The BDN Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom, and does not set policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com.
The United States is one of the few countries in the world that does not require paid leave to allow workers to care for themselves and their families. America is especially an outlier when it comes to maternity leave.
Yet, Americans — and Mainers — strongly support paid medical and family leave, and research shows that paid leave can benefit employers by helping them attract and retain workers.
A federal family and medical leave plan stalled with the failure of the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan, and states have been left to craft their own policies. Maine has considered and debated paid family and medical leave plans for years. Last year, a commission report provided a blueprint for a plan that is currently before Maine lawmakers.
While we, along with the governor, members of the business community and others, have concerns about the details of the plan currently before the Legislature, passing a reasonable, workable bill is essential.
Advocates are collecting signatures to put a paid leave referendum on the ballot. Governing by referendum is not a good way to consider and enact laws around issues as important, and complex, as paid leave. With a referendum question, there are few opportunities for public input and changes to the language can be difficult if the referendum passes and becomes law.
So, it is incumbent upon lawmakers, the governor’s office and others to continue to work together to develop a paid leave plan that is most beneficial to the most Maine workers without being unduly burdensome on the state’s employers.
Sen. Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, and Rep. Kristen Cloutier, D-Lewiston, chaired the Commission to Develop a Paid Family and Medical Leave Program, and they have led the legislative effort, which has included many meetings and conversations with employers, worker advocates and others. Although the original bill, LD 1964, followed the commission’s report, Daughtry and Cloutier have since offered an amendment that incorporates changes based on feedback they received from those meetings and conversations. These “compromises” are appropriate, but it is unfortunate that they didn’t come earlier, giving the public more time to review and comment on a bill that better reflects what lawmakers will likely vote on.
One of the biggest challenges is extending paid leave to businesses and industries where it does not yet exist. Many large Maine employers, including the Bangor Daily News, already offer paid family and medical leave. These companies should not be disincentivized from continuing their plans.
To create a statewide program, the amended version of LD 1964 would levy a payroll tax — split between employers and employees — to create a fund to pay for the leave benefits. One concerning aspect of the amended bill is that it would exempt businesses with fewer than 15 employees from many provisions. We understand the challenges that these small businesses face with staffing, but remain concerned that their workers deserve paid leave as well. The bill also allows businesses to prove hardships from employee absences to be exempted from some provisions.
It will allow employees to take up to 12 weeks of leave a year to care for themselves or a family member if they are sick or injured. It would allow time off after pregnancy and childbirth, and for adoptions and foster care.
Under the current version of the bill, employees would be paid 90 percent of their salary up to the state’s average weekly wage, with lower wage replacement for higher salaries. This would be one of the highest wage replacement rates in the country. So, one compromise could be to lower the benefits to reduce costs, at least initially.
While details of the final legislation need to be worked out, there should be no argument that a broad paid leave plan will be beneficial to Maine’s workers and employers. Research shows that paid leave encourages workers, especially women, to join and stay in the workforce, which can help reduce the wage and wealth gap between men and women. Paid leave also helps businesses retain their workers. This is crucial at a time when employers broadly report difficulty finding workers.
Crafting a paid leave plan that can gain broad support in Augusta must be a priority for lawmakers. They should not leave this complex and contentious work to a referendum question.
