California Gets Paid Family Leave Law

NU Online News Service, Sept. 23, 10:22 p.m. – California Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, today signed S.B. 1661, a bill that makes California the first U.S. state to require affected employers to provide paid leave for employees who take time off work to care for a new child or a sick or injured family member.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, Calif., expands the state’s existing disability insurance program by creating the Family Temporary Disability Insurance Program.

Starting July 1, 2004, employees of companies with 50 or more workers who can show that they need to take time off to care for family members, or to attend to the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child, will be eligible for up to six weeks of paid leave per year.

Employers can require employees to use up to two weeks of unused vacation time before receiving paid leave, and, in the year the new law takes effect, payments will be capped at a maximum of 55% of wages. But Davis issued a statement contending that the new law will make a big difference in many employees’ lives.

“Californians should never have to make the choice between being good workers and being good parents,” Davis said in the statement. “This bill will help millions of California workers meet their responsibilities to both their families and their employers. It sends a message around the world that California is pro-worker, pro-employer and pro-family.”

Under the current law, the state disability insurance program provides disability payments only for employees who are unable to work due to pregnancy, illness or off-the-job injuries.