DLT to use grant for caregiver-leave study

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Labor and Training will receive a $161,417 federal grant to fund a study on best practices for a paid-caregiver-leave program.
The U.S. Department of Labor grant was announced recently by Sen. Gayle Goldin, D-Providence, who sponsored legislation to create the Rhode Island Temporary Caregiver Insurance Program.
Goldin’s 2013 legislation expanded the state’s TDI program to cover up to four weeks of wage replacement for workers who take time off to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, parent-in-law or grandparent or to bond with a new child, whether through birth, adoption or foster care. The leave time is job-protected, so that employees are assured their job will still be available when they come back to work. The expansion is funded through employee contributions, just as the rest of the TDI program is funded.
When Rhode Island’s Temporary Caregiver Insurance program began in January, the state joined California and New Jersey as the only states that have paid family-leave insurance. Although the federal Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 requires that employers with 50 or more employees provide workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for major life events such as birth, adoption or seriously ill family members or their own health needs, the unpaid status of that leave makes it difficult for many people to afford to take time off. •