November 18, 2021

Chamber of Mothers Spreads Awareness and Advocacy for Paid Family Leave

       

Chamber of Mothers is a newly formed group by moms and for moms. Chamber of Mothers is comprised of lawyers, advocates, and leaders advocating for the interests of moms, with their first goal to secure federal paid family leave.

Congress is in the midst of negotiating the Build Back Better Bill, legislation proposed by President Joe Biden to help America rebuild in the wake of COVID-19. The legislation is largely broken into three categories:

  • The American Rescue Plan (a COVID-19 relief package);
  • The American Jobs Plan (an infrastructure proposal intended to aid in the reduction of climate change), and;
  • The American Families Plan (a social policy focusing on welfare and social services funding).

Chamber of Mothers is currently focused on the American Families Plan, specifically the proposed federal funding for paid family leave. Right now, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is the only federal legislation related to family leave and fails to financially compensate mothers and family members who are eligible utilize the leave policy. President Biden originally proposed 12 weeks of paid leave, and Congress completely cut paid leave from the plan altogether. After much back and forth, Democrats reintroduced four weeks of paid family leave back into the proposal.

In the wake of this addition, the Chamber took to social media, spreading awareness on the need to keep federal paid family leave. They utilized #savepaidleave and #buildbackbleeding to build and track support of the movement. In the coalitions’ inaugural post, they created a symbol highlighted above “[t]he shape that the hands are making evokes the shape of the vagina, the entrance to the womb where life is formed. The hands are the union of two as one, and conjure the helping hands and village of support needed for new mothers and families.” This image spread throughout thousands and posts and a myriad of communities highlighting the need for federal support for mothers. The group is eager to grow and encourages those interested to enter their information on their website in addition to staying abreast of their social media pages.

Written by Law Clerk Katina Smith

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LinkedIn Adds “Stay-at-home” Job Title

April 12, 2021
Gender Discrimination
In a small step to help parents feel more comfortable about their employment histories, employment-focused social network LinkedIn has added the option for users to describe their employment status as “stay-at-home,” whether it’s mother, father, or parent.

Employees in New York State Given Leave for Vaccination

April 1, 2021
Leave
All public and private employees in New York may use paid time off to receive Covid-19 vaccinations. According to the language of the bill, employees are eligible for up to four hours of excused leave for each injection they receive. This excused leave does not affect any other accrued leave an employee might have already.

Cuomo’s Textbook Violations of His Own Sexual Harassment Law

March 29, 2021
Sexual Harassment
Governor Cuomo, who boasted that “we are sending a strong message that time is up on sexual harassment in the workplace” doesn’t appear to have thought his own message applied to him. Read all about it in Senior Associate Alex Berke’s piece “Cuomo’s Textbook Violations of His Own Sexual Harassment Law” in the Daily Beast.

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