Groups that support paid family and medical leave in Maine are launching a referendum drive even as a Legislature-appointed commission works on developing a statewide program.
The Maine Women’s Lobby and the Maine People’s Alliance said Tuesday that they are starting to gather signatures to put a measure on the ballot next year.
A leader of the effort hopes the commission comes up with a paid family leave plan for the Legislature to take up next year, but said the need for the program is too dire to rely solely on that approach.
“The calls for a solution that will support families and small businesses have been growing,” Destie Holman Sprague, the executive director of the Maine Women’s Lobby, said in a statement. She said her organization supports the work of the commission, but “we hope that a people’s referendum will help to make sure that paid family leave and medical leave becomes a reality for Mainers in the next two years.”
The groups backing the referendum aim to have the measure on the statewide ballot by November 2023, giving the Legislature time to look at a plan that the Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave Commission comes up with. The commission is scheduled to report to the Legislature this November.
The groups working on a referendum said a paid family and medical leave program should apply to all workers – hourly, salaried or self-employed – to take paid time off to deal with events such as the birth, adoption or fostering of a child; recovery from surgery, an accident or other significant physical or mental health condition; supporting a loved one who has had a significant physical or mental health condition or an older family member who needs significant support; preparation for or transitioning back from a family member’s military deployment; and taking care of their own or a family member’s immediate needs if they are a victim of domestic or sexual violence.
Leave would be limited to 12 weeks for a single need and 16 weeks total in a year. Funding would come from employers and employees, with larger businesses contributing more to a fund to pay for the leave.
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