Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is pushing for a national paid family and medical leave program. A similar proposal is expected to be introduced in the State Legislature in the new year. And a small business advocacy group says small business owners across New York like the idea.
Erik Rettig, New York outreach manager for the Small Business Majority, a nonpartisan organization says small business owners want to be able to retain good employees who may be lured by the benefits of a larger corporation.
Rettig says 84 percent of small business owners across the state are in favor of expanding the state's disability insurance program to provide paid family leave if the premiums are paid for through modest payroll contributions.
In Upstate New York, nearly seven in ten small business owners said they approve of such an expansion.
