Working Families Time to Care Act Legislation Must be Passed in NYS

ALBANY, NY (06/09/2007)(readMedia)-- What countries spring to mind when you think of the United States’ peers on the global stage? Major powers like Russia or China? Maybe you think of our economic might and group the U.S. together with countries like France and Great Britain, Germany and Japan.

Reality is that the.U.S. joins only three other countries (Swaziland, Liberia and Papua New Guinea) in the world in that we do not have a national policy allowing parents to take paid time off to care for newborn children.

Everyone knows a working mother who had a newborn and was forced to return to work far more quickly than she would have liked due to the ever-increasing economic pressures under which we all live today. Mothers are forced to use their vacation and sick time and then go back to work within a few weeks or risk losing their jobs.

This story should ring true, because it’s all too common. It’s no magic bullet – the balance between work and family is so out of whack in this country that no single reform could address all of the challenges that most working people face when they’re ready to start families – but it is a moderate reform that would provide real peace of mind to new parents. By giving working families a limited benefit and a few months of guaranteed time off to care for their newborns, new mothers or fathers would have the opportunity to stay at home with their babies for a little while longer, without risking economic hardship.

Our current system forces upon far too many parents an unfortunate choice between their work and their family responsibilities. In an age where a one-income family is a luxury few can afford, changes in family circumstances – whether it’s the birth of a new child or the serious illness of an older relative – put a greater stress on the economic security of families than ever before.

New Yorkers need new solutions based on their core principles to address changing times.

If we believe in a society where working families take care of each other, one in which new parents have the ability to take care of their children, then we should pass the Working Families Time to Care Act in NYS.

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