Federal family leave for parents affected by coronavirus has run out. State workers weigh options

The federal government extended a lifeline to working parents in April when it provided 12 weeks of expanded paid leave for those affected by the coronavirus.

The leave has run out for parents who have used it continuously since then. Now that schools have canceled in-person classes in Sacramento, Los Angeles and other parts of the state, some California state workers face difficult choices about what to do next.

More relief for workers who have exhausted the leave isn’t being discussed by Congress as part of its coronavirus relief package. State workers who have depended on the leave since the outbreak essentially have three choices: pay for child care and risk infection, go on an unpaid leave of absence or seek approval for a reduced schedule that would fit their child care needs.

The cost and risks of child care make that option untenable for some families.

A state worker mother of an infant and two school-aged children said she exhausted the expanded leave this month.

One of her children has asthma, raising the child’s risk from COVID-19. Her salary as a program technician — recently reduced in across-the-board state pay cuts — would barely cover the cost of care for three children, she said.

Child care for an infant costs $1,200 to $1,400 per month on average in Sacramento and a little less for older children, said Julie Smith, a spokeswoman for Child Action, a nonprofit that manages child care subsidies and referrals in Sacramento County.

The state worker mother requested anonymity because she fears retaliation from the state, which enforces gag rules on workers despite analyses that have found them unconstitutional.

She expects to exercise an option available to state workers to take up to a year of unpaid leave. On unpaid leave, she’ll either have to pay the full price of her health insurance — about $2,000 per month — or drop her coverage. She expects to drop the coverage.

Congress is considering Democratic and Republican proposals that would send relief for child care providers — who say it is desperately needed to stay open — but the proposals don’t specifically address the family leave for working parents.

Congress expanded the leave starting April 1 in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The bill made the 12 weeks available through the end of December. Workers who haven’t exhausted it can still use it.

The law provides two weeks of sick leave at full pay for parents of children whose school or day care has been canceled due to COVID-19, among other qualifying conditions related to the virus. It provides an additional 10 weeks of family leave at two-thirds pay, up to a maximum of $200 per day, for parents of children with canceled school or daycare.

The law allows employers to deny the leave to essential workers. Several California state departments have excluded groups of workers. The departments of Corrections and Rehabilitation, State Hospitals, Veterans Affairs, Developmental Services and those that manage wildlife and parks have exempted all or nearly all their employees.

For essential workers, California has been providing extra money and speedier enrollment in subsidized child care. The state recently extended the benefit for those enrolled, but the deadline for the special program was the end of June, according to the Department of Education.

Pandemic child care

While many child care centers closed at the beginning of the pandemic, many have reopened, providers said.

The largest facilities, known as child care centers, have closed at higher rates than smaller providers, known as child care homes.

As of the end of July, 159 of Sacramento County’s 480 child care centers were temporarily closed, Smith said.

Just 83 of the county’s 1,309 child care homes were temporarily closed, she said.

Another option, known as family, friends and neighbors, allows parents to pay someone without a license to take care of their children as long as the person isn’t taking care of anyone else’s children.

Child Action is Sacramento County’s designated resource and referral network — a hub for information about available child care providers and details on available payment aid. Referrals are available on the organization’s website, childaction.org, and by phone at 916-369-0191.

In general in California, parents who make up to 85 percent of the state median income are eligible for aid. This year, those guidelines mean someone who makes up to $50,393 would be eligible, while a family of four with an income of up to $84,585 would be eligible. But in practice, the income figures serve as a starting point in more complicated calculations about eligibility.

Fewer parents have been taking their children to child care during the pandemic, providers said.

“Parents are using it when they must, but generally not using it too much if they don’t have to,” said Kim Kruckel, executive director of San Francisco-based Child Care Law Center.

“Child care providers are doing everything they can to keep the children and the families in their care completely coronavirus-free, but at the same time whenever you bring small groups of people together, especially children of essential workers, you are increasing the risk of exposure that anybody in the community faces,” Kruckel said.

She said middle-income state workers who haven’t been deemed essential are uniquely positioned to benefit from the expanded federal family leave. Employers of many low-income workers won’t let them take the leave, nor will employers of highly paid workers with special skills.

“Most of the people I’ve heard from were either too poor or too wealthy to take the 12 weeks,” she said.

Providers expect enrollment to go up when virtual classes begin, said Nancy Wyatt, public policy chairwoman for the California Family Child Care Network, a nonprofit based in the Bay Area.

“I’m getting calls from desperate parents,” said Wyatt, who operates a child care home in Los Angeles.

Wyatt said Congress’s pandemic unemployment assistance package helped many child care homes get through the last few months. If that aid isn’t extended, she said many homes could close, sending ripples through the economy.

“We hold up the people who work,” she said. “If they let us go under, we don’t know how people are going to return to work. It would have a devastating effect on recovery.”

Members of Congress weren’t close to reaching a deal on a coronavirus relief package at the end of July. House Democrats have proposed $50 billion in aid for child care providers, while Senate Republicans have proposed $15 billion.

This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Federal family leave for parents affected by coronavirus has run out. State workers weigh options."