We've written about California's expanding family leave law. Last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down the legislature's latest effort to boost benefits.
"While some expansion of existing law may have merit, these laws in combination are too expansive and also fail to recognize the need for reforms to current law," Schwarzenegger wrote in a veto message shortly before his Oct. 14 deadline to act on bills from the 2007 legislative session.
It's not like the state has been stingy.
California now requires firms with 50 or more workers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for serious personal illness, bonding with a new baby or caring for a seriously ill dependent child, parent, spouse or domestic partner.
California also provides up to six weeks of paid family leave - funded through employee contributions to the state's disability insurance program - for baby bonding or care for an ill spouse, child, parent or domestic partner.
Schwarzenegger gets it exactly right.
"California has the strongest employment leave and workplace protection laws in the country," Schwarzenegger wrote. "While these laws have been enacted with the best of intentions, they have also caused much confusion. ... Instead of expanding the confusing network of laws that presently exist, employers and employees should be working together to eliminate confusion and create a system of workplace laws that ... offers both employers and employees flexibility to meet their respective needs."
Same's true here.
