Letter to the Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House - Stevens, Pressley Push for Paid Leave Expansion

Letter

Dear Speaker Pelosi,
Thank you for your ongoing efforts to support working families through the coronavirus crisis.
We were honored to take part in the historic passage of emergency paid leave for private sector
employers under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. As the only industrialized nation
without paid leave, that is a milestone of which we can all be proud.
In the weeks since the Families First's passage, however, it has become clear that further action
must be taken to protect workers and their loved ones when it comes to paid leave.
Data has shown that due to loopholes in the Families First Act and further exemptions created by
the Department of Labor's implementing regulations, only 17 percent of private sector workers
would be guaranteed paid leave under the law.1 That means up to 106 million Americans will be
excluded from these protections. Of those, nearly nine million are health care workers and
emergency responders who put themselves at risk every day caring for our communities.
We deeply appreciate your leadership in addressing these shortcomings by incorporating in the
HEROES Act important provisions to ensure that families do not have to choose between their
lives and livelihoods. We must do our part to keep them safe for the duration of the COVID-19
health crisis.
The next phase of the federal response to the coronavirus crisis is our chance to fix these gaps by
clarifying Congressional intent and covering as many workers as possible for both paid sick days
and family and medical leave. We encourage you to continue advocating on behalf of working
families by securing these paid leave provisions in any final HEROES Act negotiations with the
Senate. This is especially critical for our first responders, health care workers, and food industry
employees, who deserve these basic protections if they or a loved one become sick amid this
public health emergency.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter and for your strong leadership in this crisis.