ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
unemployment insurance;
family leave
Provides up to 90 days of unemployment insurance benefits eligibility to individuals who leave work in order to care for a child.
Background
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was enacted in 1993 to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protection for Americans who leave their work in order to care for newborn infants and sick family members. Although the FMLA guarantees unpaid leave for childbirth or family illness, many people are unable to withstand the loss of income that accompanies such a leave of absence. According to the Family Leave Commission, 20 percent of all new parents who needed family leave time did not take it. And of those who elected not to take the leave, about two thirds said they did not because they could not afford to. S.B. 1059 provides unemployment insurance benefits for these individuals seeking family leave from work to care for a newborn or newly adopted child.
According to Joint
Legislative Budget Committee staff, there is no fiscal impact of S.B.
1059. However, the effect this measure
will have on the unemployment insurance trust fund or employer tax rates is
unknown at this time.
Provisions
1. Qualifies an individual for up to 90 days of unemployment insurance benefits if the individual leaves employment or has taken an unpaid leave of absence to care for a child during the child’s first year of life or during the first year after a child has been adopted.
2. Provides for a general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Staff
January 16, 2001