DETROIT, Mich. — Supporters of paid family and medical leave gathered in Detroit on Friday to press for a Michigan program, arguing that most workers in the state cannot take time off for a new baby or a sick relative without losing a paycheck.
Federal law already lets workers at large employers take up to 12 weeks away for a new child or a serious health condition, but that time is unpaid. U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat who represents the 6th District, pointed to estimates from paid leave advocates that roughly 76% of Michiganders have no paid leave benefit to fall back on.
The state measure on the table is Senate Bill 1213 from state Sen. Erika Geiss, a Taylor Democrat. It was introduced Oct. 14 and sent to the Senate Committee on Housing and Human Services. Under the bill, workers would gain up to 12 paid weeks a year, rolled out over three years, for uses such as a long illness, caring for a relative or recovering after sexual or intimate partner violence.
Geiss pushed a similar package last term. It cleared committee in the Democratic-led Senate but never got a floor vote. This time the odds look longer, with Republicans in control of the state House and the two-year session nearing its end.
Michigan would be joining a growing but still limited group. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia run mandatory paid family leave systems, and all but one pay for the benefit through pooled payroll taxes on workers, employers or both. Nine more states take a voluntary approach that lets private insurers sell paid leave coverage. Of the 24 programs of either kind, 22 are already up and running. Minnesota is the only Midwest state with a mandatory program.
Small business groups have long fought the idea. Their objections center on cost and on the burden of holding a job open for weeks, and they point to Minnesota, where they say the state lowballed what its program would cost.
A federal paid leave bill has been introduced in Congress every session since at least 2004 without becoming law.
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