A non-profit recently graded all 50 states and the District of Columbia on how well their laws provide access to leave for new moms and dads. Only two states received an A.
They were California (the first state to pass an a law giving new parents access to paid leave) and Connecticut (which passed a statewide paid sick day law).
The National Partnership for Women & Families issued the report card.
Currently, there is no federal law that provides paid family leave for parents to take time off to care for a new child.
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) only provides unpaid job-protected leave for new parents who need to take time off for medical reasons.
Meanwhile, 178 other countries provide paid leave for new mothers, and 54 provide paid leave for new fathers, reported the non-profit advocacy group.
Here’s the state-by-state report card:
A-
- California
- Connecticut
B+
- District of Columbia
- New Jersey
B
- Hawaii
- Washington
- Oregon
B-
- Maine
- New York
- Ilinois
C+
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Wisconsin
- Massachusetts
C
- Minnesota
C-
- Louisiana
- Montana
D+
- Colorado
- Tennessee
D
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Florida
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- New Hampshire
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
D-
- Arkansas
- Indiana
- Maryland
- New Mexico
- Texas
F
- Alabama
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Kansas
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Utah
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Info: For a summary of each state’s family leave laws, see the report, “Expecting Better: A State-by-State Analysis of Laws That Help New Parents,” by the National Partnership for Women & Families, May 2012.
