Ensuring low-income workers can access paid time off for family and medical needs has become an increasingly high priority for state-run paid leave programs, including one in Connecticut that’s set to start paying benefits Jan. 1.
The movement among the most recent paid leave adopters—including Colorado, the District of Columbia, Oregon, and Washington state—also helped shape the policy details of a nationwide paid leave proposal that passed the U.S. House last month but faces major hurdles in the Senate.
Newer programs such as Connecticut’s are being designed to replace nearly all of low-wage workers’ earnings during their weeks of leave, as well as ensuring they are protected from losing their jobs for taking time off, said state Sen. Julie Kushner (D), who co-chairs the Connecticut legislature’s labor committee and helped design the state’s paid leave program.
“We had the advantage of looking at other states that had already implemented the program. We did learn from those states,” Kushner said. “We did focus on making sure lower-wage workers got the greatest benefit, because I think they have the hardest time paying their bills at the time when they need to take leave.”
The approach is a shift from the earliest state paid leave programs, in particular California, which...
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