POLL SHOWS 4-to-1 SUPPORT FOR
FAMILY LEAVE INSURANCE

TRENTON—New Jerseyans overwhelmingly support a proposal that would allow them to support their families while taking care of sick family members without losing pay. A new poll of 809 adults conducted October 29-31 by The Eagleton Center for Public Interest found 78% favor of family leave insurance proposal from the NJ Time to Care Coalition; 16% were opposed.

Under NJ Time to Care’s proposal, New Jersey workers would be eligible for up to 12 weeks of leave per 12-month period to care for a sick child, spouse, parent or domestic partner, or to bond with a newborn, adopted or foster child. Employees taking leave would receive up to two-thirds their salary, with a ceiling of $488 a week. To fund the program, each employee would pay a small increase into the existing state Temporary Disability Insurance Fund (TDI). Employers would pay nothing. If New Jersey adopts family leave insurance, it would be the second state, after California, to do so. Legislation creating the coverage advocated by the NJ Time to Care Coalition has been introduced by State Sen. Stephen Sweeney.

For most workers, the increased TDI cost to cover family leave insurance would be less than a dollar week. But to determine the extent to which support depends on the cost, Eagleton sought reaction at two cost levels. Half the sample was told the cost would be under a dollar a week and half was told it would be two dollars. Support was virtually the same, with 75% approving the plan at under a dollar and 74% at two dollars.

Overall, women were slightly more supportive of family leave insurance, 74% to 80%.

The answers to questions about projected use of family leave insurance suggest that the plan for program funding would be more than adequate:

• 23% said they or their spouse had taken time off in the past five years to care for a sick family member or care for a newborn or adopted child
• 42% said they took off two weeks or less; 22% said three to six weeks; 15% said more than 12 weeks.
• 39% of those who said they took time off reported that they were not paid; 33% said they received more than half their pay. Gender differences were dramatic—with 41% of men saying they received more than half their pay, compared to 23% of women.
• 16% of women and 16% of men said there was a time in the past five years when they wanted to take off but couldn’t. Finances were the main reason, with 54% saying they couldn’t afford to take the time off.
• 31% of those polled said they expect that over the next five years they or their spouse will need to take time off for the reasons covered by the family leave insurance proposal

“New Jersey workers struggling to support their families and care for them when they get sick should not be faced with the prospect of losing their paycheck,” said Eileen Appelbaum, Director of the Center for Women and Work, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. “The proposal endorsed by an overwhelming majority of New Jersey workers and their families would provide family leave insurance at no cost to the employer.”

The margin of sampling error for the survey was plus of minus 3.4 percentage points. Eagleton collected and analyzed the data.

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