Jametta Raspberry, House of Gristle, Minnesota
My father was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 liver cancer. What I know is that I will try my best to be there for him but I absolutely do not know what this means for me and my business. How will providing care for him impact my business decisions?… I started House of Gristle to have more freedom, pursue my passions, and create change in my community in a way that I want to. Being an entrepreneur should not come with a cost to my safety net. The change I want to create in the community of women in the culinary industry can be better supported by legislation that addresses the racial and gender gaps when it comes to caregiving. The pandemic has shown that we need to reinvest in small businesses by prioritizing the care economy and getting paid family medical leave passed.
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Stephanie Woody, The Vandalia Company - West Virginia
Shortly after opening, our son had an accident on his bike while out of town and needed emergency surgery. The experience brought home the need for paid family and medical leave for those times when the unexpected happens. Everyone, whether an employee (as our son is!) or self-employed (as I used to be) or small business owner (as we are now!) needs paid time off to care for their own health or that of a loved one.
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Jessica Arencibia, Healing Arts Massage - Vermont
Early last year, I had decided to pursue my business full time in an effort to provide myself with a more flexible and stable work environment. After working 8 years in the massage industry, one of the biggest takeaways was that I was disposable to my employers. That was not a great reality to carry into our plan to start a family. Thankfully, my husband’s employer had very good insurance and benefits that allowed us to continue our plan and further supported my efforts to become a sole proprietor. For three months, I worked on my business plan and on March 6th 2020, I resigned from my former position. And then the world shut down due to COVID-19… What happens when life throws us curveballs? What happens when a pandemic changes the whole world? There is no safety net, no job security, no infrastructure in place to protect us. What about sole proprietors like me and my husband who have no options for paid leave?
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Cindy Lavendar-Bowe, Barnwood Living - West Virginia
My husband Mark and I have run a company renovating barns for the past 20 years, including on our DIY Network televisions Barnwood Builders. Our show has translated into a home decor store, Barnwood Living in White Sulphur Springs, WV.
Even with this level of success, we are still a very small business and offering paid leave without a federal program has not been possible. When we had an employee who was pregnant and we did not want to lose her. We talked to our employee and ended up paying her her salary so we wouldn't lose her, while we picked up the extra work. It was tough on our business, but without a strong national paid leave policy, we had no other option. A federal policy would mean our employees could still receive their salaries on leave, and we could use the extra funds to hire temporary workers or pay overtime for other staff rather than doubling up on salaries.
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Portia Jones, Mad Skillz Salon, So Damn Good Cuisine - Arizona
During the pandemic, being a caregiver became a full-time job for me. One of my kids has Down Syndrome and was at high risk. I had to put my child’s safety first. And then, in November, my brother got Covid. My mom lives with him and she tested positive, too. Then my sister-in-law and their two kids needed support— and I am their support. While they were quarantined and recovered, I took care of them — errands, the drugstore, groceries. The whole time, I felt so scared — for them, for my family, for my business, but what could I do? They’re my family and they needed me. Looking back, having a paid leave policy would have been a game-changer for me, for my employees, for my business, for my family. I certainly hope we never have another pandemic like this, but what I learned was that when someone in your family needs care — doesn’t matter what for — you’re on your own. That’s not right, and it’s definitely not right for small business owners like me. Nobody should have to choose between caring for themselves or a loved one and their livelihood.
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Kate Pacelli, Farmer's Daughter Market & Butcher - West Virginia
We want to feel competitive with larger businesses in the benefits we can offer. As a micro business, any benefits come directly out of our pocket. Recruitment and retention is a struggle. We’ve had employees leave for better benefits and higher pay from corporations. Retention of those skilled employees matters a lot to my business. I want our employees to feel taken care of, and not be afraid to take time off and lose wages. Butchering is a labor-intensive skill.
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Tiffany Gale, Miss Tiffany's Early Childhood Learning House - West Virginia
Child care businesses already struggle to pay their employees what they deserve and simply do not have the capital to offer paid leave. A National paid leave policy would help child care businesses recruit and retain talented employees who provide a vital service to the workforce and help shape our future. Senator Manchin, support our small businesses with permanent paid leave.
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Jodi Hollingshead, As You Are Boudoir - West Virginia
I found out I was pregnant just as the pandemic was starting in 2020. As a sole proprietor, without any national paid leave program, that meant I had to plan for my business to take a hit for my maternity time, and then COVID happened. The confluence of a major economic downturn, with a new baby on the way and no safety net was incredibly stressful as a new mom, and a business owner. We need a national paid family and medical leave program to support self-employed job creators like me.
