Features

• California's paid family leave law allows workers to receive up to 55 percent of their weekly wages for up to six weeks. Washington state provides up to five weeks of paid leave, up to a $250 benefit. New Jersey provides partial wages for employee leave for up to six weeks.
  
  

Eligibility

• Paid leave varies by state, but generally covers situations such as the birth and care of a newborn child, adopted or foster child, and care for seriously ill immediate family members.
  
  

Considerations

• A study by McGill University and the Harvard School of Public Health found that the U.S. was less generous with paid family leave than most of the world. The study found that 177 nations provide paid family leave for new mothers and 74 provide this for fathers.
  
  

Benefits

• A study by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation in 2009 found that paid and unpaid family leave was tied to higher rates of breastfeeding by new mothers, which is connected with better child development and lower infant and newborn mortality rates.