Pennsylvania plans to use a $250,000 federal grant to spend more than a year studying options for paid family leave programs.
The grant comes from money the federal Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau awarded to several states and cities to look into how paid family leave impacts workers and businesses.
Department of Labor and Industry Secretary, Kathy Manderino, said the state doesn’t yet have concrete plans for what it will do with the data.
“I do think that good information is a starting point,” she said. “The goal is to have policies that support workers and businesses in Pennsylvania, but there’s no predetermined outcome at this point.”
According to Manderino, the study will focus on a wide range of permutations on paid leave programs, including maternity and paternity, and medical leave.
She said a statewide program could potentially help an estimated 2.9 million Pennsylvanians.
The commonwealth already has a paid family leave program for state employees.
