Progressive States Network, a formidible organization spearheading a number of employment-related issues at state and local levels, reports that the District of Columbia has approved a measure to require employers to provide paid sick leave on the following scale:

• seven days of paid leave at firms with 100 employees
• five days at firms with 25-99 employees
• three days in firms with 24 or less employees
• a pro-rated amount of sick days off for part-time workers

The organization also reports that the New Jersey State Senate has passed a measure that would:

authorize six weeks of paid family leave during any 12-month period to allow employees to care for an ill family member, newborn or recently adopted child. Employees would receive two-thirds of their regular weekly pay, up to $524 per week. The leave would be funded through contributions made by all employees in the state of 0.14% of earned wages (roughly a quarter per week for minimum wage workers) into the State Disability Fund; the Fund would then distribute the funds to an estimated 38,000 people per year once the system is up and running.

These efforts follow the organization's success in helping pass a paid sick leave ordinance in San Francisco and, of course, compliment the broader efforts to pass the Healthy Families Act on a national level.

See also:  Paid Sick Leave