[A] Senate committee on Monday advanced legislation to establish a statewide paid family leave program. In the process, the panel slashed the payroll tax proposed by the House by removing a section of the bill that would let workers take time off to address personal medical issues.
The bill, H.107, modified and approved by the Senate Economic Development committee this week, would grant employees six weeks of paid leave to take care of ill family members.
It would also grant working parents each six weeks of leave to take care of newborn children. Single parents could receive up to 12 weeks.
But unlike the House version of the bill, it would not allow employees to take paid time off for personal illness or injury.
The paid family leave bill passed by the House last month provided workers with more time off: 12 weeks of parental leave, eight weeks of family medical leave or eight weeks of personal medical leave. Consequently, the House-passed version comes with a much higher price tag.
The House paid leave program would cost $76 million per year and would be funded by a mandatory 0.53% payroll tax paid by employees.
The Senate’s program would cost about $27 million and would be funded by a 0.20% payroll tax split between employees and employers.
Sen. Michael Sirotkin, D-Chittenden, chair of the economic development committee, said the panel wanted to focus on giving Vermonters benefits that would allow them to take time to care for newborns or sick family members.
Vermonters already have protections that afford them paid sick days and generally have paid vacation time, he said.
“We were trying to get it to cover the heart of family leave which most people, I think, if you ask them, think of taking caring a child and taking care of an elderly person,” Sirotkin said.
Opponents of the Senate plan say that the employee benefit is essential.
“Including time to recover from your own illness or injury is a fundamental part of any family or medical leave program,” said Ashley Moore, who represents Vermont’s Main Street Alliance, a small business organization that has been pushing for a paid family leave program.
Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin, said that eliminating the paid leave program for employees renders the legislation less useful for workers.
“In an attempt to reduce the cost, we’ve made it far less valuable,” Brock said.
Brock, like Gov. Phil Scott, favors a voluntary paid family leave program, in contrast to the House and Senate proposals, which are mandatory for all businesses and employees. In the current bill, a private insurance carrier administers the program.
Democrats in the House and Senate have opposed establishing a paid leave program that doesn’t require universal participation. They say allowing employees or employers to opt out of the program would make it much more expensive for those who do participate.
“That will ultimately cause the cost — for whether it’s employers or employees — to skyrocket,” Sirotkin said.