Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Monday 23 deceMber 2019
was back at work after us- eight states, plus Washing- federal workers, there are
ing up two weeks of vaca- ton, D.C., have or will soon still gaps in coverage. For
tion, racing to put together implement. instance, federal work-
sleep plans for her clients In Congress, there is grow- ers do not get paid leave
every minute her own new- ing bipartisan support for a for their own serious illness
born was sleeping. federal paid family leave or to care for a sick rela-
Three years later, Knight policy for all workers, but tive. More than 70% of the
got pregnant again, a sur- progress has stalled over time, those are the reasons
prise. She considered an sharp differences over how workers take time off under
abortion rather than going to pay for it. the 1993 Family and Medi-
through the same ordeal Many companies that rely cal Leave Act, which only
again. on low-wage workers, small guarantees unpaid leave.
"I did not think we could businesses and non-profits That coverage would have
survive it. It's probably one are unlikely to take on the made a big difference for
of those things that will cost of family leave with- Regan Lamphier, a New
haunt me for the rest of my out a government policy Hampshire postal worker
life, but my husband and I to help pay for it, said Harry whose son died suddenly in
actually went to an abor- Holzer, a professor of public 2014 shortly after his eighth
tion clinic," said Knight, who policy at Georgetown Uni- birthday. Relatives had
ultimately had the baby versity. to launch a Go Fund me
and now works as real es- Colin Ma, founder of a digi- campaign so that Lamphi-
tate agent. tal marketing firm, said he er and her husband, also a
This undated photo provided by Regan Lamphier shows Lam-
phier, of Nashua, N.H., with her late son Ethan, who died when Support for extending paid has been unable to give his postal worker, could take a
he was eight. leave to part-time workers 10 employees paid paren- few weeks off to grieve.
Associated Press is slowly gaining traction in tal leave for logistical and Lamphier had struggled
recognition that in many financial reasons. with no paid family leave
Continued from Previous Page parents train their babies low-wage earners rely on Now it's affecting Ma per- since Ethan was born with
Women are historically to sleep through the night. multiple jobs to make ends sonally: He is expecting a severe disabilities. When
more likely to work part-time It seemed perfect for the meet, said Pronita Gupta, baby in May but won't take he was 3, Ethan suffered a
than men, often because Virginia mom, a recent col- director of job quality at any time off beyond vaca- stroke that sent him to the
of caregiving responsibili- lege graduate who could the Center for Law and So- tion out of fairness to his hospital in Boston and re-
ties, according to the U.S. not afford childcare on top cial Policy, an anti-poverty employees. That has upset hab for six weeks. Lamphier
Bureau of Labor Statistics. of payments on $80,000 in organization. his girlfriend, who is worried spent her days looking af-
That usually means forego- student loans that she and Target made waves in June about juggling her own ter her son and nights sort-
ing paid time off after giv- her husband owed. when the retailer included career in advertising while ing out U.S. mail, traveling
ing birth —a trade-off that But when Knight became part-time employees in childcare falls largely on between two states every
can be painful. pregnant with her second an expanded paid family her shoulders. day. She and her husband
After she had her daugh- child, the company did not leave policy. Part-time em- "She wants more help, and separated for six months
ter, Daniella Knight took offer any paid leave, and ployees are also covered I get it from her perspective under the strain. "There just
a part-time job for a web- her family could not afford to varying degrees under because she is worried that wasn't enough of me to go
site dedicated to helping to lose her income. She paid family leave laws that maybe it's going to hurt around," said Lamphier,
her long-term career pros- who also advocates for
pects," Ma said. MomsRising. "I don't know
Even under the policy how I survived, but I didn't
passed by Congress for have a choice."q