Analysis Details Evers’ Paid Leave Plan

Gov. Tony Evers. File photo by Emily Hamer/Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

Gov. Tony Evers’ paid family and medical leave plan would give workers 12 weeks leave and pay them 50% to 90% of their average weekly pay over the period, according to a new summary of the governor’s two-year budget. How the Democrat’s paid leave plan would work was one of a number of details in the budget analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB).

If the governor’s paid leave plan became law, which is unlikely given the opposition of Republicans who control the Legislature, someone who made more than $22,500 in the previous year would get 50% of their average weekly earnings for 12 weeks. And those who made less than $22,500 would get 90% of their average weekly pay for 12 weeks.

So, if someone earned $60,000 last year, the governor’s plan would give them a weekly benefit of $576 for 12 weeks; if they made $80,000, the weekly benefit would be $769.

Evers would tie the paid leave benefit to the “state annual median wage,” which is the median hourly wage for all Wisconsin occupations as determined by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, multiplied by 2,080. That median wage was $21.63 in 2021.

The price tag of Evers’ proposal – a down payment of $243 million by mid-2025 and 198 new workers to administer a new Family and Medical Leave Benefit Trust Fund – has Republican legislators promising it won’t be in the budget they must pass by July.

But, in his budget address, Evers pitched the plan this way: “We’re going to create a statewide program that will provide most private-sector workers in Wisconsin paid family and medical leave for 12 weeks, and …invest more than $240 million in state funds to get that program started.

“New parents aren’t the only ones who can benefit from a paid family leave program that truly meets the needs of our workforce.

“Too often, folks are also unable to receive family or medical leave support based on their unique circumstances or situation. So, we’re also going to expand eligibility so workers have the flexibility to respond to their personal, family members’ or their kids’ needs.”

Other details about Evers’ paid leave plan from LFB’s analysis:

-State government’s one-time funding of $243 million would create the trust fund, hire 198 Department of Workforce Development employees to set up the system and determine how much employers and employees would be taxed – equally – to begin paying benefits in January 2025.

-Employees could claim paid leave for a broad list of reasons – birth or adoption of a child, the serious illness of themselves or a family member, a “short-term gap” in child care, to respond to “domestic abuse, sexual abuse or stalking” or becoming a bone marrow or organ donor.

-Self-employed business owners would have to participate in the plan and could also receive benefits.

-Employers who now provide paid family and medical leave benefits that are equal to or better than state benefits could seek an exemption from the state plan.

-Taxes to support the paid medical and family leave system would be deducted from workers’ paychecks.

-Employees who defraud the system would be subject to enforcement actions to recover benefits illegally claimed.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business group, opposes Evers’ paid medical leave plan. “Employers have and continue to step up for their workers, providing increased flexibility and leave benefits,” said Rachel Ver Velde, WMC’s senior director of workforce, education and employment policy.

“With the state’s severe workforce shortage, employers are incentivized to provide employees with increased benefits in order to stay competitive,” Ver Velde said, adding:

“Mandating 12 weeks of paid leave funded through employer and employee contributions hurts workers and employers [and would] negatively affect wages and significantly hamper an employer’s ability to provide a flexible working environment when an individual returns to work. Employees also will no longer be able to negotiate the compensation and benefit package that best fits their specific needs.”

Now, employers “face significant burdens” complying with conflicting state and federal Family and Medical Leave laws, Ver Velde said. “The Governor’s changes will only make this problem worse.”

Leaders of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, Sen. Howard Marklein and Rep. Mark Born, say the paid leave plan will be one of many Evers priorities that won’t be in their final 2023-25 state budget.

“The Governor’s ideas increase spending significantly and dig us into a hole that would make future budgeting difficult,” Marklein and Born said in a statement.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com