Contents

• Introduction
• Paid Family Leave in the United States
• Employer-Provided Paid Family Leave
• State-Run Family Leave Insurance Programs
• Paid Family Leave in OECD Countries
• Recent Federal PFL Proposals

Summary

Paid family leave (PFL) refers to partially or fully compensated time away from work for specific and generally significant family caregiving needs, such as the arrival of a new child or serious illness of a close family member. Although the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA; P.L. 103-3) provides eligible workers with a federal entitlement to unpaid leave for a limited set of family caregiving needs, no federal law requires private-sector employers to provide paid leave of any kind. Currently, employees may access paid family leave if offered by an employer. In addition, workers in certain states may be eligible for state family leave insurance benefits that can provide some income support during periods of unpaid leave.

As defined in state law and federal proposals, family caregiving activities that are eligible for PFL or family leave insurance generally include caring for and bonding with a newly arrived child and attending to serious medical needs of certain close family members. Some permit leave for other reasons, but in practice, day-to-day needs for leave to attend to family matters (e.g., a school conference or lapse in child care coverage), minor illness, and preventativepreventive care are not included among "family leave" categories.

Employer provision of PFL in the private sector is voluntary. According to a national survey of employers conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13% of private-industry employees had access to PFL through their employers in March 20162017. The availability of PFL was more prevalent among professional and technical occupations and industries, high-paying occupations, full-time workers, and workers in large companies (as measured by number of employees). Recent announcements by several large companies indicate that access may be increasing among certain groups of workers.

In addition, some states have enacted legislation to create state paid family leave insurance (FLI) programs, which provide cash benefits to eligible workers who engage in certain caregiving activities. California, Rhode Island, and New Jersey currently operate FLI programs, which offer four to six weeks of benefits to eligible workers. Several states have enacted FLI programs, but they are not yet fully implemented and paying benefits. The New York program will begin implementation in 2018. The District of Columbia FLI legislation took effect in April 2017, with benefits payable starting in 2020. Implementation of Washington State's program is delayed until a financing mechanism is identified.

and Washington State's FLI law took effect in July 2017; benefit payments start in 2020 for both programs.

Many advanced-economy countries entitle workers to some form of paid family leave. Whereas some provide leave to employees engaged in family caregiving (e.g., of parents, spouses, and other family members), many emphasize leave for new parents, mothers in particular. The United States is the only OECDOrganization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member to not offer paid leave to new mothers.

The 115^th Congress is considering proposals to expand national access to paid family leave. Key bills include the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY Act; S. 337/H.R. 947), which proposes to create a national wage insurance program for persons engaged in family caregiving activities or who take leave for their own serious health condition, and the Strong Families Act (S. 344, S. 1716), which would provide tax incentives to employers to voluntarily offer paid family and medical leave to employees.

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Paid Family Leave in the United States

Introduction

Paid family leave (PFL) refers to partially or fully compensated time away from work for specific and generally significant family caregiving needs, such as the arrival of a new child or serious illness of a close family member. Although the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA; P.L. 103-3) provides eligible workersworkers with a federal entitlement to unpaid leave for a limited set of family caregiving needs, no federal law requires private-sector employers to provide paid leave of any kind.¹

Currently, employees may access paid family leavePFL if offered by an employer. In addition, some states have created family leave insurance (FLI) programs, which provide cash benefits to eligible workers who engage in certain (state-identified) family caregiving activities. In these states, workers can access paid family leavePFL by combining an entitlement to unpaid leave with state-provided insurance benefits. Congressional proposals to expand national access to paid family leave tend to expand upon these existing mechanisms. The Strong Families Act (S. 344, S. 1716) seeks to expand employer-provided paid family leavePFL through new tax incentives, and—similar to the state insurance approach—the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY Act; S. 337/H.R. 947) proposes to create a national wage insurance program that pays cash benefits to eligible individuals engaged in certain caregiving activities, including for the worker's own serious health condition.

Congressional Members who support increased access to paid leave generally cite as their motivation the significant and growing difficulties some workers face when balancing work and family responsibilities, and the financial challenges faced by many working families that put unpaid leave out of reach. In general, expected benefits of expanded access to paid family leavePFL include stronger labor force attachment for family caregivers and greater income stability for their families, and improvements to worker morale, job tenure, and other productivity-related factors. Potential costs include the financing of payments made to workers on leave, other expenses related to periods of leave (e.g., hiring a temporary replacement or productivity losses related to an absence), and administrative costs. The magnitude and distributions of costs and benefits will depend on how the policy is implemented, including the size and duration of benefits, how benefits are financed, and other policy factors.

This report provides an overview of paid family leave in the United States, summarizes state-level family leave insurance programs, notes paid family leavePFL policies in other advanced-economy countries, and notes recent federal proposals to increase access to paid family leave.

