California paid leave law among nation's broadest

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A new law in California lets more people than almost anywhere else in the country take up to three months off from work to care for a family member thanks in part to a nursing mother who brought her baby to work with her on the final day of the state legislative session to vote for it.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law on Thursday about two weeks after it squeaked through the state Legislature just minutes before a midnight deadline. It passed in part because Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, a Democrat from Oakland, returned to the Legislature from her maternity leave to vote for it after her request to vote by proxy was denied by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. He later apologized to Wicks.

Wicks' cast her vote with her baby by her side. A video of her bringing her baby onto the Assembly floor was alter widely shared on social media.

“I wanted to be casting that vote,” she said. “With my daughter by my side, that felt very important.”

California was the first state to let people take up to 12 weeks off from work to care for a family member while still getting paid a portion of their salary. The money comes from disability insurance taxes the workers pay.

But since that law took effect in 2004, many people who work for smaller companies haven't used it because they are not guaranteed to keep their jobs. In most cases, state and federal law only protect jobs for people who work at companies with at least 50 employees.

The law Newsom signed Thursday extends those job protections to companies with at least five employees. The law is one of the most expansive in the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has only further revealed the need for a family leave policy that truly serves...