Family Leave Insurance Campaign
Victory!
Governor Corzine Signs Family Leave Insurance into Law!
WE DID IT!
On Friday, May 2, 2008, after twelve years of advocacy, Citizen Action and the NJ Time to Care Coalition realized a great victory when Governor Jon Corzine signed Family Leave Insurance legislations, A-873, into law and made New Jersey only the third state in the nation to enact one of the most far-reaching and progressive workplace reforms in many, many decades. Given that at least one million NJ workers (and probably more) don't have a single paid day off from their job and 40% of all low-wage workers don't have a single sick day, this legislation will make a significant and real difference in the lives of NJ's working families and their loved ones.
Family Leave Insurance will be 100% worker-funded through a small paycheck contribution (no more than 64 cents/wk) starting January 1, 2009. All NJ workers who contribute to the program will have the opportunity to receive 2/3 of their normal paycheck (capped at $524/wk in 2008) for up to six weeks starting July 1, 2009.
NJCA and the NJ Time to Care Coalition would like to thank the thousands of supporters who helped make this victory happen by sending over 100,000 letters to our elected officials over the last year and a half urging them to create a NJ Family Leave Insurance program.
We would also like to thank Governor Corzine for his continued support, the Senate and Assembly sponsors and all the legislators who stood firmly behind New Jersey's working families and voted Yes on Family Leave Insurance (A873/S786)!
About Family Leave Insurance
In 1990, New Jersey passed the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which ensures that workers have the right to take up to 10 weeks of unpaid leave to care for newborns, newly adopted children and seriously ill family members, or to recover from their own serious illnesses. The FMLA also protects workers from losing their job for taking Family Leave. In 1993, the Federal government followed the lead of states like New Jersey, and passed the Federal Family Medical Leave Act, which guarantees the same benefits to all states. The Family and Medical Leave Act is one of the most significant advances for women and families in this nation's history.
Unfortunately, because the FMLA guarantees only unpaid leave, too many women and men are still unable to take essential time off. In a 2000 national survey, 78% of people who did not take unpaid family leave said that they could not afford to survive without their income. Of those who did take unpaid leave, nine percent were forced to rely on welfare. Women and men should not have to choose between their family and their jobs!
In 2004, California implemented the first employee-funded family leave insurance program in the nation. This is a cost-effective model of self-insurance that can be adopted in New Jersey. The temporary disability insurance system, as successful as it has been, must evolve to accommodate the changes of the workforce and family lifestyles. Therefore we call on elected officials to support S-786 and A-873, which was recently introduced into the NJ Senate by Senator Steve Sweeney (D-3). S-786 and A-873 establish a cost-effective model of self-insurance, similar to California's Family Temporary Disability Insurance system, which will provide New Jersey workers with up to 6 weeks of leave to take care of a sick family member or to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child at 2/3 of their regular wages (capped at $524/wk in 2008). An Eagleton Poll released in November 2006 shows that nearly 80% of New Jerseyans support Family Leave Insurance!
To find out more about why Family Leave Insurance is so necessary for New Jersey's workers, seniors, families and businesses, please download the following Fact Sheets:
- Fact Sheet (General)
- Fact Sheet for Caregivers
- Fact Sheet for Low-income Workers
- Fact Sheet for Seniors
- Fact Sheet for Small Businesses
For more information on the Family Leave insurance Campaign, contact Atif Malik by email at atif@njcitizenaction.org, by phone at 973-643-8800, or by fax at 973-643-8100.
New Jersey Time To Care Coalition
NJCA and the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University have organized the NJ Time to Care Coalition 70-member coalition consisting of community, labor, women's, civic, research, citizen, family and child advocacy groups that are dedicated to the passage of Family Leave Insurance at both the state and federal level. To see the complete list of organizations, visit njtimetocare.rutgers.edu.
Join the New Jersey Time to Care Coalition, either as an organization or an individual. To find out the date of our next meeting, send us a story telling us how Family Leave Insurance could have helped or has helped (if your employer already provides it), or get more info on the Time to Care Coalition, please contact Atif Malik by phone 973-643-8800 ext. 30 or by email at atif@njcitizenaction.org, or visit njtimetocare.rutgers.edu.
New Jersey Law
Under current state law, employees who are temporarily disabled for medical reasons, including pregnancy and childbirth, receive partial wage replacement in the form of temporary disability insurance (TDI) benefits.
