• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Southwest Women's Law Center

SWLC Twitter SWLC Instagram SWLC Facebook
  • Home
  • Advocacy Issues
    • Paid Family & Medical Leave Act
    • Economic Security & Workplace Rights
      • Pregnant Worker Accommodation Act
      • Breastfeeding
      • Equal Pay
    • Reproductive Justice
      • Abortion is Healthcare
      • Reproductive Justice Framework
    • Health and Safety
  • In Session
  • News
  • Resources
    • Our Allies
    • Case Studies
    • Legal Advice & Brief Legal Services
    • Events
  • About
    • Meet the Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • History
  • Contact Us
  • Get Involved
    • Work With Us
    • Volunteer
    • Donate

My View Tracy McDaniel: Paid Family and Medical Leave Can’t Wait

March 28, 2021 by SWLC

By Tracy McDaniel
Feb 28, 2021

COVID-19 made clear that U.S. workers struggle to balance work, health, and family obligations. This is particularly true for women, especially women of color, who have left the workforce at alarming rates in the last year, including 275,000 American women in January alone. This exodus of women from the workplace is due in large part to the conflict between work and caregiving. We can and must find ways to help New Mexicans balance work obligations and caring for their health and their families.

The U.S. has struggled to cope with the economic realities of the pandemic in ways that other countries have not. One significant reason for this difference is the lack of support for workers who are suddenly unable to participate in the workforce due to health-related or caregiving concerns.

Among wealthy nations, the U.S. stands alone in its failure to ensure paid sick leave and paid family leave to workers.

As one of their first acts in response to COVID-19 in March, members of the U.S. Congress enacted temporary paid sick and paid family leave. While leaders in other countries were working to address the myriad issues related to the economic and public health crises, Congress was caught debating paid leave measures that have been guaranteed to workers elsewhere around the world for years. The provisions they passed were temporary, limited and have since expired.

Guaranteed paid leave has been replaced with a temporary tax credit for employers who choose to provide leave. Because of the limited reach and voluntary nature of these provisions, many New Mexicans have been unable to access this support.

While limited in their reach among New Mexicans, this series of rushed temporary measures at the federal level have demonstrated that paid leave policies are necessary to an economy’s ability to respond, adapt and bounce back from major financial and public health disruption. Based on an Urban Institute analysis, states with existing paid family and medical leave programs were better able to respond to pandemic-related claims than those relying solely on unemployment insurance systems.

If New Mexico had a such a program in place before the pandemic, our economy and our communities would have suffered less from coronavirus-related hardships. We now have the opportunity to create systems that support future economic resilience for New Mexico.

The state Legislature currently is considering House Bill 38, which would create the Paid Family and Medical Leave Trust Fund administered through the Department of Workforce Solutions. After six months of contributions, individuals would be able to receive leave compensation from the trust fund to take up to 12 weeks away from work to welcome a new child, manage a serious health condition or care for a family member with a serious health condition.

Because of the economic downturn, HB 38 proposes a delayed implementation timeline with more than two years to begin rolling out the program. The delay recognizes both the economic realities facing New Mexico and the urgency of the moment.

In the face of an unprecedented crisis last spring, precious time was wasted at all levels of government, scrambling to deal with a problem that other countries have already solved. We must support workers and ensure economic stability. A paid family and medical leave policy is imperative to our economic security at the individual, community, state and national level. For New Mexico to be ready for the next emergency and to protect everyday workers experiencing caregiving needs and health conditions, we must act now to enact paid family and medical leave.


Tracy McDaniel is a policy advocate with Southwest Women’s Law Center. She has been working to improve
outcomes for young children and families in New Mexico since 2009.

Read on Santa Fe Reporter

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: COVID 19, Paid Family & Medical Leave Act

Before Footer

Additional Resources

  • Resources
  • Advocacy Issues
  • Archives
  • Work With Us
  • Volunteer
  • Events
  • Privacy Policy

Support the Southwest Women’s Law Center.

SWLC Twitter SWLC Instagram SWLC Facebook
Serving the state of NM
505.244.0502
Non-Profit 501c3 Organization

With your support, we can make powerful shifts in protecting women and girls in the state of New Mexico.

Learn more on how you can help

Subscribe

* indicates required
                    
                    
                    
                    
Please choose your interest(s)
      
            
            
      

Thank You

With your support, we are able to do more. We are incredibly grateful!

  • Con Alma Health Foundation
  • Ford Foundation
  • McCune Charitable Foundation
  • National Institute for Reproductive Health
  • New Venture Fund
  • Nirvana Mañana Institute
  • The Ruth M Knight Foundation, Inc.
  • Santa Fe Community Foundation
  • W.K. Kellogg Foundation


Copyright 2005-2022 | Southwest Women's Law Center | Non-Profit 501c3 Organization

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}