Paid Family Leave in the United States

Throughout their careers, many workers encounter a variety of family caregiving obligations that conflict with work time. Some of these are broadly experienced by working families but tend to be short in duration, such as episodic child care conflicts, school meetings and events, routine medical appointments, and minor illness of an immediate family member. Others are more significant in terms of their impact on families and the amount of leave needed, but occur less frequently in the general worker population, such as the arrival of a new child or a serious medical condition that requires inpatient care or continuing treatment. Although all these needs for leave may be consequential for working families, the term "family leave" is generally used to describe the latter, more significant, group of needs.

As defined in state law and federal proposals, family caregiving activities that are eligible for paid family leavePFL or leave insurance benefits generally include caring for and bonding with a newly arrived child and attending to the serious medical needs of certain close family members; some also allow leave or benefits for workers with certain military family needs. In practice, day-to-day needs for leave to attend to family matters (e.g., a school conference or lapse in child care coverage), minor illness (e.g., common cold), or preventativepreventive care are not included among family leave categories.²

Employer-Provided Paid Family Leave

Employer provision of paid family leave (PFL)PFL in the private sector is voluntary. According to a national survey of employers conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 13% of private-industry employees had access to PFL (separate from other leave categories) through their employer in March 20162017.³ These statistics, displayed in Table 1, further show that PFL was more prevalent among professional and technical occupations and industries, high-paying occupations, full-time workers, and workers in large companies (as measured by number of employees). Recent announcements by several large companies suggest that access may be increasing among certain groups of workers. Among new company policies announced in recent years, some emphasize parental leave (i.e., leave taken by mothers and fathers in connection with the arrival of a new child), and others offer broader uses of family leave.⁴

A 2017 study by the Pew Research Center (Pew) examined U.S. perceptions of and experiences with paid family and medical leave; its results provide insights into the need for such leave among U.S. workers and its availability for those who need it.⁵ Pew reports, for example, that 27% of persons who were employed for pay between November 2014 and November 2016 took leave (paid and unpaid) for family caregiving reasons or their own serious health condition over that time period, and another 16% had a need for such leave but were not able to take it.⁶ Among workers who were able to use leave, 47% received full pay, 36% received no pay, and 16% received partial pay. Consistent with BLS data, the Pew study indicates that lower-paid workers have less access to paid leave; among leave takers, 62% of workers in households with less than $30,000 in annual earnings reported they received no pay during leave, whereas this figure was 26% among those with annual household incomes at or above $75,000.

State-Run Family Leave Insurance Programs

Some states have enacted legislation to create state paid family leave insurance (FLI)FLI programs, which provide cash benefits to eligible workers who engage in certain caregiving activities. Three states—California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island—have active programs. Three additional programs—those in New York, the District of Columbia, and Washington State—await implementation.⁷

Table 2 summarizes key provisions of state FLI laws and shows the following:

• The maximum weeks of benefits available to workers and wage replacement rates vary across states. Existing state FLI programs offer between 4 weeks (Rhode Island) and 6 weeks (California and New Jersey) of benefits. When its plan is implemented, the District of Columbia will offer 8 weeks of paid family leave in 2020, and Washington State will offer 12 weeks of paid family leave in the same year. New York will offer 12 weeks of benefits when its plan is fully implemented in 2021.
• Program eligibility typically involves in-state employment of a minimum duration, minimum earnings in covered employment, or contributions to the insurance funds.
• All state family leave insurance programsFLI programs currently in operation are financed entirely by employee payroll tax receipts; however, when implemented, the DC program is set to be financed by employers.
Washington State's program will be jointly financed by employers and employees.
• Some FLI programs, like those in Rhode Island and New York, provide job protection directly to workers who receive FLI benefits, meaning that employers must allow a worker to return to his or her job after leave has ended. Workers in other states may receive job protection if they are entitled to leave under federal or state family and medical leave laws, and coordinate such job-protected leave and FLI benefits.

Paid Family Leave in OECD Countries

Many advanced-economy countries entitle workers to some form of paid family leave. Whereas some provide leave to employees engaged in family caregiving (e.g., of parents, spouse, and other family members), many emphasize leave for new parents, mothers in particular.

As of 20152016, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) family leave database counts 34 of its 35 members as providing some paid parental leave (i.e., to care for children) and maternity leave, with wide variation in the number of weeks and rate of wage replacement across countries. This is shown in Figure 1, which plots the OECD's estimates of weeks of full-wage equivalent leave available to mothers. Weeks of full-wage equivalent leave are calculated as the number of weeks of leave available multiplied by the average wage payment rate. For example, a country that offers 12 weeks of leave at 50% pay would be said to offer 6 full-wage equivalent weeks of leave (i.e., 12 weeks x 50% = 6 weeks).

