{"id":229858,"date":"2026-06-27T20:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T20:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/229858\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T20:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T20:20:10","slug":"pennsylvania-mothers-urge-passage-of-paid-family-and-medical-leave-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/229858\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania mothers urge passage of paid family and medical leave proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emily Scolnick, Pennsylvania Capital-Star<\/a>
June 25, 2026<\/p>\n

Emily Scolnick is a 2026 Dow Jones News Fund intern at the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Six weeks after Nicole Kutufaris of Philadelphia gave birth to her daughter, she was back at work to help her family avoid childcare costs they \u201csimply could not afford.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her employer had approved seven weeks of leave, giving Kutufaris more flexibility than some mothers in Pennsylvania, who are often forced to return to work quickly or denied paid leave when they have children.<\/p>\n

Now, she and other mothers from across the commonwealth are calling on the state Senate to pass the Pennsylvania Family Care Act, which would establish a statewide paid family and medical leave program.<\/p>\n

One version of the bill originated in and has passed the House. Another from the Senate passed the Labor & Industry Committee<\/a> last week and was re-referred to the Rules and Executive Nominations committee on Monday.<\/p>\n

Proposal to establish paid family, medical leave for Pa. workers passes state Senate panel<\/a><\/p>\n

At a press conference on Wednesday, Rep. Jennifer O\u2019Mara (D-Delaware) called on senators to pass a version of the proposal, saying that the House is \u201cready and willing\u201d to make the Family Care Act<\/a> law.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoms need it,\u201d she said. \u201cWe all need it, and businesses will thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mashell Terney, a leader of Mother Forward<\/a>, called the current paid leave situation for mothers a \u201cnightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many moms in Pennsylvania have to go to work even though their babies won\u2019t take a bottle, [or] refuse to eat,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Anita Reedy of Pittsburgh addressed her comments directly to the representatives who voted against the House legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou voted against moms, you voted against families. You voted against providing peace of mind and economic security to Pennsylvanians who are going through the most trying times of their lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kutufaris said the only reason she secured her limited family leave was because she had a supportive employer, but it wasn\u2019t enough time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was learning how to be a mother while navigating sleepless nights, feeding challenges, and all of the responsibilities that come with caring for a newborn,\u201d she said. \u201cReturning to work felt less like a choice and more like a looming deadline that bulked itself into our daily lives as anticipatory dread weeks before my actual return.\u201d<\/p>\n

She emphasized that many Pennsylvania parents are forced to return to work after childbirth before they are physically and emotionally ready to do so. \u201cWelcoming a child should not push a family into crisis,\u201d she said. \u201cParents should not have to choose between bonding with their newborn and paying their bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legislative differences<\/p>\n

The House and Senate versions of the Family Care Act contain two distinct differences: the duration of the leave and how paid leave benefits are provided.<\/p>\n

In the House\u2019s version<\/a>, which passed<\/a> in March by a 107-92 vote and is sponsored by O\u2019Mara, leave is limited to 12 weeks regardless of the reason. Employers can provide benefits for leaves beyond that time\u00a0 at their discretion, but it is not a requirement.<\/p>\n

The Senate\u2019s version<\/a>, sponsored by Sen. Devlin Robinson (R-Allegheny), allows for 20 weeks of leave for the birth or adoption of a child or a serious medical condition. It allows for 12 weeks to care for a loved one for any reason.<\/p>\n

The two chambers\u2019 bills also have different methods for funding the paid leave.<\/p>\n

The House measure calls for the establishment of a restricted account in Pennsylvania\u2019s general fund that would be used solely to provide grants to employers to support workers\u2019 paid leave. The grant program would be centralized within the Department of Community and Economic Development.<\/p>\n

Employers would be eligible to apply if they are self-employed or have fewer than 50 employees and regularly pay benefits to themselves or their employees, according to the proposal.<\/p>\n

The Senate measure does not require any contributions from employers. Instead, it relies on payroll contributions from every employee in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

The deductions would not exceed 1% of employees\u2019 wages, according to the legislation. However, it ensures that employers can provide paid leave at no cost. Employers who withhold their employees\u2019 contributions would be subject to penalties.<\/p>\n

The Senate plan states that the state Department of Labor and Industry would administer the paid leave benefits following the employee contributions.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0 also allows employees to portion out their leave, which would allow them flexibility and would not reduce their benefits. The proposal provides protections to ensure an employee will keep their position and existing healthcare benefits upon returning from leave, and it prohibits employer interference with or retaliation for benefits.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Thanks for reading Emily\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

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Pennsylvania Capital-Star<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Emily Scolnick, Pennsylvania Capital-StarJune 25, 2026 Emily Scolnick is a 2026 Dow Jones News Fund intern at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-229858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}