Letter to Hon. Joe Biden, President, Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, and Hon. Chuck Schumer, Majority Leader - Prioritize Comprehensive Paid Family Leave Program in Build Back Better Package

Letter

Dear President Biden, Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer,

As Congress continues to work with the Biden-Harris Administration on the Build Back Better
American Families Plan infrastructure package, we write to reinforce the critical need for a
federal paid family and medical leave program that will create meaningful economic security for
all Americans and their families as we continue to recover from the health and economic crises
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We urge you to include a national paid leave program that is meaningful, comprehensive
and permanent in the Build Back Better Act. It must be universal to cover all workers,
provide progressive wage replacement to help the lowest wage earners, and cover all
existing types of leave with parity. This is one of our top policy priorities in this historic
legislation. Just as we need roads and bridges, we need paid leave along with affordable and
accessible child care and the expanded child tax credit, to ensure our families have a full range of
needed supports.

Paid leave is a critical policy to improve the economic security of families, support businesses,
and increase economic growth. The pandemic has exposed an acute emergency on top of an
ongoing, chronic caregiving crisis for working people and employers alike. We cannot emerge
from this crisis and remain one of the only countries in the world with no form of national paid
leave. Now is the time to make a bold and robust investment in our nation's working families.
The Build Back Better package must include a national paid leave program that covers all
workers because, at one point or another, nearly everyone will need to take leave from work to
give or receive care, whether it's to welcome a new child, be there for an aging parent or loved
one, or to recover from their own major surgery, serious illness like cancer or substance use
disorders. Despite the universal need, only 23 percent of working people in this country have
access to paid leave through their employer, and lower-wage workers are the least likely to have
access with just 7 percent of low-wage workers having access to even a single day of paid family leave. Millions of families are just one unexpected bill away from financial emergency,
and a lack of paid leave forces people into impossible choices between losing their jobs and
income and being able to care for themselves and their families.

The lack of paid leave is not only a concern for working families; it is also a concern for the
business community, in particularly small businesses, as we have now seen more than two
million women leave the workforce since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 650
companies are publicly calling for national paid leave policy because they know that paid leave
helps businesses. Paid leave has been proven to increase worker retention, reduce turnover, and
improve productivity. A recent study showed that women with access to paid leave are 40%
more likely to return to work after giving birth than those without access. Older adults caring for
loved ones in states with paid leave are more likely to return to work after using paid leave for a
period of family caregiving, and workers with paid leave can recover and return more easily
from their own serious health issue.In addition, paid leave helps level the playing field for small
businesses and startups, which too often struggle to attract top talent because they can't afford to
compete with larger employers' paid leave benefits. Nationwide, 70% of small businesses
support the creation of a national paid leave program.

Paid leave is a key element of addressing racial, class, and gender inequalities in the United
States. Paid leave is a racial justice policy -- workers of color are less likely to have paid leave at
work, suffer the health disparities that have resulted from systemic injustices and often have
multi-generational caregiving responsibilities. It is also a gender justice policy: women are more
likely to leave work to provide care to children and to older adults and less likely than men to
have paid leave when they need time away to care. A national paid leave program will also
help ensure that we are prepared for the demographic changes of the years ahead: U.S. Census
data from 2019 shows that more than one in every seven Americans is 65 and older. With an
aging U.S. population, eldercare is a growing responsibility for Americans. Many workers are
faced with the dual responsibility of caring for an elderly family member as well as young
children -- and most have no access to paid leave.

The benefits of a national paid leave policy are clear, and Americans across the political
spectrum recognize this. Paid leave is overwhelmingly popular: 84% of voters support a national paid leave program -- including 74% of Republicans. The American public is aligned on the
need, and it's time for us to deliver on this critical promise to families.

There is no lasting recovery -- no real rebuilding -- without care. Paid leave is a necessary and
long overdue investment that would contribute to adding more than $1.6 trillion to our economy
through increased women's workforce participation. An investment in paid leave will pay
dividends for our families, our businesses, and our economy, while creating a more equitable
recovery for all. We cannot afford to wait.