CPA_Practice_Advisor_November_2020 - 16

THE LABOR LAW ADVISOR

Are Changes Coming to Federal
Paid Family Leave Laws?
PAID FAMILY AND medical leave has been a topic of discussion and near the top of the
wish list of employee advocates since the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act
(FMLA) in 1993. Paid leave has had the support of numerous Democratic presidential

RICHARD D. ALANIZ

Senior Partner
Alaniz Schraeder Linker Faris Mayes, L.L.P.
ralaniz@alaniz-schraeder.com

candidates and many Democratic members of Congress. It has consistently
been part of the Democratic Party's platform in presidential elections. In recent
years it has begun to garner support from Republican officeholders as well.
As a Republican presidential primary candidate, Donald Trump called for a
national paid family leave plan. Since early in the Trump administration Ivanka
Trump has been a vocal advocate for paid family leave. In addition, a number of
high-profile Republican members of Congress have demonstrated support for paid
family and medical leave to varying degrees over the past year or so.
FEDERAL ACTION
In 2018, Republican Senators Marco
Rubio of Florida and Bill Cassidy
of Louisiana sought to generate
bipartisan momentum on the issue.
Senator Cassidy, working closely
with Ms. Trump, held congressional
hearings on the issue and Senator
Rubio proposed a bill, the Economic
Security for New Parents Act, which
would provide for two months

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NOVEMBER 2020 ■

of paid parental leave. Under his
proposal new parents could delay
taking their Social Security benefits
in exchange for two months of paid
benefits. The proposed bill made
little progress in Congress. Much
of the discussion focused on the
impact on the continued viability of
Social Security if funds were used
to finance nonretirement needs.
Some expressed concern that a

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paid leave program funded
by Social Security benefits
could lead to other uses of
the funds.
There is little question that
a paid leave program enabling
new parents to balance the
competing demands of work and
family is an attractive benefit. In
fact, a recent poll found that 54% of
Americans think that the government should require employers to
provide 12 weeks of paid family
and medical leave. Only 29% of
respondents disagreed. The obvious popular support and increasing
political pressure from both sides
of the aisle for some type of leave
program means federal action is
more probable than not.
President Trump's most recent
budget proposal, as part of its focus
on support for working families,
includes a provision calling for
access to paid family leave for all
new parents. It proposes at least
six weeks of paid family leave to
new mothers and fathers, including

adoptive parents. It makes no mention of paid leave for their own or a
family member's health issues. In
response, the Democrats have put
forward a proposal that addresses
both issues and would give families
12 weeks paid leave. How such
leave would be funded remains a
thorny issue. In addition to concerns that use of Social Security
benefits could erode the program,
there is no consensus on whether it
should be funded by employers or
rather a combination of employee
and employer contributions. Other
open issues are what the percentage of pay replacement should be
and for how many weeks. Despite
these open questions, momentum
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