Washington, DC – The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) provided testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) for today’s hearing titled “Paid Leave for Working Families: Examining Access, Options, and Impacts.”
ERIC’s testimony focused on the valuable paid leave benefits offered by large, multistate employers and their success in designing and delivering these critical benefits to millions of employees and their families across the country.
“Large employers’ – like ERIC member companies – voluntarily offer paid leave plans that often exceed the national private-sector averages and frequently equal or surpass the leave provided by state-mandated paid leave programs,” said Aliya Robinson, Senior Vice President of Retirement and Compensation. “Employers understand that paid leave benefits provide critical financial security and flexibility to employees, the ability for better work and life balance, and improves productivity.”
A 2019 survey of ERIC member companies found:
- 100% of respondents provide access to both short-term and long-term disability leave to address a serious personal medical incapacity
- 90% provide paid parental leave to care for or bond with a newly-born or adopted child
- 65% provide paid family leave to care for a family member with a serious medical illness
Large, multistate employers want to offer employee benefit parity – equitable, generous benefits to all of their employees regardless of where they live or work. However, an ever-increasing patchwork of state and local paid leave mandates is threatening these paid leave programs due to the operational cost and challenges necessary for compliance. ERIC urged lawmakers to ensure that any federal paid leave legislation supports employers’ continued ability to provide generous employer-funded paid leave benefits and does not create additional costly compliance issues for employers. One way to do this is by creating a national exemption or safe harbor that provides relief for employers already offering voluntarily paid leave benefits.
“Congress must keep in mind that any federal paid leave legislation will have an immediate impact on millions of Americans who already receive generous paid leave benefits from their employer. Any legislation should allow for large employers to continue their paid leave programs so that their employees’ leave is not negatively impacted,” said Robinson.
Click here to read ERIC’s testimony.
For more information on the issues multistate employers face in offering paid leave benefits, read ERIC’s white paper, Paying the Way: Large Employers and the State Paid Leave Patchwork.