Clinton, Callers Boost Family Leave Measure

Ann McGowan had three minutes on the phone with President Clinton Friday morning.

The 58-year-old Altadena resident, who was forced to quit a Los Angeles County job three years ago to care for her then 89-year-old mother-in-law, was one of 10 members of families across the nation who chatted with the President in a conference call set up to dramatize the need for family leave legislation.

The media-savvy event, designed to help the measure through Congress, was carefully planned and heavily publicized. McGowan said she took more than 20 phone calls from the White House on Thursday afternoon. By 8:30 a.m. Friday morning, she had a kitchen full of television cameras, reporters and microphones.

Although the call was no surprise, the former management analyst said she was thrilled by the opportunity to speak to the President.

“I thought it was great, for once in my life, having direct contact with someone setting national policy,” McGowan told a reporter after the 30-minute conference call ended. “I’m glad to see it was not business as usual.”

The call was conducted from the Oval Office by Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. The President used the occasion to personalize his lobbying for a bill that would require employers with more than 50 workers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn, adoptee or a sick relative.

Ten families from throughout the country, including cities in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Utah and Illinois, spoke to the President about hardships they faced when employers turned down their requests for family leave.

“We don’t even know if we will be able to achieve the American dream,” said Linda Fernandez, of Lynn, Mass.

Her husband, Rudy, was fired when he sought time off to help care for triplets born three months premature. The family lost money they had been saving to buy a home, she said.

The sound of squealing babies punctuated other stories, most of which concerned ailing children.

McGowan’s story was the only one to deal with care of the elderly. She said she sought, at most, one month off from the county to care for her mother-in-law, Alice Weber, who lived at home with McGowan and her husband. She made the request after the elderly woman’s physical and mental condition began to deteriorate and she needed time off to find an appropriate care-giver.

“What I needed was some unbroken time,” McGowan related after talking with Clinton. “It’s easier to find someone to take care of children than it is to take care of the elderly. Children can be bundled up and put in a car. But how can you bundle up somebody as large as you, or larger?”

McGowan said she had hired care-givers before, but lacked sufficient time to train and oversee them before hurrying off to work. As a result, her mother-in-law was injured twice, once suffering a broken collar bone.

And, McGowan said, the aged woman began to wander the streets. Twice, she had to be fetched from the nearby sheriff’s office. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she could be found outside the home. Once McGowan found her at 1 a.m. bent over the driveway, sweeping it with a paint brush and dust pan.

McGowan said she sought time away from her job to find appropriate help. But without family leave provisions, her supervisor said no. McGowan said she understood--only three other employees worked in her division and her absence would have created hardships. So, she was forced to solve the problem by retiring early.

“My family comes first,” McGowan explained Friday. “Family leave is important not only for children, but for those who have to take care of parents and spouses who are ill.”

The California Legislature in 1991 passed a Family Leave Act allowing workers up to four months unpaid leave every two years. But employers are exempted from granting the leave if the worker’s absence would create a hardship on the business.