Two years ago, in Episode 7 of Take It or Leave It, Rob Whalen joined the program to discuss alternative options employers can offer to their employees in terms of utilizing their earned, unused paid time off, and the flexibility afforded by his company, PTO Exchange. At the time, employers were still navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and response, and reacting to shifting employee priorities, including increasing retirement plan spending, paying down loans, and health care provisions.

Halfway through 2024, employers are still exploring ways to unlock the value of employees’ earned, unused time off and offer attractive benefits. To provide an update, Rob returns to the podcast for a conversation with host Josh Seidman about how employees are choosing to spend their time off, and how recent developments have affected his company’s offerings plus how businesses and their employees are taking advantage of them. Together, they revisit the software platform to uncover the surprising trends in paid leave and related benefits, and predict what these trends in employee priorities mean for employers.

At long last the EEOC has issued its final regulation and interpretive guidance on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), providing employers with additional insights on employee entitlements, employer responsibilities and agency enforcement under the Act. The final regulation’s effective date is less than one month away – June 18, 2024. Given that the PWFA is one of the biggest leave law developments in recent memory and is still quite green (the law has been in effect for less than a year), it’s important for employers to understand how the final regulation impacts their organization and employees.

In this episode, host Josh Seidman is joined by Karla Grossenbacher, a Seyfarth Labor and Employment Partner who has followed this legislation closely, to discuss the framework of the PWFA and what has and has not changed in light of the final regulation. Josh and Karla explore key distinctions between the PWFA and related federal employment laws, including the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), how these laws interplay, key terms and conditions employers need to be aware of, and practical tips and strategies for employers.

The snow has finally stopped since Part 1 of our Congressional Developments series, and spring is just around the corner. We've made the time change to spring forward, and in this latest episode of Take It or Leave It we continue to explore how prospects for and activity surrounding federal paid leave are moving forward as well.

In this episode host Josh Seidman is joined by Emma Zafran, Deputy Legislative Director for United States Representative Chrissy Houlahan out of the 6th District of Pennsylvania. Emma shares details on the U.S. House Paid Family Leave Working Group and Representative Houlahan's work to institute a federal paid leave mandate, and why filling that federal gap has proven so tricky. Emma also helps map out the details of recent paid leave initiatives on Capitol Hill, including bipartisan efforts in both the House and Senate, and the proposed “Interstate Paid Leave Action Network (I-PLAN).”

Join Josh and Emma for this important episode that looks behind the scenes at what progress is being made on paid leave at the federal level, how this issue and proposed programs have evolved, and what next steps are on the horizon in the coming year.

Six months ago, in September 2023, the Oregon paid family and medical leave program, known as Paid Leave Oregon, officially went “live” and began providing benefits to eligible employees, which means it officially turns 6 months old in early March 2024. In that time, the program has had a major impact on employers and employees across the state, with Oregon providing paid leave benefits to tens of thousands of eligible employees.

To celebrate this milestone, host Josh Seidman sits down with Karen Humelbaugh, the Director of Paid Leave Oregon, to discuss the program's history and details, including eligibility, approval process, and benefits administration, as well as lessons learned and adjustments being made to Paid Leave Oregon since September 2023. Karen also joins Josh in breaking down current standards on the interplay between Paid Leave Oregon and employer-provided paid leave benefits and with the Oregon Family Leave Act, potential amendments to this aspect of Paid Leave Oregon during the State’s current legislative session, complications created by remote, hybrid and mobile employees, and private plan intricacies. Join them for this celebratory episode looking back at a landmark program, and how it may be a harbinger of programs to come.

Winter's snow hasn't stopped yet, but 2024 is already proving to be a busy year for the paid family and medical leave landscape at the federal level. U.S. House and Senate members on both sides of the aisle continue to shine a national spotlight on the need to expand access to paid leave – and with that, comes opportunity for progress.

To make sense of the recent developments, host Josh Seidman sits down with Jason Kanter, the government and regulatory affairs executive from IBM and a leading expert on workforce policy and labor and employment issues, for the first episode in Take It or Leave It’s two-part mini-series on federal paid leave. Together, Josh and Jason comb through all things related to paid leave including its vital role in the lives of workers and their families during times of need, how employer-provided paid leave is a key part of providing access, and challenges that workers, states, and employers face in terms of fairness, navigation, and portability.

