Employees in Rhode Island needing to care for a newborn or a seriously ill spouse or child will be getting more paid time off from their job to do so in the coming years.
Gov. Daniel J. McKee signed a bill in June that will increase the amount of paid family leave under the state’s Temporary Caregiver Insurance program from a maximum of six weeks currently to seven weeks starting in 2025 and eight weeks by 2026. The goal of the original legislation passed by the R.I. Senate in late March was to extend the leave to 12 weeks.
While some advocates celebrated the bill’s signing, others wonder if employees will take advantage of the benefit given the partial compensation rate.
The program, which was created in 2013, is funded through Temporary Disability Insurance/Temporary Caregiver Insurance payroll contributions from employees, consisting of 1.2% of their paycheck earnings. But some workers can’t utilize the benefit because they can’t afford to take time off work while only getting 60% of their normal paycheck, capped at $1,408 per week, as offered through the program.
“If you’re paying in with every paycheck but can’t afford to use the benefit, that seems like a problem to me,” said Alison Weber, a doctoral candidate at the Brown University School of Public Health. “We know lots of Rhode Islanders are living paycheck to paycheck. People don’t have savings to buffer longer than a week or two.”
Nearly half of the people (47%) who paid the TDI/TCI contributions in 2023 were low-wage workers (earning less than $30,000 annually), yet low-income earners only made up 28% of the people who used the benefit that year, according to R.I. Department of Labor and Training data.
“We see usage data,” said Divya Nair, policy analyst at the Economic Progress Institute, a nonprofit research, analysis and advocacy group based in Providence, who testified in favor of expansion before the R.I. House Committee on Labor earlier this year. “Low-income earners are not using it as much as high- and middle-high-income earners are. For us, it’s about making this system – which has worked for so many people – become equitable and accessible to everyone.”
However, Nair and Weber both said there likely won’t be a strong appetite for increasing the compensation rate or expanding the program next year.
While there’s no direct cost to employers, a key roadblock to expansion is opposition from the business community, including the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce. The group stated in a letter to the House Labor Committee that the 12-week TCI proposal would place additional strain on employers who are struggling to plug the gaps when workers take paid leave.
“Employers are having an extremely difficult time attracting employees,” Chamber CEO and President Liz Catucci said in the letter. “Finding temporary workers can be even more challenging.”
In her letter, Catucci warned that if paid family leave was extended to 12 weeks, employees would be eligible to take a total of six months straight of paid leave if they first use it for parental care and then again as a temporary caregiver for another family member. That claim was denied by both Nair and Senate Majority Whip Valerie J. Lawson, who sponsored the original bill.
Catucci did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking further comment. The Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce also did not respond to requests for comment.
“This is a very high burden at a time when businesses are least able to adapt,” Catucci said in the letter. “The committee should attain a full understanding of the financial implications associated with a doubling of the benefit.”
However, advocates believe a more robust TCI program will make Rhode Island more competitive with Massachusetts and Connecticut, both of which provide 12 weeks of compensation, with workers in Massachusetts receiving 80% of their salary and workers in Connecticut receiving 95%.
Talented workers considering jobs in all three states will inevitably weigh family paid leave benefits as part of their decision.
While increasing the level of compensation and expanding the program to 12 weeks may be less politically feasible in Rhode Island, Weber and other advocates said lawmakers who favor expansion should switch gears to prioritize the adoption of a more inclusive definition of eligibility. The legislation sponsored by Lawson and passed by the Senate included grandchildren and siblings in its definition of care, along with the 12 weeks of paid leave.
Lawson said she was disappointed that the bill was revised to reduce the 12 weeks to eight and remove grandchildren and siblings under the expanded definition of care. She said these issues will remain on her agenda for new legislation next year.
“Rhode Island, at one point, was a leader in this area,” Lawson said. “It no longer is. We’re behind our neighbors on this now. … I will continue to fight for this legislation. I’d like to see Rhode Island lead once again in this area.”
