Family and Medical Leave
Family and medical leave allows employees to take paid time off to care for a long-term medical issue for themselves, their children, or a loved one or to address needs during a long-term absence from work, such as a military deployment.
Benefits to EmployersFootnote # 1
- Increases productivity
- Does not impact profits
- Increases retention, reducing turnover costs
- Reduces employee absenteeism
- Provides healthier work environment
- Reduces health care costs
- Workers recover from disability, illness, or injury more quickly
- Increases loyalty
Benefits to ChildrenFootnote # 2
- Encourages use of preventative health care
- Children recover more quickly from illness and injury when parents are available to care for them
Benefits to Parents/FamiliesFootnote # 3
- Encourages use of preventative health care
- Workers recover from disability, illness, or injury more quickly
Research or Recommendations from National Organizations
- While it does not provide a recommended amount, the American Medical Association strongly encourages private employers to offer paid sick and medical leave and allow employees to use that leave to care for children when they are sick or injured.Footnote # 4
- In 2021, more than two dozen medical associations, patient groups and healthcare partners joined together to advocate for a national paid family and medical leave program. Organizations included the ALS Association, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Organization for Rare Disorders and the Epilepsy Foundation.
- The American Heart Association advocates for paid leave policies that:Footnote # 5
- cover as many workers as possible;
- offer sufficient wage replacement, ensuring lower-income workers have enough wage replacement to allow them to take advantage of paid leave policies;
- offer sufficient time off to meet worker needs;
- guarantee job protections and anti-retaliation protections;
- allow gender neutral parental leave to promote gender equity in the workplace; and
- include an education and awareness campaign.
- The duration of paid leave that is necessary for employees to care for themselves, their child or a loved one, during a long-term illness or injury varies greatly, according to the World Policy Center:Footnote # 6
- For personal medical leave, six months is important to cover severe illnesses, such as cancer that requires chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment. However, some workers may be able to return to work part-time or intermittently while undergoing treatments, and leave can be shorter for less serious injuries or illnesses.
- Paid personal medical leave should also be made available on a part-time and intermittent basis for workers in the chronic phases to encourage follow-up and ongoing care.
- For children, parental presence is important for the full duration of the illness; however, during periods of recovery, this care can be split between parents or other close caregivers. Employers should work with employees to determine an optimal schedule of paid time off based on the child’s illness or injury.
Just 15 percent of workers have access to paid leave to care for their own long-term illness or the long-term illness of a child.
Range of Practices in the United States
The US is one of the few developed, industrialized nations that does not require paid family and medical leave by federal law.
Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have now passed legislation to create paid family and medical leave programs. Footnote # 7
Twenty-eight percent of private industry workers and 70 percent of public industry workers have access to paid military leave.
While paid military leave is available to all public sector employees, just 30 percent of private businesses offer paid military leave, with large variations across industries and job responsibilities. Footnote # 8
As of March 2022, just 43 percent of the private sector workforce has access to short-term disability insurance through an employer.Footnote # 9 Short-term disability insurance is used to cover income during a long-term medical leave.
In February 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that employers who provide paid short-term leave for sickness, bereavement or jury duty must also pay employees who take short-term leave for military service.
Case Study
Locations: Durham, NC and Seattle, WA
Number of employees: 31
Heidi Baggerman and Devin Brooks understand what it’s like being new parents, from the joys of that first baby smile — you know the one — to the sleepless nights. But Heidi and Devin, who are colleagues at Pocket Prep, are lucky because they both work for a Family Forward NC Certified Employer.
Pocket Prep creates effective, convenient, and engaging test prep apps for more than 130 standardized exams — from nursing to finance to the automotive industry. The company is headquartered in Seattle, though most of its employees live in Durham, North Carolina.
But more importantly, Pocket Prep is an organization that values working parents and puts its employees first. Pocket Prep became a Family Forward NC Certified Employer in 2023.
Below, Heidi and Devin share more about their experiences as working parents, and how the right family supports are so important for families and a company’s overall success.
The Power of Paid Family Leave
Heidi, Pocket Prep’s director of design, joined the company in 2019. Then, she was the company’s solo designer and Pocket Prep had fewer than 10 employees. Now, Heidi leads a team of five, and the company has grown to 31 employees.
Heidi says the support she receives from Pocket Prep makes her role as a working mom possible. “Honestly, I think it’s why I’m still in the workforce and have a job. If I wasn’t supported, I don’t think I’d be in the workforce at the moment,” Heidi says.
At the start of the pandemic, Heidi and her husband temporarily moved to Colorado so her partner could complete a graduate degree. That’s when she really saw Pocket Prep’s family-friendly values firsthand. “One of the first things Pocket Prep did was support our move and allow me to work remotely,” Heidi says. Since COVID-19, the company has maintained a hybrid working model for its employees.
While in Colorado, Heidi found out she was having a little boy – her first child. She worked directly with co-founder Ken Gillette to establish Pocket Prep’s first paid parental leave policy.
Through the policy – which has since been updated – Pocket Prep employees receive 100 percent paid leave ranging from eight weeks for non-birthing parents to 14 weeks for parents who give birth.
As a dad, Senior Digital Marketing Analyst Devin had experience with the non-birthing parent policy.
He says Pocket Prep’s paid parental leave helped keep his family afloat financially while allowing him and his wife to spend time with their daughter after she was born. At the time, Devin’s wife worked for an employer who didn’t offer paid parental leave, so she had to take FMLA leave following the birth of their first daughter.
Since Devin could take paid time off, he could care for his family while worrying a little less about finances.
“It was a stressful time for us, which I think a lot of new parents understand. Pocket Prep was able to take the stress out of the work situation, at least, and let me fully focus on my family,” Devin says.
When his wife was pregnant with their second daughter, Nadia, Devin says his colleagues and managers at Pocket Prep continued being supportive and caring.
“The entire organization, including both owners and my team, were very compassionate,” he says, “especially with our second child, when I was juggling our toddler and helping my wife, who was having a pretty rough pregnancy.”
Supporting Parents as They Come Back to Work
Employees at Pocket Prep have some flexibility in how they choose to return to work after leave. Heidi chose to take four weeks to ramp back up and take the opportunity to settle into her role as a working mom – an option she really appreciated having.
“Your whole life is just so different and unpredictable after having a baby. That transition time was so huge. It felt like such a kind, approachable way to return to work,” she says.
Devin, whose children are a little older, says Pocket Prep’s family-first culture means he can continue spending time with his family when he needs to. That’s why Devin, who has been with Pocket Prep for nearly four years, has no plans to leave.
“Being able to put my family first has made it a much more stress-free time with my family. My relationship with my kids, with my wife, have benefited,” he says. “We all have better relationships because the company allows me to have flexibility and put my family first.”
Devin and Heidi share the same key takeaway: when you take care of your employees, you’re building a stronger team – one that cares about their organization and helps it succeed.
Learn more about becoming a Family Forward NC employer here.
Sample Benefits
- Paid parental leave (14 weeks for birthing parents; 8 weeks for non-birthing parents)
- Paid caregiver leave (8 weeks outside of parental leave to care for a spouse, child, parent, or sibling who needs care for a serious health condition)
- 100% coverage of healthcare premiums
- Remote and flexible work options