In an Op-ed that appeared in several New Jersey news outlets, Burke Foundation Executive Director and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Senior Program Director Maisha Simmons made the case for expanding New Jersey’s paid family leave policy.
In New Jersey, the need to act is urgent. Studies show that paid maternity leave reduces infant and under-5 mortality — and a growing body of evidence finds that paid leave improves maternal mental health. Supporting working families helps create healthier communities and can reduce the racial disparities in maternal and infant mortality that exist in New Jersey.
“We’re both mothers, and we both know that no time in a child’s life has a greater lifelong impact on physical and emotional well-being than the first 1,000 days,” they said. “We have both benefited from paid leave policies that enabled us to be present in many of those early days as new moms. And we’re delighted that New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin just recently made public that he’s taking family leave after the birth of his daughter, Maya.”
But not every parent or caregiver in New Jersey has the same opportunities.
New Jersey’s pioneering paid family leave insurance program, started in 2009 and expanded in 2019, providing economic stability for parents to nurture their newborns or newly adopted children during this crucial time, giving each child the best opportunity to thrive, they added.
But the policy does not cover businesses with fewer than 30 employees or protect employees who have been on the job for less than a year.