Former President Bill Clinton was back at the White House this week to celebrate the 30th anniversary of a federal policy that allows U.S. workers to take up to 12 weeks of time off for an illness or new baby without losing their job.
But 30 years on, nearly half of workers still aren’t eligible.
Roughly 44% of workers aren’t eligible for unpaid leave supported by the Family and Medical Leave Act, which Clinton signed in 1993, because they haven’t been at their job long enough, work for a small employer, or don’t work enough hours to qualify, according to an analysis from the National Partnership for Women & Families.
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The landmark legislation guaranteed some workers could take up to 12 weeks of leave for a new baby and serious illness of them or a family member, though it does not apply to people who work at small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, part-time workers, or those who have been in their role less than a year.
Clinton, who signed the Family and Medical Leave Act just two weeks into his presidency, noted Thursday that there were still major strides to be made and that it was time to guarantee paid leave for workers.
“We need more stories, not process. People need to understand that as great as this was, there’s still a lot of people left out,” Clinton said in remarks at the White House, recounting people he has met who used the Family and Medical Leave Act.
The law has been used approximately 463 million times by workers since it was put into place. Last year alone, there were almost 2.7 million ineligible workers that needed to take time off but didn’t due to fear of losing their job, per the analysis.
The Biden administration previously sought to expand family leave law in 2021 to allow workers to receive up to 12 weeks of paid parental and personal illness leave, along with ensuring three days of bereavement leave each year, as part of a $3.5 trillion social spending plan, though it failed to get enough support to include in a budget reconciliation bill.
The proposal was unpopular with Republicans, who believed it would be too costly for taxpayers and put too much of a burden on small businesses.
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Democratic lawmakers have announced they plan to reintroduce legislation to guarantee paid family and medical leave this year in Congress, though any bills will have slim chances of passing the Republican-controlled House.
The United States lags behind other countries in the world on paid family and medical leave policies. The U.S. is the only country out of 35 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development not to offer paid maternity leave on a national basis.
