WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today announced her support for legislation to help strengthen working families in North Dakota and make sure businesses have the flexibility to provide workers the time they need to care for their loved ones – whether a new child or a sick parent – while continuing to maintain a robust and sustained workforce. 

Currently, less than 35 percent of North Dakota’s working adults are eligible for and can afford unpaid leave, and almost 46 percent of North Dakota’s private-sector workforce cannot earn a single paid sick day – too often forcing workers to choose between their families and their jobs, a choice many cannot afford to make. Across the country, businesses lose money when they need to replace workers, spending an average of one-fifth of an employee’s annual salary to replace a worker. But in North Dakota, where 61,100 North Dakotans are currently caregivers to ailing or elderly family members, and 74 percent of North Dakota children live in households where both of their parents work – the need for paid family leave is stark.

By making sure all Americans have access to paid leave – including for child birth and adoption, or care for an elderly or ailing family member – Heitkamp is working to make sure North Dakotans have the support they need to take care of their families without losing their jobs. The bill also levels the playing field for businesses large and small so they have the resources to provide flexibility to retain good, hardworking employees without forcing businesses into the red. The bill would help prevent difficult situations for families and businesses across the country, where men and women will lose $284,000 or $324,000 respectively, over their lifetimes because of the lack of paid leave policies in their workplaces.

“If we’re serious about keeping North Dakota a place where our children will want to raise families, we need to start getting practical,” said Heitkamp. “In life, our parents may become sick or need end-of-life care. Our sons and daughters will want to start families. But when almost half of North Dakota’s businesses don’t provide any paid leave, these life events could cost workers their jobs. No North Dakotan should have to choose between their family and their job. This bill is about investing in our workers and families today and tomorrow – at just the cost of a cup of joe. It would also prevent small businesses from squandering their budgets on rehiring and retraining new employees because they can’t afford paid leave for their workers. As North Dakotans, it’s about time we started planning ahead – with commonsense policies today, we can invest in healthier, more resilient North Dakota families and businesses of tomorrow.”

“Too many working North Dakota families are finding it difficult to make ends meet, and that simply doesn’t match up with the generous and neighborly spirit that North Dakotans know and embody every day,” said North Dakota Women’s Network Executive Director Renee Stromme. “At the North Dakota Women’s Network, we see firsthand the immense need of North Dakota families to care for themselves and their families in a way that doesn’t hurt them financially – but parents without any sick or paid leave are often stuck between a rock and a hard place when they need to take care of their children when they are sick with the flu, or worse. On behalf of the North Dakota Women’s Network, we commend Senator Heitkamp on her tireless work to find practical solutions for working families, and for her support of the FAMILY Act, which aims to promote more workplace flexibility so both our families, and our businesses can thrive.”

The Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act – introduced by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and supported by 20 other senators – would provide working families with up to 12 weeks of partial income when they take leave for their own serious health condition, including pregnancy and childbirth recovery, the serious health condition of a child, parent, spouse, and the birth or adoption of a child. Funded through small employee and employer earned benefit of less than 0.2 percent of wages each, or about $1.50 per week for a typical worker – about the cost of a weekly cup of coffee. This legislation would create a self-sufficient program that would provide working families the flexibility they need without adding to the federal budget. 

Currently, the United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not offer paid maternity leave. The other countries that do not offer it are Swaziland, Lesotho, and Papua New Guinea.

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