5 ways Californians can advocate for more pay when taking time off work for parental leave, caregiving, or recovery reasons.
When people need to take time off work for parental leave, family caregiving responsibilities, or personal health reasons, their expenses go up, not down. And yet, on December 31, 2021, the wage replacement rate for California’s Paid Family Leave and State Disability Insurance programs will regress from the current 60% rate (or 70% if you qualify as low income) back down to 55% if we don’t take action.
If you’re unfamiliar with these programs, they provide pay for most California employees who need to take time off work for caregiving needs, parental leave, or personal health reasons. If this rate goes down, that means less money in the pockets of people who are taking time off work for important health or parenting-related reasons.
Although Paid Family Leave and State Disability Insurance are funded by employees through the SDI tax, many aren’t able to use their benefits because the current wage replacement rate is so low. Living paycheck to paycheck is a reality for many Californians already, so taking time off work without full pay simply isn’t possible.
In an effort to solve this financial barrier, The California Work & Family Coalition is organizing a grassroots campaign to keep the wage replacement rate at 60% for both programs and to increase the rate to 90% for low-wage workers.
This campaign is going to need a lot of support. So, let’s jump into...
5 ways you can help protect and increase the wage replacement rate
1. Call and email these California Lawmakers ASAP
Every year, California lawmakers decide how our tax dollars are spent in California. California has a State Assembly and a State Senate, and within those groups there’s an Assembly Budget Committee and a Senate Budget Committee. The leaders of the State Assembly, the State Senate, and the Governor meet to create a budget for the entire state of California.
As a taxpayer, you should be empowered to weigh in on where our lawmakers are deciding to invest your money. In this case, we want them to invest our tax dollars into California’s Paid Family Leave and Disability Insurance programs.
The most important thing we need to do right now is contact these leaders to make them aware that the wage replacement rate is going to decrease to 55% this year, and also to communicate why the increase to 90% for low income workers is critical for families and employees to be able to use this program that we all pay into.
You can use this easy action alert link to contact the California Legislative Leaders through phone and email. Definitely take action as soon as possible because the budget for 2021 is going to be finalized around mid-May.
If this is your first time calling a government official’s office, don’t worry! It’s really easy, and we provide a call and email script so you don’t have to figure out what to say.
We encourage you to share any personal reasons as to why this issue matters to you. Personal experiences are influential in advocacy work because it helps our lawmakers understand how their decisions impact people’s lives.
2. Sign up for updates about Assembly Bill 123.
Supporting Assembly Bill 123 is another way we’re advocating to increase the wage replacement rate. This bill, authored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, aims to increase the wage replacement rate of the Paid Family Leave program to 90% for all workers. More actions to support this bill are coming up, but first we need to prioritize contacting the budget committee. Fill out the form below to be notified of action alerts for this bill!
3. Spread the word!
Grassroots campaigns like this one rely on many people coming together under a common goal to advocate and spread the word about the campaign. It’s a from-the-ground-up approach to getting laws passed that requires more effort and organization because there are no big marketing or lobbyist budgets behind these campaigns.
The challenge of this approach is that it can be difficult to make sure people know about important policy proposals like this one. However, the good thing about a grassroots campaign is that it ensures a more genuine connection to the people each law impacts, rather than the interest of a few, well-funded groups or individuals deciding what the laws will be.
One of the best things you can do to help protect and increase the wage replacement rate is to spread the word about this campaign! You can send family, friends, and co-workers this blog post to encourage them to advocate with you.
Also, posting this action alert link on your social media and sharing why this issue matters to you is another great way to get the word out and encourage others to get involved. Remember to tag us @workfamilyca so that we can feature you!
Here’s something you can copy and paste to your social media:
The money we get from our taxpayer funded #PaidFamilyLeave and State Disability Insurance programs is going to decrease! Tell the CA Budget Committee to raise our pay rate for these programs! http://bit.ly/RaisetheRateCA #RaisetheRateCA @workfamilyca.
4. Join the Coalition for an online meeting with your lawmakers
The Coalition will be organizing and facilitating online meetings with lawmakers (also known as legislators) to educate them about this issue. If you would like to join us for these meetings, you are more than welcome to reach out to us by filling out this form. If we are meeting with your particular lawmaker, we will reach out to you. This is a great way to connect with other people who care about the same things you do and to build a relationship with your lawmakers’ offices.
5. Share Your Experience
Sharing your personal experience with people is one of the most impactful ways to influence policy decisions, especially when you share your experience with your lawmakers. You can share your experience through:
a short social media post
a longer blog post that you can publish on your own or send to an organization to publish for you
a quote for an article
online meetings with your lawmakers
phone calls or emails to your lawmakers’ offices
If the low wage replacement rate of Paid Family Leave or State Disability Insurance affected your ability to take time off, please feel free to share your experience with us. We will never share your experience publicly without your permission.
Another thing to note about sharing your experience: many people feel that their experience isn’t worth sharing because they don’t want to sound like they are complaining or centering themselves. But, please know that your experiences are important and valid, even if other people have it “worse than you.” By speaking up, you are advocating for yourself and for other California workers and families. Legislators need to hear from you, and they can only do that if you speak out and share your experience.
We can make the changes we want to see in our communities!
At the Coalition, we believe that all of us should have the time and resources to be there for ourselves and our families during these critical moments in our lives. After almost 20 years in paid leave advocacy, we know that when everyday working people advocate for the policies we deserve and vote for the leadership we need, progress can be made and our families and communities can thrive!
Thank you for reading this blog post! If you want to get campaign updates and paid leave rights info from the Coalition, sign up to our newsletter here.
