Family Time: Lawmakers Push to Expand Paid Leave

No incoming president has set a more ambitious work-family agenda than Barack Obama. The president-elect has said he wants a federal sick-day mandate and expansion of family leave. With Democrats also in control now of legislatures in 27 states, up from 23 before the election, change on this front is likely.

But such proposals face historic obstacles, in the form of a cratering economy and paralyzing state deficits. Thus new entitlements are likely to move ahead unevenly, if at all. While the politicians do battle, it will be more important than ever for working parents and others with family duties to stay up-to-date on government entitlements and employer policies, which vary widely, and to plan ahead for time-off needs.

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Obama has set an ambitious work-family agenda.

Paid sick leave will be teed up first in Washington, Senate staffers say. The Healthy Families Act, sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D., Conn.) and backed by the president-elect, would require employers with 15 or more workers to provide seven paid days for their own or a family member's illness. The city of San Francisco and the District of Columbia mandate paid sick days, and Milwaukee voters just enacted a similar rule.

But employers object to the proposal's rigid, one-size-fits-all approach; it's not needed, employers groups say, because 74% of employers already provide paid sick days, based on a 2007 survey of 590 employers by the Society for Human Resource Management. In one sign of looming obstacles, unions in Ohio took a paid sick-day measure off the ballot there after Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, withdrew support, citing fears of putting Ohio businesses at a disadvantage. (He vowed to push for a federal mandate.)

The president-elect also wants to expand the 1993 family-leave law. Currently, employees of companies with 50 or more workers can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to tend to newborn and adopted children, sick family members or the workers' own medical conditions. But under this law, about half the work force isn't eligible. Mr. Obama would extend the mandate to employers with 25 workers and cover more purposes, including children's school needs and the care of a wider range of family members.

The biggest political hot potato of all -- paid family leave -- would be passed to the states. The president-elect has proposed giving states $1.5 billion in incentives to start paid family-leave programs similar to California's, which uses the state's temporary-disability-insurance fund to provide up to six weeks' paid family leave. A similar program will take full effect next July in New Jersey. Advocates say lawmakers in New York, where Democrats now control the legislature, are likely to consider a similar measure.

But paid leave faces tall odds elsewhere. California, New Jersey and New York are among only five states with temporary-disability-insurance plans; the others are Rhode Island and Hawaii. (Some women receive post-childbirth pay under private disability plans.) In one sign of the difficulty of setting up additional plans, Washington state enacted a new family-leave insurance law in 2007, but Gov. Chris Gregoire, who supports it, put implementation on hold in October because of budget woes. Advocates say federal incentives would be a big help in such cases.

For families, all this points to the need for careful planning. Two advocacy groups that operate job-problems hotlines, 9to5 and Women Employed, say one of their most common calls is from women who are shocked to learn they aren't entitled to maternity leave. To avoid surprises, investigate your employer's policies and your state's laws; see nationalpartnership.org for information.

A growing number of parents are saving paid time off. Tracey Larmon, a Midlothian, Ill., lab manager who had a baby last month, cobbled together paid maternity leave by saving five weeks' overtime, sick and vacation pay. She'll take an additional two weeks' unpaid leave -- too brief a break after her Caesarean-section birth, but all the family can afford, says Ms. Larmon, whose husband is an at-home dad.

One novel employer policy supports another kind of saving. Accenture's Future Leave program enables workers to set aside part of their paychecks in anticipation of time-off needs. (Accenture also offers paid parental leave.) The program has drawn 350 participants since last year and has sparked interest from several big employers, a spokeswoman says.

Given the shape of the economy, helping employees help themselves may be an idea whose time has come.

Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com