— Senate Advances Paid Family Leave Bill
SACRAMENTO — Legislation that would make California the first state to promise disability pay for workers who take time off to care for an ill family member or to welcome a newborn into the world was passed Monday by the Senate.
My friend Sen. Ray Haynes calls this a “tax on jobs” and he’s not far from the truth. But it’s still not a bad idea, as long as it’s strictly monitored. The end result of this kind of thing, however, is making employers reluctant to hire women.
I have nothing against allowing employees to take paid time off for births, family illness or other family related crises. In fact, I’m not sure that I would want to work for an employer that didn’t think this was a good use of time off. On the other hand, I think this bill goes way too far. Twelve weeks isn’t time off – it’s disability under another name. We all know that people abuse sick leave, and stories of disability fraud are abundant.
My problem with this bill is that it’s being funded at taxpayer expense, in a state that is already running such a huge deficit that they are scrambling for new and creative ways to raise revenue. Why not encourage employers (through corporate tax credits or other incentives) to offer this type of leave as a benefit, funded like a group insurance policy through payroll deduction? This way, the state can avoid taking on potentially huge new obligations, and the employers, who would be most hurt by potential abuse, would have incentive to police the program themselves.
Sounds like a good idea to me – why don’t you e-mail [email protected] and share it?