Paid family leave affects more than finances, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says, noting that it can improve the health of the 100 million people in the US who do not have access to a single day of paid leave after the birth of a child. In research conducted by the foundation, they discovered that only 7% of American workers in the lowest wage bracket are offered paid leave by their employers. | WBTW

As many as three million workers in North Carolina have survived the pandemic so far without access to paid sick days the North Carolina Justice Center estimates. People who don’t receive paid sick days include essential workers, and legislators in the state are considering two proposals to address the issue. | THE CHARLOTTE POST

74% of people who vote Republican support creating plans for paid leave, a new poll reveals. The survey included 1,070 likely voters and included polling for House and Senate races, which also showed that candidates do better when advocating for paid leave. | VOX

The US should adopt a paid leave plan in order to improve quality care for seniors, writes Kerri Bickford of Topsham, Maine. The global pandemic particularly highlighted the need for such a plan, because “We’re now approaching 800 COVID-related deaths in Maine, and only 54 of those deaths were people under the age of 60.” | PORTLAND PRESS HERALD

Adopting a paid leave plan in the US is ultimately about economics, writes Republican Committeewoman and small business owner Beth Bloch. To make her case, she cites research from Rutgers University that found that “women who return to work after taking paid leave are 39% less likely to go on public assistance.” | LOOTPRESS

The US should adopt a new paid leave plan such as the one proposed by former President Trump, writes former Branson, Mo. mayor Karen Best. “At some point in everyone’s life, no matter which party you support, you will need to either give or receive care,” she argues. | THE MISSOURI TIMES

A pair of conservatives in the US House have introduced another paid leave proposal adding to the list of options sponsored by right-leaning legislators in recent years. The new legislation has been introduced by Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) and Kevin Brady (R-TX). | FINANCIAL REGULATION NEWS

An estimated 33.6 million people in the US, or roughly 24% of the civilian workforce, lack access to paid sick leave according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “The smart employer would recognize the wisdom of paid sick days: primarily, preventing the spread of sickness to other employees or customers,” argues the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. | SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL

Sheetz has introduced a new paid leave plan for its employees that includes 12 weeks for new mothers, plus two weeks for their partners. Travis Sheetz, the president and COO of the family-owned convenience store and gas station chain on the East Coast, called the employee offering both “overdue” and “the best investment we can make.” | WDBJ7

U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and an attorney for the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) advocated for paid leave plans that allow for maximum flexibility for employers and workers at last week’s Senate hearing. "Flexibility for the employer and the worker makes it work for all involved,” Burr said, noting that “We should make sure we give business a lot of flexibility to help employers make paid leave work.” | SHRM

Children who receive more attention from their parents in the first five years of life tend to be healthier as adults and reach higher levels of education, writes Samuel Hamond. At the same time, mothers who do not get at least twelve weeks of paid leave have a higher likelihood of unstable marriages, stress, anxiety, and depression. | NEWSWEEK

A quarter of women in the US workforce have considered quitting due to challenges with balancing work and childcare during the pandemic, new research by Prudential Group Insurance reveals. Additionally, 20% have fallen behind in paying bills, leading the company’s president to describe paid family leave as “an unmet need in America.” | INSURANCENEWSNET

“Women who become mothers are left to grapple with changes—in lifestyle, but also in emotions, motivations, and questions of purpose and identity,” writes Amber Lapp, changes “that we feel acutely but are little understood by a world in which the expectation too often is that you take your six weeks of leave (if that) and bounce back to life as before.” One single mother she interviewed who would have preferred to take six months of leave shared that after five weeks of unpaid leave after the birth of a child, she tried to go back to work, but her workplace sent her home because of her doctor’s advice to take six weeks. | AMERICAN COMPASS

In a 21,000 person survey conducted by YouGov in March and April, 82% registered their support for paid maternity leave. Breaking the results down by political affiliation, 73% of Republicans support the idea, but only 21% of the workforce has access to paid leave programs. | WIPROUD

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has given his support to a paid leave plan that grants state employees three weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. Advocates say that 90% of Georgians support paid leave, while nationally, support may be as high as 82% according to recent polls. | NOW HABERSHAM | FATHERLY

While 75% of Americans favor a federal paid leave policy, currently only 20% of private workers have access to such a plan. While the Biden proposal would over the next decade would cost $225 billion, Republicans in the past have created bipartisan plans that are budget neutral by tweaking how Americans access Social Security and child tax credits. | VOX

With the Biden Administration’s announcement of a paid leave plan, Democrats should collaborate with Republicans in order to implement the policy goal without raising taxes, writes Kristin Shapiro. An increase in the payroll tax would likely harm people with the lowest income because they are less likely than higher-income earners to take advantage of the new program but would still be paying for it in taxes, she argues. | IWF

The US is the only first-world country without a mandate for paid leave at the birth of a child, but we shouldn’t let “a world obsessed with work and rat races and networking happy hours” stop us from giving some of that attention to newborn babies at least through maternity leave, writes Matt Purple for The American Conservative. As a father of a one-month-old, he was able to benefit from Washington, DC’s paid leave program, but only 17% of workers in the US are able to take advantage of similar paid maternity leave options, he writes. | THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE

New Zealand enacted a new law in March 2021 expanding their existing paid bereavement leave to include the miscarriage of an unborn child, and the US should adopt the same policy, writes Leah Libresco Sargeant for the Institute for Family Studies. Additionally, women shouldn’t have to use sick time to grieve and heal after the fact, even though in some cases it is possible to do so in the US, she writes. | IFS

Creating new ways to keep mothers or fathers home with their newborn should be the focus of legislation that addresses childcare, writes Erica Komisar for the Institute for Family Studies. Instead of universal childcare, “children need a primary caregiver who is consistent, focused on their emotional needs, and able to both buffer them from stress and soothe their distress,” she writes. | IFS