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Work and Family Economic Sustainability Initiative: The economic sustainability of NH's working families is fundamental to the state's healthy and growing economy. Paid Sick Days and Paid Family/Medical Leave Insurance represent policies that have demonstrated positive outcomes in businesses, including improved employee engagement and retention, reduced absenteeism, enhanced recruitment of competent and creative workers and increased productivity.

Paid Sick Days

This bill requires employers to provide up to 5 days of sick or safe leave for employees and is intended to enable workers to seek medical care, psychological counseling etc for themselves and family, thereby diminishing public and private health care costs in NH. The bill defines procedures for requesting paid sick or safe leave for employees needing health care or who are absent due to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. The Department of Labor is the designated agency to administer the program.

Paid Family / Medical Leave

This bill creates a family leave insurance program to allow parents to take time off to care for a newborn or newly placed child, or to allow persons to care for a family member with a serious medical condition, including a wounded service member receiving medical treatment or therapy as an outpatient. The bill applies to companies with 50 or more employees and establishes the benefit at $250/week for up to 6 weeks. The Department of Employment Security is the designated agency to administer the program and financing is contingent on the availability of federal funds for start-up, development and marketing of a self-pay system.

Wage Gap

The NH Women�s Lobby and Alliance have begun an educational campaign to address the issue of the Wage Gap and its effects on working women in New Hampshire and throughout the nation. Women have made remarkable gains in education during the past three decades, yet these achievements have resulted in only modest improvements in pay equity. The gender pay gap has become a fixture of the U.S. workplace and is so ubiquitous that many simply view it as normal.

January 29, 2010 marks the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.� While this law's adoption was an important step on the road to fair pay, it was only a first step.� Data released by U.S. Census Bureau showed that, in 2008, women continued to earn just 77 cents for each dollar earned by her male counterpart.� The Paycheck Fairness Act, a much needed update to the Equal Pay Act, is a comprehensive bill that would create stronger incentives for employers to follow the law, empower women to negotiate for equal pay, and strengthen federal outreach, education and enforcement efforts. The bill would also deter wage discrimination by strengthening penalties for equal pay violations and by prohibiting retaliation against workers who ask about employers' wage practices or disclose their own wages.� In short, the bill updates the law to reflect the practices and processes under more recent civil rights laws.� The House has already passed this legislation; now it's time for the Senate to do the same.

In these tough economic times, an unprecedented number of women are now the family breadwinners - making fair pay even more critical, not simply to family economic security but also to the nation's economic recovery.� The Paycheck Fairness Act can help to create a climate where wage discrimination is not tolerated, and give the administration the enforcement tools it needs to make real progress on pay equity.

If you would like to invite the NH Women�s Lobby and Alliance to speak on the Wage Gap at your next event, please email our Executive Director Nikki Murphy at nikki@nhwomen.org or call 603-224-9105 for more information.