Family leave TDI is good for equality and the economy

A new piece in The Atlantic says the legislature did Rhode Island a strong service when it passed a bill extending TDI to family leave. Rhode Island is only the third state to do so, but we are helping the Us to catch up with the rest of the industrialized world in granting paid leave for new parents; out of 178 countries worldwide only the United States, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea do not.

“Family-friendly policies such as Rhode Island’s new law prompt a broader positive result than their specific legal requirement targets,” writes Nanette Fondas. “Caregivers receive a direct benefit from family leave programs: time off. But all employees reap the indirect benefit of a fairer workplace.”

The whole piece is well worth a read. But perhaps even more interesting is a May post from Forbes.com called: 3 Reasons Why Card-Carrying Capitalists Should Support Paid Family Leave.

“In business school, we were taught that a solid strategy recognizes the exogenous (external) and endogenous (internal) challenges facing your business and addresses them,” writes Cali Williams Yost. “Employee child care and eldercare responsibilities are not only two major external business challenges, but they become internal issues the minute an employee walks in the door or signs onto his or her computer.”

Her three reasons are:

• Paid family leave acknowledges and addresses a reality that directly impacts every business and, therefore, should be planned for strategically, uniformly and deliberately;
• Paid family leave is NOT a tax, but income replacement insurance program funded by employees at minimal cost and
• We are paying for a cost for caregiving already, albeit indirectly and inefficiently.