For immediate release: March 12, 2020
“Paid Leave for All calls on the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate to immediately pass, and the President to sign, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The country is in a crisis and requires a response to scale.
The Families First Act is a huge and urgent step toward protecting American workers and families. In response to COVID-19 it provides 14 days of emergency paid sick leave as well as longer-term paid leave for those who will need more time to recover, for quarantine, or to care for someone else ill or quarantined. It provides other critical protections for the safety and economic survival of workers, families, and whole communities.
Our nation is stronger when we all have time to heal and to care for our family when they’re sick—and a job to come back to. Currently, there is no federal law to ensure that all workers have access to paid sick leave or to longer-term paid leave. An estimated 32.5 million people do not have access to a single paid sick day in the United States. Only 19 percent of workers have access to longer-term paid leave through their employers. Right now this means that more people will be exposed to the virus, more families will lose loved ones, and the economy will suffer.
This legislation is a life raft and our country cannot wait. We must act now before it’s too late and pass the Families First bill—and as a country we must enact comprehensive national paid leave to guard against the next crisis we might face.”
The Paid Leave for All campaign is a growing collaborative of organizations fighting for paid family and medical leave for all working people. For more information on the Paid Leave for All campaign, visit https://paidleaveforall.org/.