This photo taken Nov. 27, 2013 shows caregiver Warren Manchess helping Paul Gregoline with his shoes and socks, in Noblesville, Ind. As demand for senior services provided by nurses’ aides, home health aides and other such workers grows with the aging of baby boomers, so are those professions' employment of other seniors. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, with funding from The SCAN Foundation, conducted a survey of adults age 40 and older, including an oversample of California residents, which measured awareness of and attitudes toward California’s paid family leave program. The results show that over half of Californians age 40 and older are aware of the program. Once the program is explained, a large majority supports it, and most would be comfortable using the program to take care of a family member with a serious health condition.
California is one of three states that allow employees to take time off to care for a family member with a serious health condition while receiving partial pay. Implemented in 2004 and paid for through employee payroll deductions, it allows for up to six weeks leave, taken all at once or in as little as one-day increments. The typical weekly benefit is 55 percent of a worker’s weekly wage, up to a maximum of $1,129 in 2016, and all private sector employers and some public employees are covered.
