Tanisha Vinson, right, lost her job after taking days off to care for her mother, Angelina, who was recovering from surgery. Vinson thinks the paid-family-leave legislation will be helpful. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)
Tanisha Vinson, a home-health-care aide in the District, was let go from her job last month after she took off too many days to care for her mother, who had recently undergone spine surgery.
“My mother was in a bed and couldn’t get out, and she called me to come,” said Vinson, a single mother of three whose son has disabilities. She missed five days of work in two weeks, and since losing her position she hasn’t found work again.
Under the paid family leave legislation passed by the D.C. Council last month, Vinson, now studying to become a commercial bus driver, would be able to take off days for caregiving and not lose her pay. “That would make it much easier,” she said. “It would definitely help out a lot.”
Discussions of family leave commonly center on parents taking care of infants, but a large part of caregiving occurs at the other end of life — when parents, spouses or grandparents need help.
The District’s plan, which provides private-sector workers with some of the country’s most generous family and medical leave benefits, includes six weeks to care for a family member.
It has raised concerns from government and business leaders who say the law will put undue burden on businesses and disproportionately benefit Maryland and Virginia residents who work in the District.
But to Ethel Taylor it means she can take care of her 79-year-old husband and not lose her pay.
He was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer last year, and whenever she took him for chemotherapy or other treatment, she would close the doors of her dog-washing service in Shepherd Park and forgo her income.
“I don’t make money unless I’m here,” she said. “Without family coming down, I wouldn’t have been able to make it.”
Barring an override from Congress, the District will soon join California, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York in providing benefits for caregivers. The D.C. law is the only one to be fully funded by employers. It covers workers who care for spouses and domestic partners, children of all ages including adoptive and foster children, parents, stepparents, in-laws, siblings and grandparents.
To apply, a person will need to submit proof of a medical condition to the city, which will distribute the reimbursement from a $250 million annual fund.
The six weeks can be divided into smaller increments as needed, reflecting the often erratic nature of caregiving. Unlike a new baby, for which early bonding time is relatively predictable, the needs of a sick older person can wane and wax.
“One of the issues with family caregiving is the need for flexibility; I don’t necessarily need to take two months off in one block, but I might want one day a week to take my dad to dialysis,” said Gail Hunt, president and chief executive of the National Alliance for Caregiving.
That security would be a comfort for Grace Pringle, a security officer in a downtown building who is the main support for her 80-year-old mother. So far she has been able to schedule her mother’s medical appointments and other care around her work schedule.
But if the day ever comes when the woman needs more care or has an emergency, “having that bill would be an ace, it would be dynamite, because we never know, with our parents, when they’re going to get sick,” Pringle said. “It gives me a peace of mind . . . because I know that I’d be able to be there and take her to the doctor if I had to.”
Forty-four million people in the United States care for adult family members, and 60 percent of them work, according to the alliance; many take unpaid leave or early retirement to do caretaking.
Advocates lauded the new benefit, saying it will be crucial to helping more low-income and part-time workers keep their jobs.
“This is incredibly important to hundreds of thousands of workers in the District of Columbia,” said Maya Raghu, director of workplace equality at the National Women’s Law Center, adding that many face “a choice of do I want to take care of my family member or do I want to keep my job? ”
The benefit will give people earning up to 1.5 times the minimum wage 90 percent of their average weekly wages; those who earn more will get an additional 50 percent of their remaining average weekly wages, with a $1,000 a week cap. It will apply to anyone working in the District’s private or nonprofit sectors, including part-time, self-employed and tipped workers.
One challenge of implementing the new law will be educating potential beneficiaries and persuading them to take the leave, said Leah Eskenazi, operations director of the Family Caregiver Alliance. Often, she said, “people don’t self-identify as caregivers, so they don’t really think that they’re eligible. They’re just a daughter or a spouse or a son; they don’t think of it as applying to them.”
Even if they do see themselves as caregivers, they may be reluctant to say so in a professional environment, she added. “It’s much easier to ask your boss for leave when you’re going to have a baby. It’s much more challenging to ask for leave when they’re caring for an older adult. . . . It can be seen as a negative.”
The benefit does not cover non-married partners such as boyfriends or girlfriends, or close friends or roommates, an omission critics say leaves out many who are next-of-kin equivalents for single and LGBT people. “Many people, especially of the older generation, didn’t get married when they couldn’t and they’re not going to get married now, and they’re disadvantaged by this,” said Ron Swanda, a member of the DC Commission on Aging.
Monica Kamen, co-director of a District nonprofit organization, cared for her boyfriend earlier this year when he was hospitalized for Crohn’s disease. She would not have qualified for the benefit, but the two are talking about getting married, and she said the prospect of paid leave would be a big help when he needs treatment in the future.
“I could have had the security in being able to take a week or two off and not have the stress of taking the laptop to the hospital while trying to help him communicate with doctors and figure out his course of treatment,” said Kamen, 28, who lives in LeDroit Park.
The law would also help her care for her sister, who lives in California and suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective-tissue disorder. Last month, Kamen took off a week to help her sister through surgery.
For Taylor, the six weeks of leave could be quickly exhausted if her husband were to go through more chemotherapy. But it would still be a great help, she said, adding, “Anything is better than nothing when you’re in dire situations like that.”