INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WOWO/Indiana News Service) Indiana is getting a grant to study paid family leave programs.
It’s the latest round of money being handed out by the Obama administration to states, counties and cities.
Sarah Fleisch Fink, director of workplace policy and senior counsel for the National Partnership for Women and Families, says only 13 percent of workers in the U.S. have access to paid family leave through their workplace, and only 4 in 10 have it through short term disability insurance. She adds that this kind of assistance can benefit the health of mothers and babies.
“Many women are going back to work within weeks, if not shorter amounts of time, of giving birth to a child, you know, before they have even gotten doctors’ clearance that they have recovered and are ready to go back to work, or to engage in regular daily activities,” she says.
In this round of grants, just over $1 million is being split among Indiana, Pennsylvania, and cities or counties in Colorado, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The idea is for each to come up with the best ways it would implement a paid leave program, then present its findings to the U.S. Department of Labor with the ultimate goal of advancing a national paid leave standard.
