http://thehill.com/regulation/business/229542-obama-to-push-for-mandatory-paid-leave By Lydia Wheeler - 01/14/15 05:28 PM EST
The White House will announce a major push Thursday to require paid leave for American workers.
In a blog post on LinkedIn Wednesday, Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to the President, said Obama will sign a memorandum to ensure federal employees have access to at least six weeks of paid sick leave when a new child arrives.
The president will also call on Congress to offer six weeks of paid administrative leave.
“We can't say we stand for family values when so many women in this country have to jeopardize their financial security just to take a few weeks off of work after giving birth,” Jarrett said in the release.
“We can't say we're for middle-class stability when a man has to sacrifice his economic security to care for his ailing mother.”
Obama will also pressure Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act, which will give Americans the ability to earn seven days of paid sick leave, and announce additional funding through the Department of Labor to help states study how to create their own paid leave programs.
The announcement comes two days after The Hill reported that Democrats are seizing mandatory paid leave as their next big pocketbook issue in 2016.
Out of 185 countries and territories in the world surveyed by the International Labor Organization, the United States is one of only two that does not offer paid maternity leave. Papua New Guinea is the other.
