Maggie Viveros of Salem, Oregon, has ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune disorder that can cause inflammation and ulcers in the digestive tract. Last year, at 16, Viveros had a flare-up so severe that it caused a stroke. She had to spend weeks in a hospital recovering and rehabbing. “It’s fair to say that since I’ve been diagnosed, I’ve spent more time in the hospital than I have at school,” Viveros, now 17, said.
As hard as this illness has been on Viveros, it was almost as devastating for her mother, Margarita, a single parent and farm laborer who works on contract for an hourly wage and no benefits. While Viveros spent a month recovering in the hospital from her stroke, Margarita lost out on a month’s pay to take off work and stay by her daughter’s side. Viveros noticed conversations her mother was having with family about how to pay their rent.
“She had to be there — I couldn’t walk,” said Viveros. “It was painful not to walk, but it was more painful to watch her struggle. That’s when I realized how big of a deal it was, how much a family member being sick could affect a person.”
Viveros’ experience led her to testify before the Oregon House Committee on Business and Labor in favor of a bill that, should she have another bad flare-up, should help her mom breathe a little easier.
On July 1, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed what supporters are touting as the nation’s most progressive paid family leave bill into law. The measure provides 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a new baby or an ill family member to all workers in the state, including low-wage and hourly workers. All three West coast states — Washington, Oregon, and California — now have paid leave laws on the books. There is no guaranteed paid family leave law at the federal level, but this West Coast push, in addition to a group of Northeastern states, may be early signs that the tide is changing.
“This has become an issue already in the 2020 election for presidential candidates and senate candidates,” said Ellen Bravo, co-director of Family Values at Work, a national coalition of organizations that advocates for paid leave and sick days.
These laws require employees and employers to pay a small portion of every paycheck into a state fund, which will then be dispersed as needed when eligible workers file for paid leave benefits. In Oregon, contributions to the fund are set to begin in 2022, and workers can draw from it in 2023.
California was the first state in the nation to pass a paid family leave law, in 2002. Momentum was slow to build — the next state to pass a paid leave law came in 2008 (New Jersey), and then in 2013 (Rhode Island). But in the past three years, five more states — Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Connecticut — and the District of Columbia have passed paid-leave laws.
Eligible workers in California can receive up to six weeks per year of sick or family leave paid at 60 to 70 percent of their wages. According to the state’s Employment Development Department, approximately 18.7 million workers in California are eligible for paid leave. Washington passed a similar law in 2017 that allows 12 weeks of paid leave (in extreme cases, benefits can stretch to 18 weeks). Payroll deductions began in January 2019 with the first benefits to be distributed to those eligible in January 2020.
Oregon’s law is unique in that it includes job protection and pay for nearly all workers. Other paid-leave provisions require employees to make a certain wage, or exclude those who work for, for instance, tribal or state governments.
“We felt really strongly that everyone should be included, regardless of the size of your employer and what you do,” said Lili Hoag, the political director at Family Forward Oregon, one of the organizations involved in crafting Oregon’s bill.
Another differentiating factor in Oregon’s law is a broad definition of “family.” As enacted, the law defines a family member as any “individual related by blood or affinity” whose relationship to the employee “is the equivalent of a family relationship.” This was a coup for organizers who found nuclear-family provisions exclusionary, particularly for immigrants and LGBTQ people.
“We thought it was important to change the definition of family to include both blood and chosen family,” Hoag said. “Even under the state’s current unpaid leave law, you can’t take time for a sibling or an aunt, let alone someone who you may live with and love but not be related to by blood.”
The United States is the only developed nation in the world that does not legally guarantee paid family and medical leave. Advocates think the movement taking place at the state level may incite eventual federal action. Although paid family and parental leave has traditionally been a liberal issue, it is finding more widespread political support in recent years. Ivanka Trump, in particular, has pushed for federal paid-leave policies.
One path forward nationally could be that West Coast states, already booming in population and job growth, are creating a standalone business environment that’s more appealing to workers because of paid leave. “What will likely happen is people in Idaho and Montana will say, ‘Hey, this is really important and we need it too. If it’s not going to happen in our state’s legislature, then we need a federal bill,’” Bravo said. “People will see this imbalance here.”
Indeed, one reason Oregon’s bill passed with bipartisan support was that business groups endorsed it. Sandra McDonough, president and CEO of Oregon Business & Industry, the state’s largest business association, told The Oregonian her group was supporting the legislation because of its protections for small businesses (employers with fewer than 25 employees do not need to pay into the program, but their employees can still draw the benefit). The newspaper also reported, though, that the group’s support was in part a preventive measure, as voters could have approved a more generous paid-leave package via citizen initiative.
Worker advocates said the small-business carveout was a fair compromise. “The same people who run the small business in your town … are the customers who shop next door,” Hoag, with Family Forward Oregon, said. “The wellbeing of families and of towns’ economies depends on paid family and medical leave.”
Those forced to leave work to care for an ill relative, themselves, or a new baby know that the issue isn’t a political one. Dacia Grayber and her husband, Matt, are both longtime firefighters in Portland. In March, Matt was diagnosed with throat cancer, the treatment of which meant he needed around-the-clock nursing care. Dacia was home with him for a month, but her employer didn’t offer paid leave.
Grayber said the only silver lining to her husband’s illness has been its slicing through political discord. “I called a Republican senator (Tim Knopp, who represents Bend) who was a ‘maybe’ vote,” she said. “He ended up sending a get-well card to Matt. He told us our testimony meant a lot. So often on political issues, it feels like the other side is hearing through a filter, but it was very obvious we reached him on some level.”
Knopp ended up voting for the bill.
While the law can’t help the Graybers at this particular juncture, Dacia said the idea that a law will be in place in the future is life-changing, and she hopes it spreads nationwide.
“As a firefighter and paramedic, we see families ripped apart every day by medical situations, moms stressing about getting to work when their babies are sick — it’s heartbreaking,” she said. “I can’t wait for the first call I run as a paramedic where the family says, ‘We have to go to work, we can’t go in for treatment with them,’ and I can say, ‘There’s an option for you to be there with your loved one.’”
