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When the legislation creating Connecticut’s Paid Leave Authority was signed in 2019, no one saw the paid medical leave program going online amid a global pandemic.
The increase in illnesses due to COVID-19 has people reaching out to the authority, even though there is little that it can do right now, according to the Republican American, which cited authority CEO Andrea Barton.
The Connecticut Paid Medical Leave Program is a supplement to the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and provides financial support to households when someone needs to take time off from work to care for a sick loved one or themselves. While the FMLA is meant to hold a person's job for up to 12 weeks while addressing serious medical concerns or a growing family, it does not require payments to the employee.
Through the Connecticut program, individuals can receive financial benefits for up to 12 weeks.
While benefits won’t be doled out until 2022, the program actually launches on Jan. 1, 2021 - this is when the state will begin collecting taxes to support the program. Most employees will pay up to 0.05 percent of their pay. Payments to beneficiaries can be as much as $780 per week.
In September, Connecticut launched a website to provide information and eventually take applications for the Connecticut Paid Medical Leave Program at CTPaidLeave.org. Legislation that created the program and the authority to oversee it was signed in 2019.
Among the reasons a person could go on paid-leave through the Connecticut program are:
- Personal serious health concern
- Bonding with a child after birth, adoption, or foster placement
- Providing care to a seriously ill family member
- Addressing needs that arise due to foreign deployment of a relative
- Serving as an organ or bone marrow donor
- Addressing certain matters of domestic violence.
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