Report Calls for New National Insurance Program to Strengthen Economic Security for Working Families
Georgetown Law’s Workplace Flexibility 2010 and the Berkeley Center on Health, Economic & Family Security (Berkeley CHEFS) at UC Berkeley School of Law today released a new report, Family Security Insurance: A New Foundation for Economic Security calling for the creation of a national insurance program to provide income replacement for time off for health and
caregiving needs.
Family Security Insurance (FSI) would cover income replacement for workers experiencing three significant life events:
serious illness or temporary disability that renders a worker temporarily unable to perform his or her job; arrival of a
newborn, newly adopted child or newly placed foster child who needs care and time to bond with parents; and the serious
illness of a family member who is in need of care. FSI would be financed by an equal-contribution employer and employee
payroll tax. Workers would need to meet a threshold level of attachment to the labor force to be eligible for FSI
benefits.
“Nearly every American will at some point in their lives need time off from work to address personal illness, to care
for a new child, or to care for a loved one with a serious illness. Family Security Insurance (FSI) responds to workers’
critical needs. This is no longer an issue for some families or some industries. It’s an issue for all of us,” said
Sharon Masling, Senior Counsel at Workplace Flexibility 2010.
“Current access to paid time off for health and caregiving comes nowhere near to meeting the demand for it. During
volatile economic times, many families simply can’t afford to take unpaid time off even for the most pressing and
important health and family events,” explained Ann O’Leary, Executive Director of Berkeley CHEFS. “Through our research,
we know providing income replacement for needed time off can improve family income security, child development and
well-being, women’s labor force attachment, worker productivity, and business’s bottom line. The social and economic
implications of this issue make it a national priority.”
Gillian Lester, Professor of Law at UC Berkeley and a contributor to the report said, “Addressing the lack of access to
paid time off through national social insurance makes good economic sense. The rise of the two-earner family, coupled
with an aging population, has created a permanent demographic shift in the American workforce. More people need to take
time off to care for themselves or a loved one, but few are able to afford the time away from work. This is exactly the
kind of problem that social insurance was designed to address.”
“As a nation, we can no longer ignore the modern work-family dilemma. People need new kinds of support to do their jobs
and take care of their responsibilities at home,” said Katie Corrigan, Director of Georgetown Law’s Workplace
Flexibility 2010. “Creating a system like FSI would help to sustain our economy, keep people working, and, at the same
time, support our families’ health—financially and emotionally. Few issues could be more relevant as we rebuild our
economy for the 21st century and make choices about our nation’s priorities.”
The full report is available online at www.familysecurityinsurance.org.
ENDS