LGBT Inclusive Paid Leave Policies

A new report by A Better Balance, the Center for American Progress, Family Values @ Work & Forward Together details how to develop paid leave policies that use an LGBTQ inclusive definition of family & provides model policy language that appropriately captures the diverse realities & needs of today’s American families. Laura E. Durso, Senior Director of the LGBT Research & Communications Project at the Center for American Progress stated, “Families come in all shapes & sizes & therefore it’s critical that paid leave policies meet the needs of all families. This is especially true for LGBTQ workers & their loved ones, who are often left behind by restrictive definitions of family.” An inclusive definition of family in paid leave policies would help ensure that all workers have access to paid time off in the event that they need a few days to recover from a short-term illness, or a longer leave to bond with a new child, recover from a serious health condition, or care for a seriously ill loved one. The report identifies gold-standard family definition policies & finds that state & local victories in the last half of 2016 alone will provide nearly 7 million people access to paid sick days with an inclusive family definition. Kalpana Krishnamurthy, policy director at Forward Together concluded, “While this report focuses on LGBTQ families, it’s really about all of our families. We’ve always defined family as those who we love & can count on. That fact is what has made our families strong, even as they have been remade by distance, violence & struggle. This report shows us that we need policies that honor our deepest bonds, however they may look.”
Read New Report…
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