They discuss promising recent bipartisan progress in Congress, including activity from the U.S. House Paid Family Leave Working Group, a bicameral request for information on potential federal paid leave setups, and momentum for a new legislative proposal called the “Interstate Paid Leave Action Network (I-PLAN)” to improve the coordination and harmonization of paid leave benefits across the growing number of states with their own programs.

2023 saw unprecedented change in the Leave Law landscape, with multiple states and localities enacting new leave laws and others rolling out major amendments that upended existing mandates. In this episode, host Josh Seidman looks back at the hottest developments from the last 12 months, and ahead to what leave activity may be lurking as we turn the corner to 2024.

The episode begins with a 2023 wrap-up that walks listeners through federal changes, such as welcoming in the Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act, paid family leave changes, including the official rollout of Oregon and Colorado’s programs, and paid sick leave and paid time off law changes, like Illinois’ new paid “any reason” leave law. After touching on Congressional paid leave activity in both the House of Representatives and Senate, including the release of a bicameral, bipartisan Request for Information on federal paid leave proposals, and some of the leave laws that sunset in 2023, Josh looks ahead to the new year and forecasts where federal paid leave, state paid family leave, and state paid sick leave and paid time off may wander in 2024. Join us for this quick-hitting review of where we’ve been in 2023, and what we’re keeping a close eye on as we take on 2024.

New Year’s 2024 is just around the corner, and with it comes a host of major new Paid Leave Law programs launching across the country. Perhaps most important is Colorado’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance (“FAMLI”) program, which officially begins providing benefits on January 1st. For an in depth look at this comprehensive and influential new program – the latest in a growing patchwork of state paid family medical leave laws – host Josh Seidman sits down with Tracy Marshall, director of the Colorado Family & Medical Leave Insurance Division.

Together, Josh and Tracy discuss the history of the program and hit the highlights including who is covered, the amount and nature of covered leave, application processes, and program funding. They answer key questions about coordination of benefits with employer policies and other leave laws, applying for and administering private plans, how Colorado FAMLI stacks up against existing state paid family medical leave programs, and practical considerations and general best practices for employers. Join Josh and Tracy as they dive deep into this important new program and forecast how it may impact future federal legislation.

The many layers of the leave law world can sometimes feel, well endless. In this important episode of Take it or Leave It, we explore one specific layer of family and medical leave – disability and family leave as classes of insurance – that differs from but is interconnected with the paid family and medical leave mandates proliferating around the country (i.e., in Oregon with the Paid Leave Oregon program beginning in September 2023, in Colorado with the Colorado FAMLI program coming online in January 2024, and so forth).

To help navigate what disability insurance and family leave insurance are and what these offerings entail, host Joshua Seidman sits down with Cindy Goff, Vice President, Supplemental Benefits and Group Insurance at American Council of Life Insurers (or ACLI). Together, they explore the scope of and differences between disability and family leave insurance, the dynamics of how these offerings are structured and how they compare to paid family and medical leave mandates, recent activity in the space, and how these classes of insurance can impact potential future federal paid family and medical leave.

10 years ago to the day, we published our first “If Pain, Yes Gain” paid sick leave article. Over the last decade, this article series has grown to more than 110 parts, tracking the frequently evolving and constantly complicated web of paid sick leave mandates. Today, the country is filled with a myriad of paid sick leave laws of different types, durations, and criteria, and the changes show no signs of stopping. In this episode host and principal “If Pain, Yes Gain” author, Josh Seidman, sits down with Marlin Duro-Martinez, a fellow leave expert and key contributor to the series, to discuss the sweeping changes they’ve seen since the article series started. They chart the evolution of paid sick leave laws at the federal, state and local level, analyze where we are now, and discuss some of the major challenges these laws create for multi-state and nationwide employers.

Effects of strong paid leave policies can be hard to quantify. Luckily, there’s an organization attempting to do just that, asking questions to examine how non-working “prime age” individuals really feel about paid family and medical leave, and where it ranks in their workplace priorities. To break this all down, host Josh Seidman is joined by Ben Gitis, Associate Director for Economic Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, who helped author and publish a report exploring the impact more robust paid leave and flexible work policies would have on Americans who are currently out of work. Join Josh and Ben as they explore the results of recent polling on the role of paid leave in helping non-working Americans overcome caregiving and health-related barriers to rejoining the labor market, the current status of state paid family and medical leave programs, and updates on federal paid family leave activity.