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Akshata Nayak, Little Patakha - Vermont
Then I had surgery at the end of 2019 to take care of the fibroids that had bothered me during my pregnancy (and continued to bother me after). Between recovery from that and the pandemic starting in March 2020 and now Ava being home (daycare was closed) - I knew I had to close The Orange Owl. It was a gut wrenching decision because it was a brand I built over 10 years. But it was the right one for me and my family after the incredibly stressful time we had had. It didn't take all the stress away completely, but helped to reduce it. I am self employed so I can’t access paid family leave or medical leave like people in some regular jobs do. But if there was some provision available that could have helped me during that time, I know it would have reduced the stress we went through.
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Mark Hatcher, Bucane Medical Supplies, Superior Pocahontas Construction - West Virginia
I own Superior Pocahontas Construction and Bucane Medical Supplies, both based in Logan, WV. Before opening my own businesses, I was a registered nurse (RN). When my daughter was born three months early, she was in the NICU for several months. During that time, I was only able to take off four days, because I did not have access to paid leave. My wife was unable to work during this time and was with our daughter in the hospital.
Now that I’m a business owner, I want to offer paid leave and for me, even a payroll tax would be an easier way for everyone to afford it. I offer health insurance at my company of 40 or so employees, but some times it’s not enough. Once, I had an employee who developed gangrene and had to take extended time off work to heal. I didn't want to lose the employee so paid him out of pocket when he was unable to be at work. A national paid leave program would be critical for situations we cannot predict.
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Dr. Thuy Tran, Rose City Vision Care - Oregon
A week after I gave birth to my child I had to go back to work. I had not been in business long and had no money saved. Luckily, my mom was able to come and be at my office to help care for my child while I was with patients. I had to nurse in between appointments, which was really stressful.
While my mother was able to help me out then, soon I may need to help her. She is getting older and has diabetes. If she was to get sick or have something serious happen, I don’t know what I would do. I want a paid family and medical leave policy to be there, in case anything happens to her. Paying a little bit over time for the insurance benefit just makes sense. Then when I or when of my employees need to take leave, the support is there. This is affordable for small business. What is not affordable is to have to pay for leave all at once. It could mean the difference between keeping the business open or us needing to close our doors, and my eight employees losing their livelihoods too.
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Sarah Piepenburg, Vinaigrette - Minnesota
The lack of paid leave is a huge problem for me as a small business owner. When one of my employees broke both her arms a few years ago, I had to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for medical leave. Recently, I had an employee who needed a hip replacement, and she needed time to heal for 10 weeks. I want to be able to cover her, but doing so would be a huge financial hit to our business and our family. The last time we covered medical leave out of pocket, we fell behind on our commercial lease and home mortgage. Our current case-by-case out-of-pocket practice could sink our business.
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Sophie Blake, Sophie Blake NY - Virginia
a national, comprehensive paid leave policy that would allow these entrepreneurs and business owners to more effectively compete with larger corporations. Businesses with paid family and medical leave policies have happier and healthier employees, which increases productivity, profitability and performance. And owners like me shouldn’t be left out when we need time to care, like when I had my daughter in 2019. And when small businesses do well, so do our communities. States like New Jersey and Rhode Island that have enacted paid leave programs have already seen the economic benefits.
The pandemic has demonstrated why all workers deserve paid time off to care for themselves or their loved ones. No one should have to choose between putting food on the table and helping an ill child get better. But without federal support, small businesses, like mine, can’t offer the full range of benefits our employees deserve.
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Andrea Ippolito, SimpliFed - New York
There are not enough policies and systems in place to help support women thriving as an entrepreneur once they start having kids, so the reality is that women don’t get over the initial hurdle of founding a company. This country deserves more, should do more, and can do more. Let’s support women and babies with paid parental leave and universal childcare support, which are both articulated in the American Families Plan proposed by the Biden administration. If we want to increase the number of female entrepreneurs, this is the way to do it. If we want to tackle large societal issues with more financial success and jobs for our nation’s economy, let’s better support and take advantage of half of our population.
