The Family and Medical Leave Act was hailed as revolutionary for its time when President Clinton signed it into law in 1993. Workers were guaranteed job protection if they needed to take time off to care for themselves, a newborn baby or a sick family member. Laura Barrón-López spoke with Jocelyn Frye of the National Partnership for Women and Families about its impact and the challenges ahead.
Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
Geoff Bennett: This weekend marked the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act becoming law. But the law, which provides unpaid job-protected leave to millions of Americans, still comes up short for too many workers. Laura Barrón-López has a look at its impact and the challenges ahead.
Laura Barrón-López: The Family and Medical Leave Act was hailed as revolutionary for its time when President Bill Clinton signed it into law in 1993. Workers were guaranteed job protection if they needed to take time off to care for themselves, a newborn baby, or a sick family member. At a White House ceremony last week, former President Clinton said the landmark legislation is more widely acknowledged than any other action of his presidency. And he shared one father's story about the law's impact. Bill Clinton, Former President of the United States: He grabbed me by the elbow. And I turned around. He had big tears his eyes. And he said: "My little girl's not going to make it much longer." But he said: "Because of the Family and Medical Leave Act, these months I have spent with her are by far the most important time of my life."
Laura Barrón-López: But the Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, only goes so far. According to a recent analysis, 44 percent of American workers do not qualify. For more on this, I'm joined by Jocelyn Frye. She is president of the National Partnership for Women and Families. Jocelyn, thanks so much for joining the "NewsHour." You have described the Family and Medical Leave Act as groundbreaking. What impact has it had on families over these last 30 years? Jocelyn Frye, President, National Partnership for Women and Families: Well, first of all, thank you for having me. I mean, it's had an extraordinary impact. We estimate that, over 30 years, more than 463 million people have used the FMLA at some point. That is simply an astounding number. And I think it speaks to the need that was present 30 years ago and the continuing need that families face just to make sure that they can care for loved ones in moments of an emergency.
Laura Barrón-López: And at the end of the day, though, this is unpaid leave for families. So what limitations does this law pose for workers? And what specific demographics are left uncovered by this law?
Jocelyn Frye: Well, you're right. I mean, it is unpaid leave. So, while, on the one hand, it's job-protected, there are a lot of workers who simply can't afford to take time off and lose pay. We estimate that, each year, about 10 million workers don't take leave. And seven million of those workers don't do so because they can't afford to take unpaid leave. The other thing that we know, of the 44 percent of workers who aren't covered by the FMLA, that workers of color are disproportionately in that number, 48 percent of what Latinx workers, 47 percent of Asian workers, 43 percent of Black workers. So workers of color are bearing the brunt of the gaps of the FMLA. And those are gaps that we should fill.
Laura Barrón-López: And President Biden recently said that he was going to continue to push for paid family and medical leave. Efforts to pass that last year failed largely because of one Democratic senator, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. He did not support tethering that, the paid family and medical leave, to the Inflation Reduction Act, which was that party-line vote by Democrats. There's also, though, a new bipartisan group in the House that is trying to pass this paid national leave program. And they're meeting for the first time tomorrow ahead of the president State of the Union speech. Can a national paid leave program pass a divided Congress?
Jocelyn Frye: Well, I think it certainly can. I mean, we have to remember that the FMLA was a bipartisan bill. There were both Republicans and Democrats who worked for its passage. The other thing we have to remember is that it was vetoed twice by President Bush before it was finally enacted and signed into law by President Clinton. So — and it took nine years to pass the FMLA. So, while the Congress may look challenging at the moment, we are not giving up, and we will never give up, because we know that the public across the country, Republicans and Democrats and independents, want paid family and medical leave. So, we will continue to push for it. And if we — we came close with Build Back Better, but the good thing is that we came so close, closer than we have ever been before. And we know that it's still going to happen eventually. So we will just keep pressing.
Laura Barrón-López: And I should note that the president was pushing for 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. Some small businesses, Jocelyn, and conservative think tanks have said that a national paid leave program would either reduce productivity in the workplace or it would also create a heavy financial burden on small businesses that have less than 10 employees. What's your response to that?
Jocelyn Frye: Well, I would say, first of all, those are the same criticisms that we heard or people did hear 30 years ago when the FMLA was passed. And I think the data speaks for itself. What we know is that large majorities, 92 percent of employers, say that the FMLA has not been a problem. A third of those employers say that it's actually helped with productivity. So, we know that the research speaks otherwise. We also know that there are employers out there today who do have paid family and medical leave who will say that it has been good for business. It helps to retain workers. It makes them more productive. So, many of those critiques are just not borne out by the data. And I would say, for very small businesses, what I would say to them is, if you listen to groups like Small Business Majority, what they will tell you is that investment of a paid leave program at the national level will take off some of the costs that the small businesses now have to deal with.
Laura Barrón-López: Jocelyn Frye of the National Partnership for Women and Families, we have to end it there. Thank you so much for your time.