California governor signs bill that boosts paid family leave

(Image credit: David Paul Morris/Getty Images)

published 11 April 2016

Just one week after raising the state's minimum wage to $15 by 2022, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill on Monday boosting the amount of money workers can earn while out on family leave.

Brown said the bill "helps ordinary Californians, working men and women." Currently, workers receive 55 percent of their wages for up to six weeks; under the new measure, those who earn close to minimum wage will be paid 70 percent of their salary while on leave, and workers who make up to $108,000 annually will receive 60 percent of their salary, the Los Angeles Times reports. The change will take affect in 2018, and the program is funded through worker contributions.

California became the first state in the country to guarantee workers paid time off to take care of a new child or sick family member 15 years ago, and in a statement President Obama said Congress needs to "catch up to California" by "acting to guarantee paid family leave to all Americans." The measure was introduced by Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D-Echo Park), who said it is "unrealistic to expect a worker who is already living paycheck to paycheck on 100 percent of their salary to use a program for six weeks at nearly half of their wages."

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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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