For Immediate Release
Washington, DC – The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) today submitted a statement for the record to the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy, following its hearing on the importance of paid family and medical leave.
In its statement, ERIC urges the Committee to shield those employers that already provide paid family and medical leave benefits from additional compliance mandates. ERIC believes this is easily achievable through federal preemption, by allowing an employer that satisfies a federal standard for paid family leave to be deemed to have satisfied any state law that governs the same type of paid leave.
ERIC, however, concedes that should preemption be unachievable, a federal paid family and medical leave law should establish a social insurance program rather than a strict government mandate. The program could utilize existing infrastructure and government resources, lessening the burdens and costs to employers, while funding would be the sole responsibility of employees as the ultimate beneficiaries.
“ERIC members, and large employers alike, have been providing quality paid family leave programs for years. It is imperative that they continue to be allowed to design and maintain plans that work effectively and efficiently based on the needs of their workforces and the industries in which they operate,” said Will Hansen, Senior Vice President of Retirement and Compensation Policy, ERIC. “ERIC hopes our comments will help guide the Committee as it moves forward in its study of a national paid family and medical leave law.”
Click here to read ERIC’s statement.