A similar proposal following last year's SOTU address omitted two key groups—family caregivers and those who have their own health issues—and failed to address issues of cost and implementation. (Photo: Shutterstock)
In this year's State of the Union speech, the president again mentioned paid family leave, saying, “I am also proud to be the first president to include in my budget a plan for nationwide paid family leave—so that every new parent has the chance to bond with their newborn child.”
While this is not really news—Trump also touted a family leave policy in last year's SOTU speech—there are still few details available about how it would work, what it would cost, and whom it would include.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, last year's speech did lay out a few specifics. Among other things, he said that such leave would be guaranteed by amendments to obligatory unemployment insurance. Congress didn't take that proposal very far.
In addition, CNBC reported after last year's speech that there were other shortfalls to the proposal. It called for just 6 weeks of leave, compared with “current federal law under the Family and Medical Leave Act, [which] allows some workers to take up to 12 weeks off.”
Then there's the fact that two key groups were excluded from last year's proposal—family caregivers and those who have their own health issues—in addition to the cost factor, which would have chiefly affected low-income women of childbearing age, according to Michael Strain, an economist at American Enterprise Institute, who added in the report that that proposal would probably involve an increase in payroll taxes.
This year there are no details yet, so it remains to be seen what form such a proposal might take. In the SHRM president and CEO Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. says he was pleased that Trump “signaled that this was a dialogue he was engaged in.” He added that employers will be watching for the answers to several questions: “How do you pay for it? Who pays for it? What is the cost of it?”
The White House website highlights actions already taken with regard to family leave. The posted statement says, “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed by the president included a new tax credit to businesses offering paid family leave to their employees. Businesses can receive a tax credit of up to 25 percent for the wages paid to employees during their leave. This tax credit marked an important step in promoting paid family leave nationwide.”
Still, Montez King, executive director of the National Institute for Metalworking Skills, speaking to SHRM, expressed concern about how small businesses would pay for a family leave policy, saying, “The larger companies, they can absorb it much more easily. As a smaller company … that's a tall order for us.”
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
