Posted: | December 21, 2020 12:59 PM |
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From: | Representative Elizabeth Fiedler |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Pennsylvania Paid Family Leave Act |
The birth or adoption of a child, recovering from pregnancy, or caring for a sick loved one should not result in job loss. Whether a joyful event, or one of mourning, these are predictable, human events that happen every year for many families. No one should be forced to miss these first moments of life, or final moments, because they can’t get off from work. Yet, our economy and society continue with rules that ignore these basic, common human events. Our Commonwealth needs to step up and treat our families with respect and compassion. The United States is the only industrialized country that does not provide national paid family leave for its workers. As a result, workers cannot afford to take off a significant period of time to care for a loved one. This makes no sense given that birth and death are natural occurrences, and that both often are situations that benefit from many weeks of care, transition, and compassion. For this reason, I plan to introduce legislation to provide parents with up to 36 weeks of paid family leave. This time would be counted against the unpaid time that the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) currently allows. When we support workers, we support their families. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation to benefit Pennsylvania families! |