Georgia Working Families Recovery & Leave Act
No Georgian should have to choose between recovery and a paycheck.
If elected to the Georgia State House, I will work to introduce the Georgia Working Families Recovery & Leave Act—a responsible, self-sustaining paid family-and-medical-leave insurance program for working Georgians.
Life does not stop when a child is born, when a worker becomes seriously ill, when a parent needs care, or when a family faces a medical emergency. But too many Georgia families are forced to choose between protecting their health and protecting the paycheck that keeps the lights on.
This proposal would create a practical, accountable system that helps workers take necessary time away from work while protecting small businesses from carrying the full cost alone.
The principle is simple: When life happens, a working family should not be pushed into financial crisis.
Why This Bill Is Needed
Georgia families work hard. But when a worker has a new baby, needs time to recover from childbirth, suffers a serious illness, has to care for a spouse, parent, child, or loved one, many workers have little or no paid time available.
For many families, unpaid leave is not a real option. Rent or mortgage payments, groceries, transportation, childcare, medication, insurance, and utility bills do not pause during a medical crisis.
Too many people are forced to return to work before they are healthy and ready, go without income, use up every day of earned leave, or risk falling behind on bills.
Small businesses face a challenge too. Many want to support good employees, but a small local business may not have the resources to keep paying a worker's full wages during an extended leave while also paying for temporary coverage.
Recovery, caregiving, and family bonding should not be reserved for people who can afford to go without a paycheck.
How the Plan Would Work
The Georgia Working Families Recovery & Leave Act would operate like a statewide insurance program. Instead of placing the entire cost of paid leave on a worker or one employer, small contributions would go into a protected fund that provides temporary wage-replacement benefits when a qualified worker needs leave.
A Protected Leave Insurance Fund
The proposal would establish a dedicated state fund called the Georgia Working Families Leave Insurance Fund. The fund would be legally restricted to paid family-and-medical-leave benefits, responsible administration, fraud prevention, and required financial reserves. It would not be a general government spending account and could not be used to fill unrelated budget gaps. The public would receive annual reports showing money collected, workers served, benefits paid, administrative costs, fund balance, and fraud-prevention results.
Small, Shared Payroll Contributions
The program would be funded through small, capped payroll contributions—not a large new tax increase and not an unfunded mandate on local businesses. Larger employers and employees would share responsibility for supporting the insurance fund. The final contribution rate would be set only after an independent actuarial study determines what is necessary to keep the program solvent and affordable. Small businesses below a defined employee threshold would not be required to pay an employer contribution, while their workers could still qualify for the program.
The final contribution rate must be based on independent actuarial analysis, public notice, and legislative oversight—not political guesswork.
Temporary Pay During Qualified Leave
Eligible workers would receive a portion of their normal wages while taking qualified family or medical leave. The benefit formula would replace a higher percentage of wages for lower-income workers, because a missed paycheck hits working families the hardest. Benefits would have a reasonable weekly cap to protect the program's long-term financial stability. The purpose is to give families enough stability to recover, care for loved ones, and return to work without falling into crisis.
Job Protection and Anti-Retaliation Rules
Workers should not lose a job, be demoted, have hours cut, or face punishment because they used a qualified benefit during a serious family or medical need. The proposal would include job-restoration and anti-retaliation protections, a clear complaint process, and meaningful enforcement for employers who violate the law. Qualified workers should be able to return to their job—or an equivalent position—after approved leave, with fair protections for workers and responsible employers.
When Workers Could Use the Benefit
Childbirth Recovery
Paid, medically necessary time for a birth parent to recover after childbirth. Physical recovery and family bonding are not the same need.
Bonding With a New Child
Time for a parent to bond with a new child after birth, adoption, or foster-care placement.
Serious Personal Illness or Injury
Time to recover from a qualifying serious medical condition, injury, treatment, hospitalization, or ongoing medical need.
Caring for a Loved One
Time to care for a child, spouse, parent, or other qualifying close family member with a serious health condition.
Military-Family Needs
Time for qualifying needs connected to a family member's military deployment, service-related injury, or transition.
