Good Parents Make Good Employees : Proposed California parental leave bill could be model for the nation

As few as 10% of California families fit the old traditional pattern of a father who goes to work and a mother who stays at home. What happens when mother is no longer “on call” to care for a child or relative stricken with serious illness?

A family leave bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles), would allow workers to take up to four months of unpaid leave--to care for a seriously ill child, a spouse or an elderly parent--and return to the job. The measure would also allow working parents to care for a child who, for example, got into drugs and needed concentrated attention--another acknowledgement of 1991 realities. AB 77, which is scheduled for a vote before the Assembly on Thursday, would put a little pragmatic compassion in the workplace.

Similar federal legislation passed Congress a year ago, but was vetoed by President Bush because of opposition from business leaders. Yet a new study, conducted by an economist at Cornell University for the Small Business Administration, may change the minds of some employers. That research showed that granting leave for family illness or childbirth could actually cost less then the amount that would be spent on terminating and replacing an employee. Despite the new research, the chances of family leave becoming federal law are again questionable, so California should provide its own protections. Responsible employees shouldn’t have to choose between keeping a job or taking care of a loved one.

The state measure would establish sensible guidelines. The law would only apply to employers with 25 or more workers. It would only apply to workers who had been on the job at least a year, and would allow them to use the unpaid leave only once in a 24-month period. New mothers who had exhausted the state’s pregnancy disability leave could only use an additional month of family leave to care for a new baby. Any worker who qualified for the leave could keep their benefits, although at their own expense in some cases.

In order to reduce the potential for abuse, the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Commission would develop additional guidelines for reasonable advance notice, a minimum period of leave to prevent, for example, a parent from trying to take every Friday off, and grounds for denial because of undue hardship on the part of the employer.

Most of California’s mothers, fathers and adult children work. They must often make hard choices between family and work. A reasonable family leave policy would make those tough choices a little easier for worker and employer alike.