A celebration was held at the White House on February 2nd, 2023 to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, and Grow Midwives’ very own Ginger Breedlove was in attendance, shaking hands and rubbing elbows with legislators, changemakers, and US Presidents.
The event was a chance both to look back on the adoption of the FMLA 30 years ago, while also considering the expansion and broadened protections of the FMLA for working families, including four recently introduced bills:
- The Job Protection Act will eliminate the 50-employee threshold, cover part-time workers, and cover workers who have been at the job for less than one year.
- The Caring for All Families Act expands the definition of “family” under the FMLA to include domestic partners, grandparents, siblings, adult children, in-laws, and other significant relationships.
- The ESP Family Leave Act expands FMLA benefits to specifically meet the needs of educational support professionals, like teacher’s assistants and school custodians.
- The Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal Employees Act converts the 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA leave for federal employees into paid leave.
- And later this month, lawmakers will reintroduce the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act and the Healthy Families Act, which would provide workers with paid family and medical leave and paid sick leave.
Ginger’s invitation to this special event came through her association as President and co-Founder of March for Moms, a non-profit established to raise national awareness to improve care of childbearing moms and families in the US, and from her long history of advocacy for maternity care on a national level.
President Biden and President Clinton both made comments on the history of the FMLA as well as what the future holds for expanding the protections of the FMLA. The full event can be watched here: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-biden-and-bill-clinton-speak-on-30th-anniversary-of-family-and-medical-leave-act
Dr. Breedlove commented about the event, “I’m so incredibly honored to represent March for Moms at this celebration. And to be a Midwife in the White House!”
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