Minnesotans Urge Senate To Act on Paid Family & Medical Leave

The bill would allow for up to 12 weeks

MOORHEAD, Minn. — People in the Red River Valley are urging the Minnesota Senate to pass the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act.

The bill would allow up to 12 weeks of paid leave for someone who is sick, someone taking care of a sick loved one or even allow someone time off when they have a baby. Advocates for the bill say only 13 percent of Minnesotans have access to laws that would allow such benefits. Some who have had to take care of a sick loved one say having healthcare and bills still taken care of can make all the difference.

“I don’t know if I would have survived mentally if it wasn’t for some of these burdens taken off of me, the healthcare and the wages. And those that don’t have it and survive and good mental health, I just have to salute them,” said Mark Froemke, West/Red River Valley labor council president.

Froemke and other advocates of the bill encourage people to call their state senators before the session wraps up in May.