Paid Family leave is a concept that progressive voters have long been awaiting but has failed to come to light due to political agendas. As essential workers across America face the COVID-19 epidemic head on, there is a new push for paid family leave that includes emergency paid sick leave.
As a part of Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan, paid family and medical leave are among the parts of the plan that are expected to pass Congress and come to fruition. Biden’s plans follow a similar path to what Congress passed last year, which has expired in 2021. President Trump signed an order allowing up to 80 hours of paid sick leave for workers who couldn’t work due to COVID-19 related symptoms last year, and Biden’s plan is expected to be fairly identical.
Biden’s plan, however, un-restricts a lot of the rules that Trump had put into place, that exempted large companies that were in the FFCRA. Biden’s plan offers 10 weeks of paid sick and family emergency and medical leave to further help with caregivers and families supporting loved ones with the virus. Employers with under 500 employees are expected to receive tax credits that would aim to reimburse the total costs of paid leave.
Although this plan is expected to only be in place while COVID-19 is around, many experts predict that Biden will try to pass a similar piece of legislation post-COVID as well, and they expect it to look very similar. This could be a lot tougher for the Biden Administration to get through Congress, but as so many Americans fall behind on money, the likelihood of success goes up.
