For 20 years, new parents, the seriously ill and those caring for a sick family member have been eligible to take unpaid leave without risk of losing their job under the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
However, experts say most people who are eligible to take advantage of the federal or Connecticut versions of the FMLA aren”™t able to do so because they can”™t afford to go without a regular source of income.
In response, the Connecticut General Assembly could vote later in the legislative session to form a task force that would explore ways to ensure at least partial pay for individuals on leave from work due to illness or the birth of a child.
The task force, if approved, would meet for one year and would include individuals from various fields.
About eight in 10 people who are qualified for leave under the FMLA don”™t take it, according to the state”™s Family and Medical Leave Insurance coalition.
“Unpaid leave is having severe costs and consequences to families in Connecticut,” said Jillian Gilchrest, assistant policy director for the Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS).
About 9 percent of those who take a leave of absence under the FMLA end up on public assistance, and more than 40 percent of bankruptcy declarations by individuals are due to wages lost because of a serious illness, according to CAHS.
As the state”™s elderly population increases and more middle-aged people look after their parents, Gilchrest urged the legislature to act now to expand the scope of the Connecticut FMLA.
“It”™s not like this problem is going to go away,” she said. “At this point we really just want to bring as many people to the table as we can to see how we can do this.”
The U.S. FMLA, enacted in 1993, applies to companies with 50 or more employees. Under the law, an employee who has worked for at least 12 months at their current job is eligible for 12 weeks of unpaid leave to recover from a serious illness, care for a new baby, or take care of an ill family member.
The Connecticut regulation, signed into law three years earlier, applies to companies with 75 or more employees and allows employees who worked at least 1,000 hours the previous year to take up to 16 weeks of unpaid leave.
While Connecticut employers with 75 or more employees are subject to both the state and federal regulations, the Connecticut version includes some worker protections that are not included under the federal version.
Employees on FMLA leave can purchase private disability insurance to cover some of their own expenses, but those policies generally would not cover lost wages if a person takes time off from work to care for a sick family member or after the birth of a child.
If a task force is authorized, it would likely study family and medical leave insurance plans that extend coverage to caregivers and would also assess who would pay for them, whether it”™s an employer, the employee or a combination of both.
Gilchrest said it was unlikely the state would pay for the program, though the federal government has had discussions about establishing a pool of money for states that create medical leave insurance programs.
California and New Jersey have family leave insurance programs and New York, Rhode Island and Washington are considering legislation this year. Since 1993, the FMLA has been used 100 million times nationwide. Between 1990 and 2009, roughly 335,000 people in Connecticut took advantage of the state or federal FMLA protections.
If employers are required to pay their employees”™ wages during a medical leave, it could be very costly for the business, said Daniel L. Schwartz, an attorney with Day Pitney L.L.P. in Stamford.
“If 10 percent of your workforce didn”™t work for three months each year, that”™s a significant additional expense,” Schwartz said. “Plus, you still need to find someone to do the work, whether it”™s allocating more work to the existing workforce or hiring temporary employees. That”™s a significant increase in labor expenses.”
