A new report from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) argues for improving family leave for working caregivers, citing the growing population of older Americans, increasing numbers of family caregivers on the job, and escalating demands and stress on caregivers. Keeping Up with the Times: Supporting Family Caregivers with Workplace Leave Policies points to three policy solutions to ease the burden on both caregivers and employers:
- Unpaid family and medical leave,
- Paid family and medical leave insurance, and
- Earned sick time.
Policies to support better workplace benefits for families have traditionally limited their focus to an employee’s illness or to caring for children or other immediate relatives, the report notes. The Family and Medical Leave Act limits leave for caregiving for elderly relatives to parents or spouses, effectively excluding those caring for in-laws, grandparents, or aunts and uncles. In addition, because FMLA leave is unpaid, it is irrelevant to many low-income workers. It is also totally unavailable to those working for small companies with fewer than 50 employees. Nearly two-thirds of workers eligible for FMLA who didn’t take it reported they couldn’t afford to take unpaid leave or were afraid of losing their job. Many other low wage workers lack access to sick leave—paid or unpaid – the only other supportive workplace policies available to most family caregivers.