DOL The Cost Of Doing Nothing

The Price We All Pay Without Paid Leave Policies to Support Americas 21st Century Working Families. While America’s working families deserve flexible supports that meet their Modern Family needs, we offer them a Leave it to Beaver family policy stuck in the last century. Despite rapid and persistent social change – such as dual-income Gen X couples “sandwiched” between caring for children and parents and the emerging millennial workforce rejecting traditional male breadwinner models – we stand still while family policy in the rest of the world passes us by. Nowhere is this dynamic more striking than on the issue of paid leave.

As Secretary of Labor, I have been inspired by the states, cities and employers who are “Leading on Leave.” I have traveled to states and communities that are taking up the charge and adopting paid family leave policies. I have met the families, businesses, local governments, and…