Two proposals to strengthen paid-leave programs: invest in return-to-work services and test a longer benefit
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Smalligan, Jack, author Boyens, Chantel, author
- Contributor(s):
- Urban Institute, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, DC : Urban Institute, January 2020
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Family Leave Return to Work Sick Leave United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Existing state paid family and medical leave programs do not currently include services aimed at assisting workers who have difficulty returning to their jobs after experiencing a new serious illness or injury. These return-to-work services are also not included in the most widely sponsored federal paid leave bill, the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act. However, they are a feature of many private short-term disability benefits offered by employers and many paid medical leave programs in other countries. High-quality versions of these programs help firms retain employees, improve worker employment and health outcomes, and reduce costs to businesses. Further, temporary disability benefits for workers who need longer leaves but are not eligible for Social Security disability have not been tested and evaluated. A national strategy on paid leave that supports worker attachment to the labor force and positive health outcomes would be strengthened by investments in evidence-based return-to-work services. It would also explore and evaluate the potential benefits and costs of a longer temporary disability benefit for workers whose conditions require longer leaves. In this brief, we discuss the evidence base for expanding investment in return-to-work services and propose pairing a paid medical-leave benefit lasting 12 weeks with grants to states to provide evidence-based interventions targeted to workers who struggle to get back on the job following a new serious illness or injury. We discuss how a tiered-evidence approach to funding and evaluating interventions could be used to scale up investments over time, similar to the model used for funding nurse home-visiting programs. Second, we propose testing a longer paid medical-leave benefit for workers at risk of negative employment and health outcomes and discuss the importance of rigorous evaluation and testing of such a benefit outside the context of the Social Security Disability Insurance program.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-DC license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (12 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918249511006676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918249511006676