According to an article in today’s Washington Post, the District of Columbia Council is considering legislation that would provide every full-time and part-time employee in the District with 16 weeks of paid family and medical leave. If passed by the Council, the law would be by far the most generous family leave law in the country.
Under the proposed legislation, an employee making up to $52,000 a year would get 100% of their pay for 16 weeks to take time off for the birth or adoption of a child, their own illness, the illness of a family member, or to recuperate from a military deployment. Employees earning more than $52,000 a year would be eligible for $1,000 a week, plus 50% of their weekly wages, up to a maximum of $3,000 per week. The benefit would be funded by a new payroll tax on District employers, ranging from 0.6% to 1% of payroll.
Not surprisingly, the legislation is enthusiastically supported by the Obama Administration. In fact, the program was designed by a D.C. non-profit, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, whose work was funded by a $96,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The DOL has set aside $2 million for additional grants to promote similar legislation elsewhere.
While the goals behind laws like this are laudable, proponents seem to ignore the realities of the marketplace. First, a new payroll tax further increases the cost of labor in the District, incentivizing employers to locate their business a few miles away in Virginia or Maryland. Second, when employees can take 16 weeks off with no loss of pay — and still have their accrued vacation and sick eave on top of that — employers will be forced to find temporary staff to cover during such prolonged absences. In an era where automation makes it increasingly easy for businesses to replace personnel with technology, drastically increasing the cost of labor is not a way to create new jobs.
Family and medical leave is a worthy and necessary benefit. But moderation is also a worthy and necessary virtue. Legislating such a drastic change will not, in my opinion, turn the District into a Utopian family-friendly workplace.