Safety and Family Stability
Leave for workers facing qualifying domestic-violence, stalking, sexual-assault, or family-safety situations, with privacy safeguards and reasonable documentation standards.
Final eligibility standards, documentation rules, benefit duration, wage-replacement formulas, and definitions of qualifying family members would be developed through legislation, public input, committee review, and independent actuarial analysis.
Protecting Postpartum Recovery
One of the most important parts of this proposal is recognizing that childbirth recovery is medical recovery.
Too often, new mothers are expected to use earned sick leave to heal from childbirth or cut into the limited time meant for bonding with a newborn. My proposal would create a distinct postpartum-recovery protection so medically necessary recovery does not erase the time a family needs to bond with and care for a new baby.
If elected, I will work to establish up to eight weeks of paid, medically necessary childbirth-recovery leave for an eligible birth parent, subject to appropriate medical certification and a final fiscal review.
I will also work toward preserving up to 12 weeks of paid parental bonding leave for eligible parents after birth, adoption, or foster-care placement.
Healing from childbirth and bonding with a newborn are both important. Georgia families should not be forced to choose one over the other.
These are proposed policy goals. Final benefit duration and funding requirements would be determined through legislative drafting, actuarial analysis, committee review, and public input.
Protecting Small Businesses While Protecting Workers
A strong paid-leave policy must work for working families and for the small businesses that create jobs in our communities. This plan is designed to avoid placing the entire cost of an employee's leave on a small local employer.
Small-employer protection: Businesses below a defined employee threshold would not be required to pay an employer-side contribution.
State-funded benefits: Qualified leave benefits would come from the statewide insurance fund instead of requiring a small business to pay a worker's full salary for months.
Temporary-worker support: The legislation would explore grants, tax relief, or replacement-worker assistance for qualifying small businesses that need help covering an employee's absence.
Private-plan option: Employers with an approved leave plan equal to or better than the state standard could apply to continue using their plan.
Phased implementation: Contributions would begin before benefits launch, allowing the fund to build a responsible reserve.
Simple compliance: Employers would receive plain-language guidance, online resources, and technical assistance.
The state sets a fair floor. Employers and unions can always negotiate more generous benefits.
Responsible Funding and Public Accountability
This proposal will not be built on vague promises. Before benefits begin, Georgia should conduct an independent actuarial study using real Georgia wage, workforce, claims, and employer data.
That analysis would help set a sustainable contribution rate, reserve requirement, benefit formula, small-business protections, and implementation timeline.
A protected leave-insurance fund that cannot be diverted for unrelated spending
Annual public financial reports
Independent audits
A reserve requirement to protect benefits during economic downturns
A statutory cap on contribution-rate changes
Public notice and legislative oversight before any rate changes
Fraud prevention, privacy protections, and fair appeals procedures
Regular review of results for workers, employers, small businesses, and rural communities
We will not guess with people's paychecks. We will build this responsibly, transparently, and with the numbers in public view.
What This Means for House District 180
House District 180 is home to military-connected families, first responders, teachers, health-care workers, childcare providers, service workers, local-government employees, veterans, small-business employees, and working parents.
These are the people who keep Coastal Georgia moving. They should not have to return to work too early after childbirth, skip necessary treatment, or lose income because a parent, spouse, or child needs care.
This proposal would help working families stay stable during difficult moments. It would also help small businesses retain trained employees, reduce costly turnover, and avoid carrying the full cost of a worker's leave alone.
A stronger workforce starts with families that have a real chance to recover, care for one another, and stay connected to their jobs.
Strong working families help create strong local businesses, strong schools, and strong communities.
My Commitment
If elected, I will work with workers, small-business owners, unions, health-care professionals, parents, rural communities, and fiscal experts to introduce and strengthen the Georgia Working Families Recovery & Leave Act.
This plan is not about creating government for government's sake. It is about recognizing that hard-working people deserve dignity when life happens.
Georgia can build a responsible paid-leave system that protects families, supports businesses, rewards work, and strengthens our communities.