Health Professionals and Allied Employees/AFT/AFL-CIO
110 Kinderkamack Road
Emerson, NJ 07630
201-262-5005
Statement by: Jean Pierce
Health Professionals & Allied Employees AFT AFL-CIO
February 5, 2007
Good Morning Senator Sweeney members of the Labor Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today in support of S2249.
My name is Jean Pierce, Public Policy Staff, the Health Professionals and Allied Employees AFT, AFL-CIO (HPAE), representing 12,000 Registered Nurses and health professionals working in hospitals, nursing homes, home care and blood drives across New Jersey.
A recent Eagleton Poll found the majority of New Jerseyans support a Paid Family Leave System as a means of balancing work and family; an important work-life issue faced by both employees and employers. As healthcare professionals we support (S2249), extending Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) to provide family leave benefits for workers caring for sick family members, newborn and newly adopted children.
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires companies with 50 or more employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job protected unpaid time off to employees for their own illness, to care for seriously ill family members or to bond with a new child. Few employers have formal policies providing their workers with paid family leave; however, many companies do allow employees to draw full or partial pay for family leave by using vacation, personal days or paid time off. Those companies make arrangements to ensure that the work gets done when employees are on vacation or on leave. Compared to the hiring and training costs of replacing those employees, paid family leave would be cost-effective for employers. Employee turnover is more disruptive and more expensive for employers; enabling employees to meet their family responsibilities reduces turnover and improves morale.
New Jersey’s Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) program currently offers partial pay replacement to workers who are themselves temporarily ill or disabled. S2249 provides that New Jersey workers contribute, what would be on average less than a dollar a week, into the state’s TDI system enabling them to receive up to 12 weeks of partial wage replacement over a 12-month period to care for a seriously ill family member or to bond with a new child. S2249 provides that the Paid Family Leave system be funded entirely by workers’ contributions with no required funding from employers.
We agree no working parent should have to choose between keeping a job and caring for a sick child or between what one owes to an employer and what is owed to a parent. HPAE fully supports S2249/A3812 and would urge this Committee to support this common-sense legislation that will help strengthen New Jersey’s working families by helping to balance work and family responsibilities.