After an emergency cesarean section, I was forced to survive on $170 a week

New Yorkers are one cancer diagnosis, automobile accident, or difficult pregnancy away from losing their paycheck, shelter, and talent to make ends meet. When our lawmakers finalize the state budget next week, they may have an opportunity to fix this. They have to.

I’m considered one of those New Yorkers. I worked in child look after eight years, putting in long, physically demanding hours to look after our youngest residents. When I gave birth to my second son in 2020, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and needed break day to get well from the birth, my job on the time told me that the one thing I qualified for was New York’s Paid Sick Leave program. . “Temporary invalidity insurance”). The program pays employees who use it a fraction of what they earn: just $170 a week.

That $170 was barely enough to support me, let alone two young children. The lack of support while I was recovering from giving birth – an emergency caesarean section – was devastating to our funds. We’re behind on rent and I’m trying to make up for it in housing court. I cannot afford the exorbitant price to send my sons to kindergarten. Sometimes I was forced to choose from taking good care of my children and household bills, or feeding myself. The stress led to postpartum depression, which I am already recovering from.

I have since learned that paid medical leave in New York has remained at $170 since 1989 – almost 40 years. It’s amazing. Since then, the prices of housing, food, utilities and health care have skyrocketed. Nearly one in 4 New Yorkers today are unable to meet basic needs comparable to food and housing. Indeed, $170 will only cover it half of the groceries needed by the family – and nothing more. That’s not enough to support someone needing break day during a health crisis – let alone a family – especially in New York, where I live.

It doesn’t have to be this manner. According to the organization Better balanceother states incl New Jersey, Rhode Island and Massachusettsprovide their employees with over $1,000 per week in paid medical leave.

While Paid Family Leave in New York provides support for New Yorkers as they look after a loved one or bond with a latest baby, we’ve got left behind those that needed paid leave for their very own medical care. The excellent news is that our lawmakers can have a probability next week to catch up in New York. They are currently considering proposals to increase the quantity of paid sick leave.

Unfortunately, the Governor and Assembly proposals would only pay sick leave employees 67% of their regular wages. That means employees earning minimum wage would have to pay rent, medical bills and feed their families on just $400 a week.

For these living from paycheck to paychecka fraction of the already too small salary is not going to be enough.

The Senate, on the opposite hand, proposed paying remuneration to individuals with lower incomes and a smaller part to individuals with high incomes. This is a sliding scale approach – already generally known as “progressive wage replacement”. adopted by other countries — advantages all employees while ensuring that those struggling to make ends meet receive a higher percentage of our overall wages.

The Senate’s proposal also has a second advantage. My employer misled me about my entitlement to paid family leave, which prevented me from claiming these advantages to look after my latest child. The Senate proposal, unlike the Governor’s and Assembly’s proposals, would make it illegal for employers to achieve this. Paid family leave would make a huge difference in getting the time I deserve to bond with my child.

But New Yorkers need comprehensive paid family and medical leave. Pregnant New Yorkers need break day to address their very own health needs, especially those of us combating complicated pregnancies or postpartum depression. Like countless other New Yorkers combating their very own health issues, comparable to cancer or serious injury.

In the event of a medical emergency, families like mine shouldn’t have to choose from putting food on the table and paying rent. We deserve more on this yr’s budget. We’ve waited long enough.