-events/cww-study-policy-matters
The National Partnership for Women & Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace, access to quality health care and
policies that help women and men meet the dual demands of work and family. More information is available at www.NationalPartnership.org.
© 2012 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.
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