Paul Bass Photo
Connecticut Paid Leave Authority CEO Andrea Barton Reeves at Wednesday’s event outside Claire’s.
State leaders converged on an appropriate spot Wednesday to celebrate the first day in which workers can sign up for benefits under Connecticut’s new Paid Family and Medical Leave Program: Claire’s Corner Copia.
Some of the attendees — including Gov. Ned Lamont and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz (pictured) — came early for a vegetarian lunch.
Then they joined a crowd outside the restaurant’s College Street entrance for a press conference marking the fact that Wednesday was the first day that workers can contact the Connecticut Paid Leave Authority to sign up for up to $780 a week (depending on their salaries) in benefits to cover up to 12 weeks of wages lost while caring “for their own health, a newborn child, or a sick family member.” (Visit here or call 877 – 499-8606 to submit an application.)
The law creating the program passed in 2019; the State Senate made it “Senate Bill #1” to reflect that it was the Democrats’ top priority, State Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney noted. It’s the eighth state paid family and medical leave law in the nation.
“Our state is leading the way with the best paid family leave law,” declared Bysiewicz (pictured). Workers are eligible if they need leave to care for their “own serious health condition,” including pregnancy or serving as an organ donor; for a family member; for bonding with a new child entering a home through “birth adoption, or foster care”; for reasons arising from family violence or “issues arising from a parent, child, or spouse’s military deployment”; or for a “family member injured” during active military service.
Already 500 people had made contact to submit applications within the first morning hours Wednesday, reported Andrea Barton Reeves, CEO of the agency established to oversee the program, the Connecticut Paid Leave Authority. She reported the authority has $300 million in a trust fund for the program, a total expected to reach $410 million by the end of January, money that comes from employees’ paychecks. An actuarial study found that that’s plenty of money to keep the fund solvent for at least five years, even if the program receives higher-than-expected demand, Reeves said.
New Haven/Hamden State Rep. Robyn Porter, who led the effort to pass the bill in the House: “I believe in [keeping] promises.”
Wednesday’s event was held at Claire’s because Claire’s owner Claire Criscuolo already offers her employees paid family and medical leave. The point is that the new program will make it easier for employers like Criscuolo to do right by their workers.
“This is a wonderful day for families and small businesses like me that try to do the right thing,” Criscuolo (pictured) said at the event. “It’s difficult to pay people to stay at home.”
“Covid-19 crisis struck and showed all of us just how critical this policy is to workers and their families,” noted Janée Woods Weber (pictured), executive director of the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF).
State Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe (pictured), who chairs the Paid Leave Authority board, said the program launched on time — and under budget: only $14 million out of $50 million appropriated to administer the ramp-up phase needed to be spent.
A few will benefit, many, especially middle-class wages earners, have and will bring home less money due to this new tax. Of course, it's nothing compared to the 6% middle-class wage cut imposed by stimulus spending inflation.