California governor signs bill that boosts paid family leave

Gov. Jerry Brown.
(Image credit: David Paul Morris/Getty Images)

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.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.