Increase in D.C. Paid Family Leave Benefits
On this International Women’s Day, we are proud to announce that as of July 1, 2022, D.C. workers will have access to up to 12 weeks of paid leave benefits to bond with new children in their households, attend to their own serious medical conditions, or care for family members with serious health conditions!
Over five years ago, when the Universal Paid Leave Act was being debated in the D.C. Council, the D.C. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) prepared a fiscal impact report for the then-proposed program. His office concluded that, based on uptake projections and calculations regarding tax contributions, there would not be sufficient money in the fund to provide the level of benefits that advocates supported. Based on this report, the number of weeks dropped for each category of leave benefits, and the bill that actually passed to put the program into effect only provided 2 weeks of benefits for a serious medical condition; 6 weeks of benefits for caregiving; and 8 weeks of benefits for bonding. While advocates like First Shift were excited to have this new program, we all knew this was much less than D.C. workers needed or deserved.
Fast forward to August 2021, when the FY22 Budget Support Act passed, imposing a requirement on the CFO to prepare an annual report regarding the fiscal impact of the paid family medical leave program and fund solvency. Based on these reports, the number of benefit weeks available to D.C. workers would increase incrementally on an annual basis until it capped at 12 weeks per year for each category (12 weeks maximum per year; for pregnant women, up to 14 weeks per year, including the two weeks of prenatal leave).
The FY22 CFO report was due on March 1st, last Tuesday. Late that evening, advocates’ phones and emails started buzzing, with the news that the CFO report had concluded that leave benefits could increase to 12 weeks per year for any of the covered life events – and not only that, but employer taxes would be reduced by over half, from .62% to .26%.
This is an incredible development. D.C.’s paid family medical leave benefits program was always intended to be a step toward “leveling the playing field” among D.C. workers of different income levels with respect to paid leave; this increase in the number of weeks of benefits brings our city much closer to realizing that goal. We are grateful to Councilmember Elissa Silverman, who has spent every year of her time on the D.C. Council championing this program.
First Shift is so proud to be part of the D.C. Paid Family Leave Coalition and an advocate for this program since 2015. We testified numerous times at hearings; prepared community members to testify; met with Councilmembers; provided technical input on the draft legislation; and worked with staff members of the Office of Paid Family Leave to develop regulations and launch the program. Our involvement has continued as we provide feedback to the Labor Committee and the Office of Paid Family Leave regarding our client’s experiences and recommend improvements to the program. D.C.’s Department of Employment Services considers this their “marquee” program, and First Shift is part of the reason for that success.
