With so many U.S. workers not able to stay home when they're sick, there's an urgent need for a solution that would provide paid family and medical leave to all workers (Photo: Shutterstock)

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed many things — the country's dependence on essential workers; the expansion of remote work and the gap in access to paid family leave. As the economy continues to reopen, a new whitepaper released by Jamie Kalamarides, president of Prudential Group Insurance, argues that there's an urgent need for a solution to the last issue.

Kalamarides's whitepaper, Paid Family and Medical Leave Opportunity for a Public-Private Partnership, reports that the U.S. falls behind other developed countries with established paid leave programs. For instance, while the 1993 Family Medical Leave Act established unpaid leave, only one-third of the nation's lowest-paid private sector workers have access to paid sick leave, the paper states.

Related: Paid leave policies: Picking up steam or is it just hot air?

There are also racial and educational disparities. The whitepaper states that black and Latino workers are less likely than white or Asian American workers to have leave benefits. (An August 29, 2019 Bureau of Labor Statistics study found that about 33% of white workers and 28% of Asian American workers lacked access to paid leave, compared with about 48% of Hispanic or Latino workers and 36% of African American workers. And nearly 58% of the workers without access to paid leave had less than a high school diploma.)

With so many U.S. workers not able to stay home when they're sick, there's an urgent need for a solution that would provide paid family and medical leave to all workers, Kalamarides said.

"There's a business case for employers to offer paid leave – workers who are less financially stressed are more productive and are able to stay home when they are sick and can return to work when they are ready much faster if they have paid leave," Kalamarides said in a May 15 email. "As the economy slowly starts to reopen, paid leave will be even more critical, especially for workers who are unable to return to work immediately because they are recovering, taking care of a loved one, or no longer have access to childcare."

Towards solutions

On March 18, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFRCA) was signed into law, which enables workers taking COVID-19-related work absences to take emergency paid leave. The program only applies to small businesses with less than 500 employees and runs through the end of the year.

Kalamarides calls the act "a step in the right direction, but it's a short-term solution."

A better solution, he said, is a national system that "levera[ges] the private sector's experience and capacity. The sector could both underwrite [paid family leave] insurance with its capital reserves and manage aspects of program administration, Kalamarides says. This partnership would allow existing employer-sponsored programs to continue, while extending a public option for those without coverage.

Paid family leave insurance, Kalamarides said is "the type of short term disability insurance that provides paid leave not just when an employee is sick, but also for caregiving as well as paternity, maternity and adoption leaves." he said. "If an employer offers paid leave through an insurer, the employer is able to leverage the scale and expertise of that insurer which goes beyond administration to include return to work programs, which helps employees transition back into the workplace."

Read more: 

• Paid family leave benefits saw major gains in 2018
• Tax bill provision designed to spur paid family leave to lower-wage workers
• Americans love paid family leave — just maybe not when others take it