The Government Is the Answer (Maybe)

By Rebeldad Brian Reid

In the search for answers to questions of balance, I've spent a lot of time thinking about ways that employers can make life easier as well as plenty of ways that individuals can try to arrange things to their advantage. But I've pretty much given up on the government stepping in to help.

The landmark law in the United States is the Family and Medical Leave Act, which was enacted in 1993 and guaranteed leave to (most) workers. But by international standards, the law was late in coming and weak. The U.S. is one of two OECD countries that still don't have paid maternity leave. (Australia is the other, and the lack of paid leave is a political issue there.)

FMLA, meager as it is, has still come under attack from business interests, and advocates for strong leave remain vigilant.

But there is hope, of sorts. I saw in Working Mother magazine last month that Hillary Clinton was involved in some sort of FMLA expansion effort, and I've long been a fan of the "Balancing Act" proposal by Rep. Lynn Woolsey. As it turns out, Clinton has signed onto a bill called the Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act.

Curious as to whether there is actually a work-life groundswell in Congress, I checked out the number of active bills that contain the phrase "Family and Medical Leave Act." I got 37 exact matches, and while some of them were obviously not balance-oriented, there seems to be a lot more action than I thought. There's a "Paid Family and Medical Leave Act of 2005" bill in the House, as well as a "Family and Medical Leave Protection Act of 2005" and a "Family and Medical Leave Enhancement Act of 2005." There's a "Healthy Families Act" (paid sick leave), too.

That's the good news. The bad news is that most of these are going nowhere, championed by the minority party and unlikely to receive much of a hearing in the current political setup. But as some of you may have read, there's an election coming up, and should things get shaken up a bit, perhaps some of these ideas will at least get discussed. And that's a discussion well worth having.

(Or, alternatively, for those who believe Tip O'Neill and the idea that all politics is local, MomsRising & the Progressive States Network have a wonderful catalog of state legislative models for everything from family leave to after-school programs.)

Brian Reid writes about parenting and work-family balance. You can read his blog at rebeldad.com.

By Brian Reid |  November 2, 2006; 7:00 AM ET  | Category:  Childcare , Flexibility , Workplaces
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