Testimony of Kimberly Perry, Executive Director, befor2 DC Council Committee on Executive Administration and Labor

Good morning Chairperson Bonds and members of the Committee. My name is Kimberly Perry, and I serve as the Executive Director of DC Action where, with our more than 200 coalition partners, we are making the District of Columbia a place where all kids grow up safe, resilient, powerful, and heard. In 2015, DC Action for Children was proud to be one of the hundreds of businesses supporting the Paid Family Leave Coalition because we knew that the data proves when parents have access to paid parental leave and paid time to care for themselves and their families in medical emergencies, that their families have better health outcomes and face fewer financial hardships during what are often already stressful and expensive life transition moments.  

By eliminating paid medical and family caregiving leave, the Mayor’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget delivers a callous blow to the District’s working families when they are already at their lowest. Even in the joyous moments of welcoming a new baby, this budget proposal diminishes that joy by placing an outdated financial cap on a parent’s benefits ($1,000/week instead of the current $1,190). And for employers like DC Action who help “top off” salaries, that cut creates an additional cost burden on us, while still charging us for two benefits our employees won’t even be able to use next year.

Every part of this proposed paid leave plan is wrong: wrong for families, kids, workers, and for businesses. 

Since 2023, four of my employees at DC Action have benefited from the District’s paid leave program. In both the difficult moments and the joyous ones, all required the full 12 weeks of paid leave benefits allowed (1 for paternity leave, 2 for maternity leave, and 1 for personal medical leave).  I, too, considered taking paid family caregiving leave as my mom’s journey with Lewy Body Dementia became more complex and her health began to decline. We were fortunate to have been able to afford full time caregivers for her, but there were times when that wasn’t enough. I grieve for the families who are going through similar situations with their own aging parents who know that moment will come when the leave will be necessary to help them face a terminal illness and transition with dignity and grace.  I’m sad, but I’m angry, too. Because this is not a choice any family should have to make. And the District  already has the self-funded, self-sustaining, and affordable solution to alleviate this hardship for families.  

This Committee and the DC Council need to keep the Universal Paid Leave Act as it currently is. Families deserve reliable access to all 12 weeks of paid leave for qualifying medical, family caregiving, and parental situations. And they deserve those benefits to be paid at the full, inflation-adjusted amount currently guaranteed by the law. We have to stop balancing our budgets on the backs of working families, particularly women and women of color who still disproportionately shoulder the responsibility of caretaking.   

Finally, as an employer, I want to note how amazing of a deal the District’s paid leave program is. Since the start of calendar year 2023, DC Action has paid $14,093 in taxes to the paid leave program. In that same time frame, as I said earlier, we have had 4 employees require the full 12 weeks of paid leave.  In total, the approximate paid leave benefits my employees received from the District’s program totaled $55,788. That means DC Action saved $41,694 by our staff having access to the District’s paid family and medical leave; if DC Action would have had to pay these employees’ full salary during their leaves, it would have been $106,243.98 in foregone wages (see page 3 of testimony for calculations ). DC Action is getting anywhere from triple to over seven times more in savings that we are spending on paid leave. And these raw calculations do not include the significant return on investment we receive by having been able to retain these four amazing employees. Without access to paid leave and being able to stay on our company’s health insurance, I do not think these employees would still be with our organization. They would have looked for jobs at bigger nonprofit or corporate organizations that can pay their leave out-of-pocket, or they would have left the labor force altogether.  

Councilmember Bonds, DC Action implores you to reject the Mayor’s Universal Paid Leave Act Budget Support Act subtitle and to identify the $95 million in savings through other means, whether through efficiencies or different revenue streams than the payroll tax. My team would be happy to work with you on these solutions. The District cannot be a place where families put down roots and continue to thrive if we don’t protect the very heart of what draws families and workers to the District in the first place: innovative and high return on investment programs like paid leave, child care, the Pay Equity Fund, Universal Pre-K, Out-of-School Time programs and more. 

Thank you, and I would be happy to answer any questions. 

DC Action Payroll Tax Contributions for Calendar Years 2023 through 2026, To-Date 

DC Action Uses of & Savings With DC Paid Family Leave Since 2023