Congress has yet to extend those leave programs past Dec. 31, and lawmakers remain deadlocked over any compromise. California earlier this year created its own sick leave program, but it is written in a way that it will expire at the same time the federal programs end.
If all of those programs expire, some California workers will be left with three days of paid sick leave and eight weeks of paid family leave a year.
"Even in the past before COVID, I've talked to people where their parent had an emergency... and it spiraled into homelessness" because of the lack of paid leave, said Jenya Cassidy at the California Work and Family Coalition. "It's absolutely crucial that we extend what we have. We're kind of in an emergency right now."
State of COVID-19 Paid Leave
Since April 1, under the federal law, employees working at private firms with fewer than 500 workers (but more than 50) have been eligible for up to 10 days of paid sick leave if they are quarantined because of a government order or medical professional, or are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.In addition, people can get another two weeks of paid sick leave at two-thirds of pay if they are a caregiver for someone who is ill. And employees who have worked for an employer for at least 30 days before seeking leave may qualify for another 10 weeks of partially paid family and medical leave if they need to care for a child.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom in April issued an executive order to expand those programs to cover food and grocery workers working for bigger firms. In September, Newsom signed a bill to have all workers in large firms covered.
The bill also covered some state workers, such as firefighters and law enforcement officers excluded from the federal leave program.
Worker advocates hailed those moves, especially the federal legislation, which they saw as an important breakthrough after years of pushing for paid sick leave. Most people who work at bigger companies have such leave, but those at smaller firms did not.
The federal law has been "absolutely vital in protecting workers," said Laura Narefsky, fellow on the Workplace Justice Team at the National Women's Law Center.
The new policy worked to keep people from contracting COVID-19, a study by three health care policy experts published in Health Affairs in October found.
It concluded that "states where employees gained access to paid sick leave because of the (new federal law) had a statistically significant decrease of approximately 400 fewer confirmed new cases per state per day" compared to the period before the law took effect.
Programs to Expire Dec. 31
Yet the topic rarely comes up as members of Congress struggle to craft a bipartisan economic relief package.Asked about the prospects for extending the leave, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R- Iowa, said he's more focused on bigger items such as unemployment or help for small businesses.
He said the details of legislation "has to have to have broad bipartisan support. I don't know whether this item here has broad bipartisan support."
Lawmakers cite two potential roadblocks.
While the paid leave passed Congress easily earlier this year, Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R- Tenn., said this week, "Everything was bipartisan at that moment. We were trying to react quickly."
Remember, he said, when debating paid leave, "there are some big differences of opinion on the extent to which the federal government ought to be mandating paid sick leave."
"If you mandate it, I feel and most Republicans feel, the federal government ought to pay for it, and that's a difference of opinion with Democrats."
Employers get a break on the leave through a federal tax break.
But the Government Accountability Office, Congress' nonpartisan watchdog agency, found in a report last week that employers are often slow to seek the help. Mason thought that claims would accelerate as more returns are filed.
There is some optimism that the extension will be included in whatever deal Congress makes, but if Congress can't agree this year, supporters have an important new ally next month, when President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in.
Biden discussed emergency leave in his economic outline last week. "Emergency paid leave reduces the spread of COVID because it allows people to stay home when they're sick," he said.
What Can California do?
Newsom and California legislators said they are pushing Congress to extend those paid leave programs."Since the start of the pandemic, this administration has recognized that core to our economic recovery is workers who get sick being able to afford to take time off, so they are more likely to get tested and stay quarantined," Newsom's communications director Jesse Melgar said in an e-mail. "Federally required leave time is set to expire, and the federal government should act."
Melgar didn't elaborate on whether California will seek to expand those paid leave programs on its own, only saying the state will continue to work with the Legislature to support workers.
Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D- Oakland, cited challenges with the state's budget. Lengthening the federal program for another four to six months could cost $8 billion to $13 billion nationally, Wicks noted in her letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging Congress to provide federal funding for the extension.
"Critically, we need more federal funding for this for this immediate need," Wicks said. "The challenge is our state budget. That's why federal resource is so critical."
(c)2020 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
