Legislation

Dems plan $100 million mandatory paid family leave

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At last week’s Democratic legislative caucus, it was announced a mandatory new paid family and medical leave program would be introduced soon, funded by a 0.58 percent payroll tax, split between the employer and employee. 

This would raise an estimated $100 million. The program would be much larger than previously proposed, providing 100% wage replacement for 12-weeks of leave for a vast number of absences. The bureaucracy supporting this program would be housed in the Office of the State Treasurer, and about $20 million would be needed to stand up the program. 

The plan is competing with the Governor’s voluntary plan, the Vermont Family and Medical Leave Insurance Plan (VT-FMLI). The Department of Economic Development is collecting feedback from employers about the business community’s interest.

While there are many fine details to be legislated, the major fault lines and the crux of most conversations will be:

  • Should the state mandate such a program or facilitate a voluntary option 
  • Should the state-run such a program or contract a third party to do so 
  • What share of the program should be paid for by the employer or the employee 
  • How broad should the categories be for leave. – Lake Champlain Chamber

Categories: Legislation, Uncategorized

14 replies »

  1. Note to Government:
    Stop putting your hand in my Pocket it’s nearly empty already.

  4. Note the ease with which they impose their agendas on us. It’s all mandatory.
    There’s no thought of offering their ideas as optional and lettings us consider the merits. There’s no effort to develop a consensus among us that they could represent. We are unenlightened unfortunates who need to be lead. They go immediately to top down RULING. Neighbors, is this what we voted for? Permission to sneeze please…what color socks must I wear on Tuesday? Any body else getting creeped out by the presumptive intrusiveness of these folks?

  5. You will own nothing and you will be taxed. But you will have family leave. And you will like it!

  6. Get use to this nonsense friend, with the voter mandates the Marxist democrats received this past November, it is only going to get worse. They are rolling out carbon tax bills and the government mandated child care bill too.

    I’m not one to defend Gov. Scott, although he announced a “volunteer” Family Leave bill. We knew the Left is going to push for a mandatory program costing $250 million dollars and that is a low estimate once they get in to it.

    We’re already reading that property taxes across the State are increasing, although there is $65 million surplus there.

    These people, the Dems/Progs just east the spend your money, they DO NORE care about We The People! We also know that they will not listen to anything that by us common-sense thinkers present.

    I can only encourage you all to wake up, get deeper involved. Call your local Representative and County senators, and get involved in your local Select and School board, run for office. We ALL MUST step up friends. Thank you.

    Gregory Thayer

  7. So as an employee of my own company I can’t opt out of this and save my own money? I don’t need the government saving money for me. This is just another tax. This is more government control. We need less government. Look what they’ve done with social security, medicaid, Medicare and social welfare. They have screwed up all that money but people still vote these idiots into office who want more of this crap. Wake up Vermont.

  8. How will this new tax and program work for people employed in another state? Can’t take leave because you would loose your job so you can’t get any benefits from the taxes paid in.

  9. Vermont voted for this, Vermont is going to get this. However, what Vermonter’s fail to realize is that we are asking the population of a medium sized U.S. city to fund all of this. Simply not possible.