Workers in Connecticut can now apply for a new paid leave program

Workers in Connecticut can now apply for a new paid family and medical leave program, which will allow people to cover basic living expenses if they take time off of work to raise a child or care for a sick relative.

Gov. Ned Lamont, several key members of his administration and a handful of state Democratic lawmakers officially announced the opening of the new program on Wednesday in downtown New Haven and celebrated the effort as a significant expansion of the state’s social safety net.

The state government, they said, has already raised more than $300 million for the program through a new payroll tax that gets deducted from employees’ paychecks. That money, which could grow to more than $410 million by the end of January, should be enough to launch the program and help keep it solvent long into the future, they said.

The opening of the enrollment process comes more than two years after the Democratic-controlled legislature and Lamont passed a sought-after family and medical leave law in 2019.

Read more: https://ctmirror.org/2021/12/01/workers-in-ct-can-now-apply-for-a-new-paid-leave-program/