LEWISTON, ME – At a press conference today at the Lamey Wellehan location in Auburn, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) announced his support for the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY) Act, paid family and medical leave legislation that underscores the importance of comprehensive family leave policies to support working parents and family caregivers in Maine. Specifically, the bill would create a social insurance program to provide up to 12 weeks of gender neutral paid family and medical leave for all private-sector members of the American workforce who have sufficient work history. Senator King was joined by Jim Wellehan, President of Lamey Wellehan Shoes and Eliza Townsend, Executive Director of the Maine Women’s Lobby.

            “People in Maine shouldn’t have to choose between making an honest living and caring for their family, whether it’s supporting an aging parent, a sick relative, or a newborn child,” Senator King said. “People don’t know when a family emergency might strike, and right now there is just a patchwork of family leave coverage depending on the state or the employer. This bill will help families maintain a stable income during trying times, and strengthen employers’ abilities to retain their hardworking employees.”

The FAMILY Act creates a self-sustaining family and medical leave insurance program to ensure workers can earn a portion of their wages for up to 12 weeks of leave. The program would be available for all workers who pay into the Social Security program and have sufficient work history – young and elderly, single and married, and men and women, regardless of the size of their employer. Current law only supports 12 weeks of unpaid leave and only applies to employers with 50 or more employees. The insurance program would provide up to 66 percent wage-replacement for up to 12 weeks in the event of a serious personal or family health condition, such as an illness requiring overnight hospital care, permanent incapacity (e.g., Alzheimer’s), or incapacity due to pregnancy. The program’s paid leave insurance fund would be administered by the Social Security Administration, but financed separately from existing Social Security programs.

“We're delighted to support the FAMILY Act,” said Jim Wellehan, President of Lamey Wellehan Shoes. “We've been very lucky, and have some great people that have stayed with us a long time, and become the greatest assets of our business. It’s been a wonderful help to our company, and our people, to provide important employee benefits, and expanding access to paid family and medical leave will do great things for the many people and the many companies that it will impact.”

A lack of a national paid leave program hurts businesses, which can incur an additional 20 percent cost to recruit and retrain new workers replacing others who left because they did not have paid leave. The United States is the only industrialized nation without a national paid leave program, and only 14 percent of American workers have access to paid family leave through their employer. Without a national paid family leave program, the U.S. economy loses almost $21 billion a year, women who leave the workforce early because of caregiving responsibilities lose $324,000 in wages and retirement benefits over a lifetime, and men leaving the workforce early lose $284,000.

“Our policies haven’t kept pace with the changes in our workforce. Sometimes we all need time to help a loved one recover from a serious illness, assist an aging parent, bond with a new child, or heal from an accident. When these and other major life challenges happen, most workers have to choose between the health of their family and paying their bills,” said Eliza Townsend, Executive Director of the Maine Women’s Lobby. “That's why the FAMILY Act is so important and why we are grateful that Senator King will become a co-sponsor. The FAMILY Act is good for our well-being and our economy. It makes it possible to care for ourselves and our family without falling in to a financial crisis.”

Last week, Senator King also reintroduced the Strong Families Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would create a five-year, 25 percent tax credit for employers who voluntarily offer up to 12 weeks of paid family leave to employees. 

While in the Lewiston/Auburn area, Senator King also toured the Trinity Jubilee Center and the Auburn Police Activities League (PAL) Center, two summer food program sites for local children. In the afternoon, he will visit Safe Voices in Lewiston, a domestic violence nonprofit in its 40^th year of service, to discuss current programs that support and empower those affected by domestic violence and engage the community in creating social change in Androscoggin, Franklin, and Oxford Counties. Senator King will also visit New Beginnings in Lewiston to discuss strategies to address youth homelessness.

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