The Berger Institute for Work, Family and Children has been awarded an $80,000 grant from The California Wellness Foundation to investigate the impact of California's new Paid Family Leave Act and to communicate its availability to California workers.
Using the grant funds, Berger Institute staff and student researchers will survey California workers who are most likely to need and benefit from paid family leave, and use their findings to convince California media outlets of the need for editorial coverage and public service announcements about the new program.
"Although we are taking a strictly data-driven approach to the work," explained Professor of Psychology Diane Halpern, director of the Berger Institute and president of the American Psychological Association, "we suspect that the people who will benefit most from the paid leave opportunity are California's lower-paid workers."
With California workers already paying into the family leave fundpayroll deductions began January 1 the paid family leave act is the first state-funded program in the United States. California workers can begin to take paid leave under the program on July 1; they will be eligible for up to six weeks of paid leave, at 55 percent of their regular pay, after taking one week of unpaid leave.
"Many other states are looking at California now, watching to see if our program succeeds," Halpern said. "But paid family leave isn't a new conceptit's been offered in Europe for many, many years. Among the questions other states would like to see answered are questions about the logistical and economic impacts on business, and questions about the impact on families: if it will keep more families off of welfare, reduce stress among caregivers, and help people to get better faster because someone is there to be sure they take their medication or make it to their follow-up appointments.
"If we can demonstrate that paid family leave offers these benefits and results in minimal expense to employers," Halpern added, "it could be an overall money-saver, reducing health care and welfare costs long-term."
Berger Institute staff and students began the research effort before being awarded the two-year grant, initiating an attitudinal study of California businesses and collecting data from relatives of patients leaving in-hospital care and from hospital caregivers.
"With health care for middle- and low-income workers becoming an increasingly volatile political issue in America," Halpern said, "we hope this research will inform the debate over the costs and benefits of providing working adults with paid leave to care for sick family members."
Created in 1992 as an independent, private foundation, The California Wellness Foundation's mission is to improve the health of the people of California by making grants for health promotion, wellness education, and disease prevention programs.