Democratic Lawmakers Propose Bill to Expand Unpaid Leave to Half of U.S. Workers

(Bloomberg) -- Two Democratic lawmakers are introducing a bill that would provide job protection for the nearly half of U.S. workers that aren't guaranteed any time off from work in the event of new parenthood or illness.

The Job Protection Act, unveiled on Thursday by Representative Lauren Underwood and Senator Tina Smith, would extend existing protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act to part-time and gig workers, as well as employees of small businesses, according to a fact sheet. Under current law, FMLA protections only apply to companies with more than 50 employees, and to employees who have worked at least 1,250 hours at one qualifying employer in the preceding year. The Job Protection Act would remove both of those requirements.

The legislation would also reduce an FMLA requirement that workers be at their employer for at least a year, instead stipulating they must have been there only 90 days.

“I've been hearing from many families about how broken the FMLA system is,” Underwood told Bloomberg News. “This ensures that we are able to include workers at small employers, people who work one or multiple part time jobs, including many women and women of color, as well as those reentering the workforce after having to quit because of caregiving responsibilities during Covid.”

The Job Protection Act wouldn't provide any wage replacement for people who take time off. That lack of pay already keeps some low-wage workers from taking time away — research shows just a few unpaid days mean households bringing in less than $50,000 per year may not be able to afford basics like groceries or utilities.

It is not clear yet how much support the bill will be able to gather. A federal proposal for 12 weeks of paid family leave, a campaign promise of President Joe Biden, was included in the latest version of his stalled Build Back Better plan. Senator Joe Manchin, whose opposition to the economic package ultimately killed it, had been resistant to paid leave.

Underwood said she thinks “we remain on a path to getting a paid leave benefit signed into law this year,” and says the Job Protection Act would work in tandem with such a proposal to make sure the most vulnerable workers keep their jobs if and when they take time off.

“Many workers continue to suffer from long haul Covid symptoms that could impact their ability to work full time, and there have been pandemic-related impacts on individual employment decisions,” Underwood said. “But when we talk about the need for family and medical leave that is not something that is unique to the pandemic. The need will continue.”

In the U.S., 44% of all workers, particularly low-income individuals, women and people of color, aren't covered under FMLA. That means their jobs aren't protected if they need to take time off for the birth of a child, or if they or a loved one gets sick. There are nearly 2.6 million people every year who want to take leave but don't because they are scared of losing their jobs, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families, a non-profit advocating for women and families.

Among high-income countries, the U.S. is an outlier in providing no guaranteed time off for workers when they have a baby, get sick or need to take care of a sick family member. Americans and their families lose an estimated $22.5 billion in wages annually due to a lack of paid and family and medical leave, according to think tank Center for American Progress.