By Susan Schoenfeld, JD, Senior Legal Editor

In an all-out blitz, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has undertaken a number of efforts to encourage states and private employers to support paid leave. Included in those efforts:

• President Obama’s 2016 budget includes more than $2 billion in new funds to encourage states to develop paid family and medical leave programs.
• In 2015, the DOL awarded $1 million in grants to help states and municipalities to conduct feasibility studies for paid leave programs.
• In 2014, the DOL’s Women’s Bureau awarded $500,000 in grants to three states and the District of Columbia, to investigate and develop paid leave initiatives.

In addition, in September 2015 President Obama signed an Executive Order (EO) requiring that employees performing work on covered federal contracts and subcontracts earn 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, accruing up to 56 hours (or 7 days) of earned paid sick leave per year.

In making the argument for paid leave for all employees, the DOL points to a statistic showing that only 12% of U.S. private sector workers have access to paid family leave through their employer.

According to the DOL, too many workers still cannot afford to take unpaid leave because of the loss of income it entails, or have to cut their leave short because of financial or workplace pressures.

And the results

The Obama Administration’s investment in paid leave has paid off. Prior to 2014, there were only four paid sick leave laws in effect nationwide. That number has grown exponentially in the past 2 years to over two dozen laws and ordinances covering several states and numerous cities and counties.

At the time of the writing of this article, the states with paid sick leave laws include: The District of Columbia (2008), Connecticut (2012), California (2015), Massachusetts (2015), Oregon (2016), and Vermont (2017).

The cities and counties with paid sick leave ordinances in effect or scheduled to take effect include:

• San Francisco, CA (2007)
• Seattle, WA (2012)
• Jersey City, NJ (2014)
• New York City, NY (2014)
• Newark, NJ (2014)
• Passaic, NJ (2015)
• East Orange, NJ (2015)
• Paterson, NJ (2015)
• Irvington, NJ (2015)
• Oakland, CA (2015)
• Montclair, NJ (2015)
• Trenton, NJ (2015)
• Philadelphia, PA (2015)
• Bloomfield, NJ (2015)
• Emeryville, CA (2015)
• Los Angeles, CA (2015/2016 for larger then smaller hotels)
• Tacoma, WA (in July 2016)
• San Diego, CA (vote in June 2016)
• Montgomery County, MD (October 2016)
• Elizabeth, NJ (2016)
• New Brunswick, NJ (2016)

Although proposed federal legislation has stalled in Congress, it is anticipated that the list of states and cities with paid leave laws will continue to grow. BLR® will continue to report these changes to as they occur.