Letter to the Editor: As we recover from pandemic, paid leave for all needed

After a year full of hardship for so many Delawareans, the pandemic has made one thing abundantly clear: A strong economic future for our state depends on commitment to putting our families and our health first.

It is for this reason that we urge you to support and prioritize passing the Healthy Delaware Families Act, Senate Bill 1, which will ensure all Delaware workers can access paid family and medical leave when they need it most.

Enabling workers to care for themselves and their families is an economic imperative. Nationwide, we saw more than 2 million women leave the workforce during the pandemic, many because they were caring for a sick family member without any paid-leave policy that would help them return to work. Without paid family and medical leave, too many Delawareans were faced with an impossible choice: Can I take the time to recover from illness if it means losing my paycheck, or do I leave my job altogether? Too many times, Delawareans feel they have no other choice than to leave a job they love because they must put their families first.

The numbers tell a dire story. In Delaware, 54% of working people do not have access even to unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). That number grows for Black and Latinx Delawareans and those working in low-wage jobs, just 8% of whom have access to paid family and medical leave. While the pandemic has exacerbated these inequalities, the long-term consequences for families will only worsen as Delaware’s population continues to age. It is anticipated that over the next 20 years, Delaware’s share of the population aged 65 and over will grow by more than 10%, posing an extreme challenge to family caregivers across the state. Research from AARP Delaware found that a majority of Delawareans have had to cut back on work hours due to caregiving responsibilities, with 14% needing to leave their jobs altogether to provide care for loved ones.

Bottom line: Giving Delawareans the ability to balance work and family is more than the right thing to do — it is critical to an economic strategy that will enable families to grow and thrive right here in Delaware.

Delaware can make these necessary improvements by building on the best practices of other paid family and medical leave programs across the country. Already nine states and the District of Columbia have passed paid family and medical leave insurance programs. In New Jersey, one of the first states to pass a paid-leave program, employers reported reduced stress and improved morale among their employees. Other studies have shown that paid-leave programs reduce costly turnover and increase the likelihood an employee will return to work after taking it.

The Healthy Delaware Families Act builds upon those successes, creating a program that will both uplift Delaware workers and level the playing field for businesses of all sizes, especially small businesses that struggle in the competition for talent. The Healthy Delaware Families Act provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave for Delaware workers facing a qualifying event, including:

• To address a worker’s own serious health condition.
• To care for a family member with a serious health condition.
• To bond with a new child.
• To provide safe leave for victims of domestic violence.
• To address the impact of a family member’s military deployment.

Everyone will face a major medical event at one point in their lives. The pandemic has reminded us that we never know when that moment will come. Whether it’s COVID-19 or cancer, no Delawarean should be forced to make the impossible choice between their job, their health and their family.

We urge you to take action to uplift all Delaware families and ignite our economic recovery by enshrining paid family and medical leave as the law of the land. There’s no time to lose.

Liz Richards

Director, Delaware Cares Coalition for Paid Leave

Margaret R. Chou, MD

Secretary/Chair elect, DE section ACOG

Jocelyn I. Collins

DE, MD, & Washington DC Government Relations Director, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

Michael A. Begatto

Executive Director, AFSCME Council 81

Jillian Willis & Alisa Morkides

Director of Operations & Owner, Brew Ha Ha!

Andrea Brown-Clarke

Coordinating Committee Chair, DE Poor People’s Committee  

Shyanne Miller

Campaign Manager, Building People Power

Rev. Robert P. Hall

OSL, President, Christian Council of Delmarva

Xavier O'Connor

Law Clerk, Community Legal Aid Society, Inc

Rabbi Yair Robinson

Congregation Beth Emeth

Chris Kocher

COVID Survivors for Change

Coby Owens

Chair, Delaware Democratic Black Caucus

Kristin E. Harvey

Executive Director, Delaware Developmental Disabilities Council

David A. Bever, MSW

Executive Director, Delaware Center for Justice, Inc.

Mariann Kenville-Moore

Director of Advocacy & Policy, DE Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Charito Calvachi-Mateyko 

Coordinator, Delaware Civil Rights Coalition

Melvin Phillips

President, Delaware Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) Chapter

Christopher E. Otto, MSN, RN

Executive Director, Delaware Nurses Association

Melissa B. Froemming

President, Delaware National Organization for Women

Genevieve Aucoin

Organizer, Delaware Paid Parental

Leave Coalition

Malina Spirito, PsyD, MEd

President, Delaware Psychological Association

Charanjeet Singh Minhas

Chairman, Delaware Sikh Awareness Coalition

Debbie Silverman

Chair, Delaware Women For Inclusion

Nick Beard, PhD

Steering Committee Member, Delaware United

Karl Stomberg

Organizer, Delaware Working Families Party

Gwendoline B. Angalet, Ph.D.

CEO, GBA Consulting

Paul Thornburg

Secretary/ Treasurer, General Teamsters Local 326

Basha Silverman

CEO, Jewish Family Services of Delaware

DeBorah Gilbert White

Founder/Coordinator, HerStory Ensemble LLC

Gwendolyn R. Y. Miller

President, League of Women Voters of Delaware

Dr. Joshua Thomas

CEO/Executive Director, National Alliance on Mental Illness in Delaware

Jennifer Muthig

Director, Advocacy & Policy, National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Fleur McKendell

President, NAACP Central Chapter

Freeman Williams

President, NAACP Newark Chapter

Vasu Reddy

Senior Policy Counsel, Economic Justice

National Partnership for Women & Families

Tyeisha Grier

Co-Coordinator Community Policy Institute/Kent County Organizer, Network Delaware

Katherine Caudle

Chair, New Castle County Democratic Committee

Jordyn Pusey

President, Progressive Democrats for Delaware

Dede Johnston, Ed.D.

Member, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Peace & Justice Work Group

Ruth Lytle-Barnaby

President & CEO, Planned Parenthood of Delaware

Karen DeRasmo

Executive Director, Prevent Child Abuse Delaware

Gerry Cohen

Chair, PDSC Economic Justice Committee, Progressive Democrats of Sussex County

Andrea Brown-Clarke

Director of Community Partnerships, MWUL & Network Delaware

Kathleen Thompson

President, Shore Democrats

Daisy Cruz

Mid-Atlantic Area Leader, SEIU 32BJ

Becky Laster

Chair, Unitarian Universalist Delaware Advocacy Network (UUDAN)

Stacie Burton

President, Sussex County Women's Democratic Club

Emmanuel Jenkins

Founder, We Stand 4 Something

Kathleen Purcell

Executive Director, Wilmington Senior Center

Sue Nyden

Co-Chair, Women’s March Sussex Delaware

Marlene A. Saunders, DSW, LMSW, MSW

Co-Chair, Women’s March Sussex Delaware