Fewer than expected taking family leave
First year of a state law allowing paid absences drew just 137,000
people.
By Rachel Osterman -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Saturday, July 2, 2005

It wasn't the rush of new parents and caregivers that the state had
projected.
But over 137,000 Californians took advantage of the state's first year
of paid family leave from work, the Employment Development Department
reported Friday.

It was the first statistical snapshot of California's first-in-the
nation family leave law, a controversial measure that sparked national
attention over the balance between work and family life.

The law allows 13 million private-sector workers to receive up to six
weeks of paid leave to bond with a newborn or care for a seriously ill
spouse, parent or domestic partner. They receive 55 percent of their
weekly wages, up to $840. The funding comes from a payroll tax on
workers' wages.

"I think it's a great success for its first year," said Liz Doyle,
policy director for the California Labor Federation. "Over 137,000
people in California were able to stay home and take care of a sick
child or an ill family member."

In the program's first year, the average length of paid family leave
was five weeks. The average weekly benefit was $409.

EDD originally predicted that 300,000 California workers would apply
for the benefits, receiving a sum of roughly $600 million. About
176,000 applied for the benefits this year and about $300 million was
issued in weekly benefits.

Although the number of applicants and the cost were considerably lower
than anticipated, some of the original opponents of the legislation,
signed into law in 2002 by former Gov. Gray Davis, said they remain
concerned that the new benefit adds to the cost of doing business in
California.

"We're worried anytime there's a law that makes California unique
compared to the rest of the country," said Sara Lee, spokeswoman for
the California Chamber of Commerce.

She said it's too early to tell, however, what the full impact of paid
family leave will be.

One beneficiary of the new law was East Sacramento resident Majica
Phillips. The 30-year-old was working as a behavior specialist for Head
Start before giving birth to Arabella, now 14 months old.

Phillips took paid family leave after her baby's birth, she said,
because "it was really important to me to be her primary caretaker."

The one-on-one time led her to decide to remain a full-time mom, at
least for a while longer.

"It's a great benefit because you get the smiles and the response to
the voice and the touch, and it opens your eyes up to how important you
really are," she said. "We were able to be more of a pair."

Phillips said she would have taken time off even if it was unpaid, but
said the partial paycheck helped her and her husband hold back on debt.

The California measure goes significantly beyond federal law.

Under the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act, workers can take up to 12
weeks of time off to care for a family member or nurture their own
illness, but it's unpaid. It applies only to workers whose employers
have a payroll of 50 people or more.

Interestingly, Friday's release offered at least a partial insight into
who takes responsibility for child rearing. About 83 percent of those
who filed a claim for the newborn bonding benefits were women, compared
to 17 percent male participation.

Also, the vast majority of paid leave claims - about 88 percent - were
for newborns. Claims for caregivers were just under 12 percent.

That's not surprising, according to one academic.

"The idea of getting paid to take care of a family member is still so
new," said Ruth Milkman, the director of UCLA's Institute of Industrial
Relations who has studied family leave issues.

Of women who receive pregnancy disability insurance, and were therefore
informed of their right to paid family leave, only 49 percent opted to
collect the additional benefit. That compared to the 90 percent that
EDD had initially projected.