Figure 1. Average Full-Wage Equivalent Weeks of Paid Leave Available to Parents Mothers OECD Member Countries' Leave Provisions as of April 2015 2016

Source: OECD, Family Database, Indicator Table PF2.1, http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm. Notes: Leave available to mothers includes maternity leave and leave provided to care for children. Average full-wage equivalent weeks are calculated by the OECD as the product of the number of weeks of leave and "average payment rate," which describes the share of previous earnings replaced over the period of paid leave for "a person earning 100% of average national (2014) earnings." While federal law in the United States does not provide paid parental leave for private sector workers, some employers provide such leave voluntarily and some states have programs that provide wage insurance to workers on leave for selected family reasons; see section "Paid Family Leave in the United States" of this report for additional information. A smaller share (27 of 35) of OECD countries provides paid leave to new fathers. In some cases, fathers are entitled to less than a week of leave, often at full pay (e.g., Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands), whereas others provide several weeks of full or partial pay (e.g., Portugal provides five weeks at full pay, and the United Kingdom provides 2 weeks at an average payment rate of 20.2%). Some countries provide a separate entitlement to fathers for child caregiving purposes. This type of parental leave can be an individual entitlement for fathers or a family entitlement that can be drawn from by both parents. In the latter case, some countries (e.g., Japan, Luxembourg, and Finland) set aside a portion of the family entitlement for fathers' use, with the goal of encouraging fathers' participation in caregiving. Figure 2 summarizes paid leave entitlements reserved for fathers in OECD countries in 2016; it plots the OECD's estimates of weeks of full-wage equivalent paternity leave and parental leave reserved for fathers. Figure 2. Average Full-Wage Equivalent Weeks of Paid Leave Available to Fathers OECD Member Countries' Leave Provisions as of April 2016 Source: OECD, Family Database, Indicator Table PF2.1, http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm. Notes: Leave available to fathers includes paternity leave and leave reserved for fathers to care for children. Average full-wage equivalent weeks are calculated by the OECD as the product of the number of weeks of leave and "average payment rate," which describes the share of previous earnings replaced over the period of paid leave for "a person earning 100% of average national (2014) earnings." While federal law in the United States does not provide paid parental leave for private sector workers, some employers provide such leave voluntarily, and some states have programs that provide wage insurance to workers on leave for selected family reasons; see section "Paid Family Leave in the United States" of this report for additional information.

The OECD examined the availability of family caregiver leave among its member countries in 2011 and found that of the 25 countries for which it could identify information, 14 had polices providing paid leave to workers with ill or dying family members; these are summarized in Table 3.¹² Qualifying needs for leave, leave entitlement durations, benefit amounts, and eligibility conditions varied considerably across the countries included in the OECD study.

Recent Federal PFL Proposals

The overarching goal of the PFL proposals that have been considered by the 115^th Congress is to increase access to leave by reducing the costs associated with taking leave. In general, two main approaches are proposed. The first is the creationestablishment of a national paid family leave insurance program (e.g., S. 337/H.R. 947); the second is to provide tax credits to employers that provide paid family leave to their employees (e.g., S. 344).¹³

In addition, the President's fiscal year 2018, such as that proposed in the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (S. 337/H.R. 947), would provide cash benefits to eligible individuals who are engaged in certain caregiving activities, potentially making the use of unpaid leave (e.g., as provided by FMLA or voluntarily by employers) affordable for some workers. A second approach, such as that proposed in the Strong Families Act (S. 1716 and an earlier, related bill of the same name, S. 344), aims to expand employer-provided leave by allowing employers to claim tax credits for a portion of wages paid to employees taking paid family leave; this approach potentially increases access to PFL for workers while reducing the costs to employers of providing the leave.¹³ In addition, the President's FY2018 budget proposes to provide six weeks of financial support to new parents through state unemployment compensation (UC) programs.¹⁴ A similar approach was taken in 2000 by the Clinton Administration, which—via Department of Labor regulations—allowed states to use their UC programs to provide UC benefits to parents who take unpaid leave under the FMLA, other approved unpaid leave, or otherwise take time off from employment after the birth or adoption of a child. The Birth and Adoption Unemployment Compensation rule took effect in August 2000, and was later removed from federal regulations in November 2003.¹⁵

