. I
Lack of family leave prot ction hi
By Ch ter A. U1 , Sr.
WASHINGTON (NNPA) -
The House of Representatives is
considering a bill to provide job
protected employee leave for
childbirth, illness and time care
for children, the ill and the
elderly.
Sponsored by Rep -. William
L. Clay (D. MO.), and Patricia
Shroeder (D.CO), the Family
and Medical Leave Act some
times referred to as "Parental
Leave" has, according to Sarah
harder, president of the
good
American Association of
U Diversity women which is avid
ly pushing for passage of the
mea ure, "already 150 house.
spon ors.'
The House bill is HR 925. A
similar measure, S-249, is being
considered in the Senate.
Harder made the statement
in a press conference announc
ing the fmdings of an ASUW
and the Institute for Women
Police Research (IWPR) joint
study entitled "Unnecessary
.1
D Citizen. 7
Lo es: Costs to Americans of
the Lack of Family and Medical
Leav ."
She said lack of family leave
for employees costs workers and
taxpayers in the USA an es
timated $715 million each year.
Women workers, particularly
Black women, bear a dispropor
tionately large share of the bur
den of these co s.
In presenting the findings,
Drs. Heidi Hartmann and
Roberta palter-Roth, who con-
ducted the study, said: The
Governmen Accounting Office.
estimates that providing paren
tal leave could cost employers
approximately $102 million.
Contrasting that fi re with the
co t of not providin such leave
- $715 million - is no ing short
of pure fi cal folly, e. p cially
when the issues of I t produc
tivity in the wor place is fac
tored into the equation."
Saying that ther are 100
countries t�at provide some
period of job-prot cted mater
nity leave and wage replace
ment, Dr. Harder aid: "This
report demonstr te ho cru
cial this legi lation i for a
society uch as our: - one that
claims to be 'famil cent red.' It
is shameful not to hav legisla
tion pr viding th e protec
tions.
If Congres fails to pass this
legislation, it will become an
election i sue in the fall, s e
promised.
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