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Tony Sandkamp, Sandkamp Woodworks - New Jersey
Four years ago one of my employees came to me and said his wife was having twins. He needed help getting some paid time off, and we weren’t sure to what to do. Luckily, I had a friend who knew about New Jersey’s Family Leave Insurance Program. The paperwork was pretty straightforward. We filled it out together and sent it in, and he got two thirds of his wages replaced while bonding with his twins. He is a very important part of my business, and this was very important to his life. So we made adjustments, he got some paid time with his family, and he’s still with us.
I also remember life before our paid leave program, and I know that’s still the reality for most small businesses and workers around the country. In 2006, before there was any such program, I had an employee who had to leave his job because of family needs. I only found out after the fact that his mother was dying of cancer, around the Christmas season. He could have really used the New Jersey Family Leave Insurance then. This was awful for him. It was a tough loss for me personally since along with losing an employee, I also lost a longtime friend. It was also detrimental to my business. He had been my best employee for several years and performed many critical management functions. The costs of the time and money it took to replace him were astronomical. I had to take time away from my responsibilities as the owner to fill the gap in the interim. The difference the state Family Leave Insurance Law has made for my employees and my business is clear.
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Emily Ingwersen, Ginger Hill Design + Build - Maine
I know first-hand the difference having access to paid family and medical leave can make. When my first daughter came home and I was working at a job with paid leave benefits, I was able to be home with her for three months, and my husband was able to take six weeks off as well, thanks to the benefits I had at work. As first-time parents it was wonderful to have that time to bond with her. By the time my second daughter arrived, our Design + Build company had grown so that we were both full-time in our start-up. We looked into purchasing short-term disability insurance–but for a high risk industry like ours the costs were astronomical. With high premiums, exclusions and low benefits, the private insurance costs far outweighed the benefit and we made the hard decision to go without this coverage. This time, with a new business and no paid leave, I was back at work a few days after my second daughter was born–juggling caring for her and our growing workload.
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Kelly Conklin, Foley Wait LLC - New Jersey
The pandemic we are slowly emerging from taught us a few things about our economy and our public health. It taught us that some of the most important workers, the ones we can’t live without, don’t often receive the pay and the benefits commensurate with their importance. It also taught us that at some point all of us will need to miss some work—whether to get healthy or to care for a loved one—and that it’s better to have a plan in place for these absences than to make one up as we go along. In New Jersey, where I live, we have had a paid family and medical leave program since 2009. Here is what I got as a small business with fifteen employees: a benefit program that increased the pool of prospective employees who might choose to work for my small company instead of a major corporation that can afford these types of benefits on their own. We can and should make it a national program. The time is now to pass a national, universal paid family and medical leave policy—for our small businesses, our families and our communities.
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Donna Welch, Let's Meat on the Avenue - Virginia
We’re just a handful of people at my butcher shop, so I work side by side with each of my staff members. For that reason, it’s important to me to build strong relationships with my employees. I want to show them the same care they show me by helping our business succeed…. Right now, the lack of a paid leave system holds small businesses back and leaves people choosing between their well being and their paycheck. An affordable, universal paid leave system will let employers like me give our employees the benefits we want to be able to provide and free us to keep looking for new opportunities to create jobs and serve our communities.
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Karen Lamy DeSousa, Advance Heat & Air - Massachusetts
If it’s good enough for Massachusetts, why can’t it work across the United States? People should be able to take paid time away from work to welcome a new child, care for a sick loved one, or recover from an illness of their own. Thanks to the laws we’ve passed here in the Commonwealth, working people can soon do all those things. In 2018, Massachusetts passed legislation that guarantees access to paid family and medical leave beginning in 2021.
However, the rest of America may not be as lucky. There has been a lot of talk about different proposals, from universal paid family and medical leave insurance to a restrictive and exclusive parental leave bill. A strong national paid family and medical leave policy makes a difference to me as a business owner who knows that caring for people is an important part of my bottom line. Policies like this help small businesses like mine and the 20 employees I’m responsible for.
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Adam and Beth Bedway, East Wheeling Clayworks - West Virginia
East Wheeling Clayworks began as a garage startup in 2016, selling our ceramics at festivals and trade shows. We eventually both quit our jobs, Adam in construction and Beth in an office and both went full time at EWC. One month later, Beth found out she was pregnant and expecting their first child. Without paid leave, and child care, we struggled to make it work with our brand new businesses selling ceramics and offering community pottery classes. We also have no child care and both play integral roles at East Wheeling Clayworks, so our daughter Ollie goes with them to the shop each day.
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