Paid family leave is gaining in states

Then, somewhat unexpectedly, a request for adoption went through, requiring that she and her husband travel halfway across the country to pick up the infant. She returned to her Bay Area home with only one week of vacation left to spend with her son before returning to work.

"I worry that he's bonding more with the daycare provider, because he's only two months old, and that's an important time," says Ms. Foster, who asked that her real name not be used because of potential complications with the ongoing adoption.

She could take unpaid family leave, but she says she can't afford to. Her husband, a traveling salesman, has cut back his schedule to spend more time at home. "There was no way I could take more time off," she says.

The California bill, supporters say, intends to change that. Under federal rules, companies must work out employee leave questions on their own. California – like four other states – has supplemented those guidelines with a program that pays for a birth mother's maternity leave with disability insurance funds. The new law here would expand that idea, offering paid leave for both parents after births or adoptions. It would also allow employees, with a doctor's note, to tend to sick parents, children, spouses, or partners for up to 12 weeks.

"We don't have a society where mom stays at home and takes care of everything, so we need to deal with this as a workplace issue," says Netsy Firestein, director of the Labor Project for Working Families at the University of California in Berkeley.

A study by her organization estimates the cost of the program would come to roughly $50 per employee, per year – split between worker and employer. Others, however, suggest the figure could be more like $100.

Tom Lucas looks out over the palm trees and grasses of his southern California nursery, and wonders how he would make it. He has only 20 employees, and he needs each one. The idea behind the bill is good, he says, but businesses – small ones in particular – should be left to work these things out with employees without state intervention. "You're willing to work with employees because you don't want to lose them," says Mr. Lucas. "When the government says you have to do it, that's when you're set up for failure. We just can't afford this."

The criticisms are many: the bill would add another layer of bureaucracy and increase the cost of doing business; it would encourage more workers to take time off and to stay away longer; and it would only encumber the economic recovery.

Whether these arguments will prevail is uncertain. Gov. Gray Davis has not yet taken a position. But the continued strong interest among states nationwide suggests that the debate has just begun. "There is very broad interest in this," Ms. Owens says.

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