Protect Paid Family Medical Leave for School Employees!
Two years ago, the Maine Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide up to 12 weeks of paid family leave for workers, including school employees, to care for a newborn, adopted child, or sick loved one. This program is just getting started, yet some in Augusta want to repeal it.
Over a dozen bills are currently before the Legislature that would repeal, strip down, or otherwise interfere with this new program to benefit workers.
One bill, LD 1400, An Act to Exempt Certain Public School Districts and Their Employees from the Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits Program would remove the PFML provisions for school employees entirely.
Use this form to email members of the Labor Committee, your Representative, and your Senator.
Ask them to support the Paid Family Medical Leave program and reject any bills to repeal, water down, or weaken this important new benefit for workers. Please be sure to raise why paid family medical leave is important for school employees – school employees deserve to have the same benefits as other workers. School employees should not be forced to deplete their sick leave to go on maternity leave or care for a family member. Exhausting sick leave, or even accruing enough before starting a family, has adverse, unintended consequences for all.
Share your story. Did you have to deplete all of your sick time when you had a child? Have you held off having children because you don’t have enough sick time banked? We know each story is different and unique. We need to highlight the various ways educators can benefit from the PFML program. The time is now!
