Economic Policy Institute
1333 H Street, NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20005
Jun 02, 2011
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM (GMT-5)
Host:
The Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Economic Policy Institute
Local, state and federal level efforts to enact legislation mandating paid sick or family leave and flexible work arrangements are often resisted on the grounds that they would impose costly burdens on employers and threaten the availability of jobs. Yet, new and ongoing research points to labor policy in novation that promotes work-family balance having the expected beneficial impacts without jeopardizing overall employment.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Economic Policy Institute hosted a forum examining the issues of paid family and sick leave in the United States while exploring the Australian example of mandating paid parental leave along with the right to request flexible work arrangements.
The featured presenter was Marian Baird, Professor of Work and Organizations and Director of the Women and Work Research Group at the University of Sydney Business School. She is on the parental leave evaluation team appointed by the Australian Government and actively researches and comments on policies impacting on women's working lives. She was joined by Eileen Appelbaum (Senior Economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and co-author of the paper "Leaves That Pay: Employer and Worker Experiences with Paid Family Leave in California") and Elise Gould (Director of Health Policy Research at Economic Policy Institute and co-author of the paper "Paid Sick Days: Measuring the Small Costs for Connecticut Businesses").
