Marcia Saint Hilaire-Finn, Bright Start Early Care - Washington, DC

The paid leave options of the Families First Act were a lifeline for my business and my employees just when we needed it. In September, I had to close my early education center in Washington, DC, when we had a coronavirus exposure. We shut down for ten days as precaution—thankfully no one transmitted the virus to anyone else and we could get back to work after those ten days.  

Having access to this paid leave meant I could continue to pay my entire staff—18 people—even though they couldn’t work because of the public health measures we took. My employees collected their checks and I could feel confident that making the right decision to protect others wouldn’t mean my employees wouldn’t miss rent or food on the table. 

Since then, it’s given my staff the peace of mind to know that if they need to miss work to stay safe and stay healthy they can do so and still be paid. It’s put my mind at ease as well. Knowing that I have this tool at my disposal gives me another way to keep continuity at my staff, which is crucial for the children we care for. 

We’ve been lucky to have only one instance where we’ve needed to use the program, but it’s important to know it will be there when we need it. That’s why it’s so important to extend the provisions for the duration of the pandemic. We need to do all we can to help people stay safe and still take care of their families.