Author Contact Information

Footnotes

1.	FMLAThe Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) allows for employer-provided paid leave to be used during periods of FMLA-entitled leave. An overview of FMLA is in CRS Report R44274, The Family and Medical Leave Act: An Overview of Title I, by [author name scrubbed].
2.	Some Members have introduced proposals to increase access to other types of leave as well, such as paid sick leave. Proposed paid sick leave entitlements are relatively short in duration—typically 4 hours per 30 hours of work, up to a maximum of 56 hours per year—and could be used for a broader assortment of medical needs than are typically included in family and medical leave proposals.
3.	The BLSBureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey defines paid family leave as leave provided specifically to care for a family member, parental leave (i.e., for a new child's arrival), and maternity leave.
4.	Examples of companies that offer paid leave benefits for broader purposes include Facebook, which announced in 2017 that it would extend paid leave to those providing care to a sick family member (three days for short-term illness and six weeks for serious illness) and to bereavement (20 days for an immediate family member and 10 days for extended family), and Deloitte, which announced in September 2016 that it would offer its employees up to 16 weeks of paid leave for family caregiving. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg announced Facebook's new leave policy at https://www.facebook.com/sheryl/posts/10158115250050177; Deloitte announced its new policy at https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/press-releases/deloitte-announces-sixteen-weeks-of-fully-paid-family-leave-time-for-caregiving.html.
5.	Juliana Horowitz, Kim Parker, Nikki Graf, and Gretchen Livingston, Americans Widely Support Paid Family and Medical Leave, but Differ Over Specific Policies, Pew Research Center, March 2017, http://pewresearch.org; hereinafter "Horowitz et al., 2017".." Pew's findings are based on two large-scale, nationally representative surveys. The first survey collected data from the general population, and is used to measure U.S. attitudes toward and perceptions of paid family leave, as well as the availability of leave for those who had a recent (i.e., within the last two years) need for family or medical leave. The second survey collected information from individuals who had a recent need for family or medical leave, and is used to study leave-taking in detail (e.g., economic and demographic characteristics of workers who were able and unable to meet their needs for leave, reasons the workers needed leave, duration of leave when taken, and the percentage of pay provided to those who were able to take leave).
6.	These survey results are summarized on page 52 of Horowitz et al., 2017. For workers who took family and medical leave and those who had such a need but were unable to take leave, the areas of greatest demand were for leave to care for the worker's own serious health condition and for leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition. The report does not contain the questionnaire used to pose these questions, and so there is some uncertainty about how respondents interpret the term "serious health condition," which at least in the FMLA has a specific meaning (i.e., a health condition that requires inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider).
7.	The New York program is scheduled to phase in starting in 2018 and be fully implemented by 2021. The District of Columbia paid family leave legislation took effect on April 7, 2017; the act requires the mayor to start paying family leave benefits by July 1, 2020. Washington State passed a law to establish a program, but has not implemented the program due to lack of a funding mechanism's paid family and medical leave law was signed by the governor on July 5, 2017, with an effective date of October 19, 2017; benefit payments start January 1, 2020.
8.	As noted in the "Employer-Provided Paid Family Leave" section of this report, employer-provided leave is concentrated among higher-paying occupations, larger firms, and certain industries. This lack of broad coverage creates challenges for researchers trying to disentangle, for example, the effects of leave-taking on employment and earnings outcomes from the effects of holding a high-paying professional job on the same outcomes.
9.	Maya Rossin-Slater, Christopher Ruhm, and Jane Waldfogel, "The Effect of California's Paid Family Leave Program on Mothers' Leave-Taking and Subsequent Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vol. 32, no. 2 (2013), pp. 224-245.
10.	Charles Baum and Christopher Ruhm, The Effects of Paid Leave in California on Labor Market Outcomes, NBER Working Paper 19741, 2013, http://www.nber.org/papers/w19741; Ann Bartel, Maya Rossin-Slater, Christopher Ruhm, Jenna Stearns, and Jane Waldfogel, Paid Family Leave, Fathers' Leave-Taking, and Leave-Sharing in Dual-Earner Households, NBER Working Paper no. 21747, 2015, http://www.nber.org/papers/w21747.
11.	Maya Rossin-Slater, Maternity and Family Leave Policy, NBER Working Paper no. 23069, 2017, http://www.nber.org/papers/w23069.
12.	Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), "Chapter 4: Policies to Support Family Carers," in Help Wanted? Providing and Paying for Long Term Care, OECD Health Policy Studies Series, 2011, http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/help-wanted-9789264097759-en.htm.
13.	A bill proposing a new paid parental leave entitlement for federal workers (S. 362/H.R. 1022) has also been introduced. S. 1716 and S. 344 are closely similar, but S. 1716 allows the percentage of wages that can be claimed as a tax credit to vary according to the rate at which employers compensate employees who use family leave, and it removes a $3,000 maximum credit (per employee, per year) that may be claimed by an employer.
14.	Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2018, May 23, 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/budget.pdf and Department of Labor, FY2018 Congressional Budget Justification, Employment and Training Administration, State Unemployment Insurance and Employment Service Operations, May 23, 2017, https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/CBJ-2018-V1-07.pdf.
15.	Information on unemployment compensation and family leave, and the Clinton Administration Birth and Adoption Unemployment Compensation Regulation is in CRS In Focus IF10643, Unemployment Compensation (UC) and Family Leave, by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed].