Paid family leave advances, but future tied to $15 minimum wage

ALBANY — The move to provide paid family leave to all workers for births and serious illnesses in their families gained a bipartisan push Monday, but its link to raising the minimum wage to $15 continues to make its future uncertain.

“This is the most positive step for full-blow paid family leave in New York,” said state Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx), who sponsors the bill. “No worker should have to choose between what their heart tells them to do and what their pocketbook allows them to do,” Klein said in an interview.

The Republican-controlled Senate, along with Klein’s Independent Democratic Conference, included paid family leave in a broad budget resolution adopted Monday. That resolution doesn’t guarantee the Senate will ultimately approve the measure, but the resolution will be used in negotiations to reach a budget agreement before April 1.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the Assembly’s Democratic majority support paid family leave, under slightly different versions, and raising the minimum wage to $15 over two to three years.

While some in the Republican majority have warmed to the paid family leave proposal, which has strong public support, the conference has publicly remained opposed to raising the current $9 minimum wage. Republicans have said it will force employers, particularly small businesses upstate, to eliminate jobs and jack up prices.

Legislative leaders and Cuomo are considering an array of options behind closed doors, including delaying the rise to $15 for several years upstate, several senators said.

In Monday’s budget resolution, Senate Republicans also included a plan to study the impact on businesses of a higher minimum wage.

Klein said that was a subtle, but important move in the Republican conference, which has long opposed raising the minimum wage. The difference, Klein said, has been Cuomo.

“The governor has done an amazing job of embracing paid family leave and tying it to increasing the minimum wage,” Klein said. “The governor is very good at getting important policy issues done as part of the budget.”

If a budget isn’t agreed to, a governor can ultimately force his policy measures into a late budget, leaving the legislature a choice of accepting the entire document or shutting down government.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.