. 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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