Paid family leave becomes hot workplace issue

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24893369/%C2%A0

Advocates want federal law allowing parents to take time off with pay



By Eve Tahmincioglu
MSNBC contributor
updated 12:03 p.m. CT, Mon., June. 2, 2008


Eve Tahmincioglu

When Nitish Khanapure's second child was born he took four weeks off from his job as a technology manager for Washington Mutual bank and got paid during his time at home bonding with his newborn.

It wasn’t his employer that ponied up the money for the non-vacation time he used. The income came thanks to the paid family leave law in the state of California.

“It’s kind of an incentive to take some time off and help with the newborn,” he says about the law, which went into effect in 2005.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have such an incentive? Chances are you probably don’t.

Up until last month, California and Washington were the only states with any type of family leave legislation on the books. New Jersey passed a paid leave bill in late May. New Jersey and Washington’s programs take effect in 2009.

Most employers don’t provide any type of paid leave to take care of a new baby or an ailing parent. A study by the Society of Human Resource Management found that only one-third of companies offered paid family leave.

FULL story at link.