Clinton Releases Plan To Expand Paid Family Leave, Address Workplace Discrimination Against Pregnant Women

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 18 Oct 2007 - 8:00 PDT

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Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), who his running for the Democratic presidential nomination, on Tuesday at a forum hosted by the Young Women's Christian Association in Manchester, N.H., released a plan that aims to combat workplace discrimination against pregnant women, expand paid family leave from work and increase funding for child care services, Reuters reports (Szep, Reuters, 10/16). Under Clinton's proposed plan, the federal government would provide $1 billion annually in grants to encourage states to develop paid family leave programs with the goal of having a program in every state by 2016, the New York Sun reports (Sarlin, New York Sun, 10/17).

The plan also would expand the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover 13 million additional workers and apply it to all companies that employ 25 or more employees, the AP/Boston Globe reports (Ramer, AP/Boston Globe, 10/16). The federal law currently requires businesses with 50 or more employees to offer women who have worked at the business for one year -- or 1,250 hours -- 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for an infant (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/14). Clinton's proposal would require all workers to be given seven sick days per year that could be used for themselves or to take care of their sick children (AP/Boston Globe, 10/16).

According to Clinton, the plan would cost $1.75 billion annually and would be funded by closing a corporate tax protection without increasing the deficit, The Hill reports. The Clinton campaign said the plan would work "in partnership with America's businesses to ensure that pro-family work policies and increasing workplace flexibility helps improve American competitiveness and economic growth" (The Hill, 10/16).

Clinton Comments, Reaction
"Too many Americans today feel trapped between being there for their kids and being there for their employer, and our government policies have just not kept up with the realities of American life," Clinton said (AP/Boston Globe, 10/16). "With sound policies and sensible investments, we can give parents more choices to make the decisions that are best for them," she said, adding, "We can make life a little easier for everyone -- for mothers and for fathers -- to do the most important job there is in any society: raising and nurturing the next generation" (Clinton release, 10/16).

A spokesperson for Sen. Chris Dodd (Conn.), who also is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, said that Dodd was the author of the original FMLA and that he sponsored legislation earlier this year that seeks to accomplish much of what Clinton has proposed. Members of the Child Advocacy Task Force for Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, on Tuesday wrote in a memo, "As with so many issues facing the country today, promises to help children and families are just that -- promises -- unless we elect a leader who will move past the divisive, special-interest-driven politics that have crippled Washington for decades" (AP/Boston Globe, 10/16).

Republican National Committee spokesperson Danny Diaz said Clinton's plan for working families "is pretty clear: higher taxes to pay for outrageous spending proposals totaling more than $750 billion" (New York Sun, 10/17).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.