Rallying to spend more time with family
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- April
- 18
The Working Families Party and the New York State Paid Family Leave Coalition are beginning a state campaign for paid family leave with some demonstrations on Long Island. The federal Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. The state Legislature has not passed a paid family leave act. California and Washington State have paid leave programs, and New Jersey is expected to be next.
Last year, the Democrat-controlled Assembly passed legislation that would provide 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a newborn or sick relative. The employee on leave would receive up to $170 a week through the state’s temporary disability insurance, and it would be funded by a weekly payroll deduction of 45 cents.
Republicans in the GOP-dominated Senate refused to bring the bill before the full house for a vote. The coalition is targeting two Long Island in upcoming weeks—Sen. Kemp Hannon and Sen. Caesar Trunzo, both Republicans.
“The Paid Family Leave bill has been sitting in the Senate for 18 months,” said Donna Dolan, chairwoman of the state Family Leave Coaltion. “Every year, thousands of New Yorkers are forced to make a decision no one should face: their families or their jobs.”
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on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 6:22 pm by Cara Matthews.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
