Workers in the Midwest are celebrating—and for good reason.
Decades of advocacy by workers and organizers paid off this year when Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois passed new workplace protections for employees and their families. These improvements caused both Michigan and Minnesota to move up, and Illinois to hold strong in the top ten, on our 2023 Best and Worst States to Work in America rankings. Find out how these victories happened and what they improved below.
In March 2023, after years of negotiations between labor groups and businesses, Illinois passed a law that requires employers to offer paid leave “for any reason.” The law covers full- and part-time employees, as well as public- and private-sector workers. It also bars employers from retaliating against the employees who use it.
In response, Joan Van, a single working mother of three who had no paid time off before this bill, told the Associated Press, “It’s going to help out a lot of people, a lot of mothers, a lot of single mothers at that.”
For years, Oxfam and our partners have advocated for mandatory paid leave across the entire country. Our research shows that women, especially women of color, are most impacted by an absence of guaranteed paid sick and family leave, and would greatly benefit from it becoming mandatory. But, while change at the federal level is critical, it often takes more time, so it’s important for states to fill those gaps.
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