Paid Family and Medical Leave supports family well-being and the economy.
We know families in Hawai‘i are strongest when we have time to heal from serious illness or injury, welcome a new child, or help a loved one recover or ease their passing. Everyone should be able to take time off to care for themselves or a loved one without risking their job or paycheck.
What is paid family and medical leave (PFML)?
Paid family and medical leave allows workers to take time off and still receive part of their income when they need to care for their own serious health needs or those of a loved one, or to bond with a new child.
The United States is the only developed country without national paid family and medical leave.
To fill that gap, thirteen states plus the District of Columbia have passed PFML laws – more than half of them passed since 2018. Hawai‘i should join them.
• Parental leave – for parents, including fathers and adoptive and foster parents, to bond with a new child
• Medical leave – for a worker to recover from their own serious illness or injury
• Caregiving leave – for a worker to care for a family member with a serious health condition
• Deployment leave – to handle arrangements for military service
• Safe leave – to deal with domestic violence, such as seeking a restraining order or relocating to safety
Though both provide time off, paid family and medical leave is not the same as paid sick days. PFML provides time off for major life events, like the birth of a child or extended illnesses. In contrast, paid sick days usually do not provide enough time for recovery from childbirth or a major medical event.
Why do we need paid family and medical leave?
When Hawai‘i workers face life circumstances that make it impossible for them to work, they do not have any legal right to PFML. Currently, only about one in four private sector workers has access to paid family and medical leave. Lower-income workers in Hawai‘i – who are more likely to be Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander – are the least likely to have PFML, while they need that financial support the most.
The federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Hawaiʻi Family Leave Law (HFLL) protect an employee from losing their job while they are caring for a sick relative or their self or bonding with a new child, but that leave is unpaid. And since the FMLA and HFLL apply only to very large employers, most Hawai‘i workers are not even eligible for that unpaid leave.
Most working mothers who give birth can get partial pay through Hawai‘i Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) to recover from childbirth, but TDI cannot be used by non-birth parents or to care for other family members. Of the 5 states with TDI programs, Hawai‘i is the only one that doesn't also have a statewide PFML program.
Meanwhile, Hawai‘i has 154,000 unpaid family caregivers, providing 144 million hours of care worth $2.6 billion per year, and those numbers will continue to increase as our population ages.
We have been expecting Hawai‘i workers, especially moms, to just cobble together family care. We need paid family and medical leave so that Hawai‘i families and businesses are never scrambling for piecemeal solutions when illness strikes, a serious caregiving need arises, or a new child arrives.
How does paid family and medical leave help working families?
Research has found that states with PFML programs have seen significant health, social and economic benefits. Families who have access to paid leave – especially working women – are healthier, more economically secure, more likely to stay in the workforce, and less likely to need public benefits.
It's no mystery why: Paid leave helps children by helping their parents. New parents with paid family and medical leave spend more time bonding with their children, improving health and education outcomes. And PFML allows workers to stay home to care for themselves or their loved ones without the economic and mental stress of losing their jobs or falling into poverty.
If we had PFML in Hawai‘i, workers wouldn't have to swallow an average of $3,700 in lost wages during 4 week so unpaid leave. In addition, Hawai‘i has one of the highest rates (38%) in the nation of nursing homes reporting a shortage of direct care workers. Paid family and medical leave can help alleviate that shortage: States with PFML programs have seen reductions in nursing home utilization.
How does paid family and medical leave help local businesses?
Researchers have found that paid family and medical leave is good for business, because employees with PFML are more productive, which increases profits, and loyal, which lowers turnover costs.
With a statewide PFML program, small payroll deductions go into a state fund, which workers apply to when they need to take leave. Since employees are paid from the state fund while taking family or medical leave, employers do not need to pay their workers while they are on paid leave, which saves them money in the long run.
For example, in California, which started the first statewide PFML program in 2002, small businesses have experienced an average 14% decrease in PFML labor costs per employee. In addition, small and medium-sized businesses reported more positive outcomes from the PFML program than large businesses.
That's because statewide PFML helps even the playing field for small businesses. Currently, most small businesses cannot afford to offer adequate PFML to their employees, which makes it hard for them to compete for the best workers against big companies that can afford to provide robust PFML.
Enabling small businesses to provide PFML through a state program also gives employers the peace of mind that they are doing what’s best for their employees. Not surprisingly, recent surveys show that nearly 8 on 10 small business owners support PFML and believe that it boosts employee morale and productivity.
Similarly, as we struggle to keep our working-age families from moving away, Hawai‘i is competing with states that have PFML – including California, Washington and Oregon – for the best workers. In 2023, more than 25,000 Hawai‘i residents moved to states that have statewide PFML programs. When young couples are deciding where to start a family, paid family and medical leave may be an important deciding factor for them.
How would a paid family and medical leave work?
In Hawaiʻi, the program would:
- Be a state-run benefit program, like Social Security or Medicare.
- Be funded by small payroll deductions that go into a state fund, which workers apply to when they need to take leave.
- Employers would not need to pay employees while they are on leave, since they are paid from the state fund.
- Would be available to both full and part-time workers.
- Provide up to 12 weeks for parental leave and up to 26 weeks for caregiving (our current TDI standard).
- Provide a higher portion of wages to lower-income workers, so they can afford to take the leave.
- Ensure that employees have a job to go back to after they take leave.
In the states with PFML programs, the average payroll deduction is 0.69% of wages, usually split between employers and employees. In comparison, Hawai‘i employers typically pay about 0.43% of wages for the limited benefits of TDI. While PFML payroll deductions would be slightly larger than those for TDI, the additional benefits for employers and employees would be much greater, and a better bang for the buck.
The Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to analyze how PFML could work in Hawai‘i. With that grant, comprehensive research was conducted in 2017 by national experts and local organizations.
The family leave analysis report includes an economic analysis and eligibility and benefit modeling; a feasibility study; opinion polling of Hawai‘i workers; and focus groups of local labor unions, employers, parents, and family caregivers. Among many detailed findings, it found that paid family and medical leave in Hawai‘i is:
- Feasible
- Not expensive
- Supported by 94% of Hawai‘i workers
That report was followed by a 2019 Legislative Reference Bureau analysis of the impacts of the establishment of a PFML program on industry, consumers, employees, employers and caregivers. That report included Hawai‘i-based cost breakdowns as well as options for compliance and enforcement of a proposed PFML program.
No one in Hawai‘i should ever have to choose between their loved ones and their paycheck. It's time for paid family and medical leave in Hawai‘i.
Imagine what your life would look like if your family had access to paid family and medical leave. It's time to ask your legislators: Are you doing everything you can to support families like mine? Take action by signing up for emails and action alerts, signing the petition, or joining the coalition.
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