California's paid parental leave plan lacks equitable access
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Eligible California residents have had state-sponsored paid parental leave for years, but experts say not everyone can access and use it.
Why it matters: Employees who don't take advantage of time-off policies could miss out on payments and benefits crucial for family bonding and recovery, such as improved mental and physical health outcomes.
Context: California enacted America's first paid family leave program in 2002. It provides up to eight weeks of benefits to eligible workers, such as parents bonding with a new child — defined as a baby, adopted or foster child.
- Depending on their income, parents receive about 60-70% of wages earned 5-18 months before their claim start date. The eight weeks can be taken within any 12-month period.
- The program, which is modeled after the financing structure for the state's disability insurance, is funded via a 1.1% tax on most California workers' paychecks.
Caveat: "Just because there's a policy that exists at the state level doesn't necessarily mean that everybody who lives in that state is going to equally access it," Stanford health-policy professor Maya Rossin-Slater told Axios.
- There's still a "significant amount of variation across companies and employers in terms of how information [about paid leave] is transmitted to workers and how much help is provided ... in terms of navigating these benefits," she noted.
Between the lines: Rossin-Slater's research has shown that upper-income employees are far more likely to use the program than lower-income workers, who often fear being let go from their jobs. California's program doesn't provide job protection.
- Racial and ethnic disparities also persist. Paid family leave access nationwide is significantly lower among Asian, Black and Hispanic workers compared to white workers, per a 2022 analysis of government data.
Zoom in: Last year, San Diego doubled the amount of parental leave for city workers, including from four weeks to eight weeks for full-time employees, to better attract and retain talent.
- The law also eliminated a 30-day waiting period for disability benefits for pregnant employees, as well as those disabled by pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition.
- It expanded access by lowering the minimum employment time requirement from one year to 30 days.
The bottom line: "The devil is in the details," Rossin-Slater said. "How you actually implement this program, how you set these parameters is going to matter in terms of the impact this is going to have on workers, their families and employers."