By Tam St. Claire
Posted Nov 27, 2019 at 5:31 AM
Bipartisan agreement is not so common these days, but in Harrisburg there is support on both sides of the aisle for the Family Care Act (FCA), a bill that would provide temporary paid leave for employees who need time off to care for themselves or an ill family member.
As primary sponsors of the bipartisan, bicameral FCA (SB 580, HB 1739), Senator Maria Collett (D-Bucks/Montgomery) and Representative Wendi Thomas (R-178) say the creation of such a fund would strengthen middle class families while leveling the playing field for small businesses that cannot afford to offer this critical employee benefit.
“Most Americans cannot sustain their families for more than two weeks without a paycheck,” said Rep. Thomas during an information event sponsored by the Bucks County Women’s Advocacy Coalition in September. “The Family Care Act is a simple, well-tested mechanism. Similar state insurance funds are already in place in New York and New Jersey, both states that border Pennsylvania and attract workers away from our state. To attract and keep workers, we need policies that help young families, yet do not place pressure on the state budget.”
At the same event, Collett said, “It (The FCA) will give hardworking Pennsylvanians the ability to invest small deductions from their weekly earnings into a state-managed fund so that when they need to take time off to care for themselves or a loved one, they can retain their jobs and remain financially secure.”
So far about 60 lawmakers have co-sponsored the bills in the House and Senate, including many from Bucks County. If passed, the FCA would make Pennsylvania the eighth state to implement a state-managed insurance fund to provide paid family leave benefits for all workers. When you consider that only 14% of the U.S. workforce currently has access to any type of paid family leave, you can understand why it’s so important for this bill to pass.
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