Here is an overview of recent legislative efforts in New Jersey:
2006
S2249, introduced into the NJ Senate by Senator Steve Sweeney (D-3), and A3812, which was introduced into the NJ General Assembly by Asemmblyman Nelson Albano (D-1), Assemblyman Michael Panter (D-12) and Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver (D-34), call for the expansion of the current TDI system in NJ in order to provide up to 10 weeks of leave at 2/3 of normal wages for employees who take a leave of absence to take care of a sick family member or to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child.
2004
As part of his State of the State address, former Governor James E. McGreevey proposed to give New Jersey's working parents two days of paid leave each year to care for sick children or to support their children's education. Governor McGreevey's proposal would have been an important first step to ensuring that New Jersey workers don't have to choose between the jobs they need and the families they love. It would have been a lifeline for workers, giving full-time employees 16 hours of job-protected paid leave to attend to their children's education or emergency medical needs each year. It would have also provided part-time employees eight hours of the same and would have had the added benefit of involving more parents in their children's education, which is one of the leading indicators of a child's success in school. Unfortunately, this measure was never passed into law.
2002
A 222 and A 224, companion bills, were introduced to allow employees to use New Jersey's Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) to take leave to care for a newborn or adopted child, or to take care of the medical illness of a family member. Both measures would have required the state to pilot the program for 5 years, and also establish a task force to review its impact and make recommendations for its continuation. The bills differed slightly in their specific funding mechanisms. Both measures were referred to the Assembly Committee on Labor, but there was no further action on the bills.
Another similar measure introduced in the Senate, S 1065, would have allowed employees to use TDI to care for a newborn or newly adopted child or illness of a family member. The bill would have provided up to four weeks of TDI benefits for a worker taking leave to provide necessary care for a family member of the worker suffering a serious health condition, and up to eight weeks of TDI benefits for a worker taking leave to be with a child of the worker during the first 12 months after the child's birth or placement for adoption with the worker's family. The bill also called for a task force to be created to study the effects of the legislation after it is implementation. The measure was referred to the Senate Committee on Labor, but there was no further action.
2000–2001
Three legislative proposals were introduced in 2000, during the first year of the legislature's two-year term. A 2037 was a hybrid bill; it provided working parents with unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for birth and adoption leave and TDI benefits for sick family member leave. A 1577 was a TDI bill; it provided working parents with TDI benefits for leave taken to care for newborn or newly adopted children or ill parents, children or spouses. S 1923 and A 3049 provided UI benefits for those taking parental leave. The Assembly bills were referred to the Assembly Labor Committee. The Senate bill was referred to the Senate Commerce Committee. There was no further action on the bills.
"Americans Can't Afford to Get Sick" Report
Report Assesses State and Federal Sick Leave Policies: 28 States Earned Grade of "D" or Worse
A study entitled Get Well Soon: Americans Can't Afford to be Sick, released on June 15, 2004 by the National Partnership for Women & Families and New Jersey Citizen Action, finds that not a single state is doing enough to guarantee paid sick leave to employees. Almost 59 million Americans, including almost half the private sector, do not even have one paid sick day. Under current New Jersey law, employees who are temporarily disabled for medical reasons, including pregnancy and childbirth, receive partial wage replacement in the form of temporary disability insurance (TDI) benefits. In addition, New Jersey provides 15 days of sick leave and three days of personal leave to state employees.
The report gives New Jersey a grade of "B–" for paid sick days. Therefore, New Jersey's temporary disability insurance system, as successful as it has been, must evolve to accommodate the changes of the workforce and family lifestyles.
New Jersey is not alone in failing to give its workers adequate paid sick days. The National Partnership study finds that while California is far ahead of other states in giving workers family leave benefits, it receives only a grade of "B+". At the same time, just six states earned a "B" ranking, while more than half the states received grades of "D" or below.
Nor is the federal government setting a high enough standard, receiving a grade of just "C-." It provides its workers 13 paid sick days a year - relatively generous compared to the private sector but no better than what many states offer their own employees. And the federal government lags behind several states in that it does not require private employers to provide any paid sick leave.
In addition, a related study by The Global Project at Harvard University finds the U.S. lags far behind the rest of the world in giving workers paid sick days. One hundred thirty nine nations provide paid sick leave for short or long term illnesses and 117 of those nations guarantee a week or more of paid sick leave per year.