Read the full report (pdf)
Download the executive summary (pdf)
Video: Ask the Expert: Heather Boushey on Using Social Security to Ensure Paid Family and Medical Leave
WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today the Center for American Progress released a new report entitled “Helping Breadwinners When It Can’t Wait.” The report’s author, CAP Senior Economist Heather Boushey, makes the case for why adding family and medical leave to Social Security is perhaps the ideal way to finance paid family leave insurance.
The U.S. government, unlike every other developed nation, does not require that workers have access to paid leave for the birth of a child or to care for a seriously ill family member. The federal government requires workers to buy (pay taxes) into a variety of social insurance systems to provide income—maybe not enough income, but some income—during times when they are unable to work or can’t find work, when they retire, or during a long-term disability. Yet our social insurance systems do not provide for any cash income when workers need time off to care for their family members or recover from a serious illness.
The report first defines the problem so that it’s clear that half-measures are no solution at all, then details how employers have thwarted national family leave policy proposals in Congress.
Next, the report details how CAP’s solution to the family leave crisis, a Social Security Cares program, would work:
- Social Security Cares will allow workers to access Social Security benefits for income when they experience any of the three life events covered by the Family Medical Leave Act—the birth or adoption of a child, the worker’s own serious illness, or to care for a seriously ill family member—for the same amount of time as the Family Medical Leave Act, which is a maximum of 12 weeks per year.
- Social Security Cares will cover every worker currently covered by Social Security—even those who do not receive unpaid job-protected leave from the FMLA.
- Eligibility for the program will be based on a worker’s lifetime employment history and will use reasonable terms that allow young, part-time, and low-wage workers to qualify.
- The cost of the program is minimal and there are a variety of financing mechanisms: adding a small increase to the payroll tax (about three-tenths of a percent), lifting the earnings cap beyond its 2009 level of $106,800, or by allowing workers to trade future Social Security benefits for paid time off to provide care during their working years.
Finally, it turns to the important question of how to pay for Social Security Cares. This critical family leave insurance program is needed by all Americans, can be implemented easily and effectively, and can be paid for without threatening the safety and soundness of our Social Security system.
Read the full report (pdf)
Download the executive summary (pdf)
Video: Video: Ask the Expert: Heather Boushey on Using Social Security to Ensure Paid Family and Medical Leave
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