White House Announces Tour to Promote Paid Leave Laws in the States

Employment Law

Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett will travel to several states this spring to highlight the benefits of paid leave and encourage states to pass such laws.  According to Secretary Perez, "The history of civil rights and labor rights and women's rights is about persistence.  So much of what becomes law in Washington starts out as an experiment in different states."  Although Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) recently introduced the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act, which would establish a 0.2 percent payroll tax to fund a trust fund to pay for those on leave, those bills are unlikely to move in the Republican-controlled Congress.  (See separate story on Senate budget action.)  The "Lead on Leave" tour will start on April 1 in Seattle with stops in Minnesota, California, Georgia, Oregon, Colorado and Pennsylvania.  Meanwhile, Microsoft announced this week it will require suppliers that employ 50 or more people to provide 15 days of annual paid time off to employees who work on Microsoft business and have worked for that supplier for longer than nine months.