President Joe Biden began this year by advocating strongly for a large and broad infrastructure package, calling it a “once-in-a-generation investment in our nation’s future.” The proposed package, which is split into two parts — The American Jobs Plan and The American Families Plan — would include investments in traditional infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.) as well as non-traditional infrastructure. One of the central tenets of this “non-traditional” infrastructure is an issue that Biden campaigned extensively on — extending paid leave to all workers.
Advocates for universal paid leave note that the United States is the last wealthy nation that lacks a universal requirement for companies to provide employees paid leave to deal with personal and medical issues. In 1993, the U.S. enacted the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides qualifying workers with 12 weeks of unpaid family and medical leave. However, FMLA has restrictions that currently make 4 out of 10 workers ineligible. Supporters of paid leave policy argue that these restrictions contribute to declining labor participation rates in the United States, especially as many workers shift to non-traditional jobs such as contract work.
Additionally, most workers in America lack access to paid medical and family leave. One in four lack access to paid sick leave, half lack access to paid medical leave, and four in five lack access to paid family leave. The lack of a federal paid leave policy disproportionately effects workers with low income and low education and significantly lowers the rate of female participation in the labor market due to the lack of job security and maternity leave. In fact, from 1990 to 2019, female participation in the labor market in the United States increased by only 1 percent. In countries with universal paid leave programs, such as the Netherlands, female labor participation increased 37 percent in the same time frame.
The lack of a federal paid leave program was brought to the forefront of national issues this past year, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Due to the pandemic, many women were unable to work due to childcare issues, and many people needed time off if they were infected with the virus or caring for a family member. A former adviser for President Donald Trump said that having a national paid leave program in place could have saved the U.S. as much as $1 trillion.
In response to the pandemic, the U.S. Congress passed the COVID-19 Family and Medical Leave Act. This legislation required covered employers to provide eligible employees with paid sick and expanded family and medical leave for COVID-related reasons. This legislation was funded through tax credits for employers. However, the program was allowed to lapse in December, when lawmakers extended the tax credit but not the mandate.
Biden’s American Families Plan includes a required 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all workers. This requirement has been met with opposition from Republicans, who favor tax credits for businesses that would give them flexibility to provide paid leave if they so choose.
As of right now, Biden’s infrastructure proposal has been fractured into a bipartisan $1.2 trillion framework, with $600 billion in new spending. This spending will be devoted to traditional infrastructure issues, such as roads and bridges. However, Biden and other Democrats have stated that they will not support the bipartisan infrastructure bill without the promise of additional “human infrastructure” legislation — likely including a paid federal leave program.
If it is to be successful, the human infrastructure package is likely to be passed in the Senate through the budget reconciliation process, which only requires a simple majority (51 votes) for passage. Budget reconciliation is the process by which the American Rescue Plan passed earlier this year without bipartisan support. In the case of a federal paid leave program, budget reconciliation is risky, because there is the possibility that important safeguards, such as the guarantee that workers will keep their jobs when they take leave, will not be included.
