by
Nancy Segal, Legal Director
Program on WorkLife Law*
After the events of September 11th, there has been a heightened national awareness on the importance of caring for and spending time with family. Yet, the U.S. continues to lag far behind other industrialized countries in alleviating the challenges that workers face in balancing job and family caregiving responsibilities. While other countries have shortened the work week and provide paid time off to care for family members, U.S. employees continue to face the impossible choice of either meeting work expectations at the expense of the health and safety of their families, or caring for family members at the risk of losing their jobs. Similarly, other countries guarantee flexible work arrangements and promote good part-time work opportunities -- thereby enabling workers with young children, workers caring for sick parents or children, workers with disabilities, and the elderly -- the flexibility to fulfill their potential on the job without risking their own welfare, or the welfare of family members who rely on them to provide care.
The absence of work/family policy has a particularly strong impact on individuals with disabilities. In the United States today, 54 million people live with some level of disability and the unemployment rates for people with disabilities are shockingly high. Of the 16.9 million working-age Americans with health conditions or impairments that limit their ability to work, 12.1 million, or 72.2%, do not have jobs. As a result, on average, people with disabilities are three times as likely to be poor than those not limited in working. In addition to the economic effects of unemployment, individuals with disabilities who lack jobs also face social isolation and loss of self-esteem.
Work/family policy -- such as limits on mandatory overtime, promoting good part-time work opportunities, and guaranteeing parity in wages, benefits, training and advancement opportunities to part-time workers -- would enable more individuals with disabilities, as well as workers caring for individuals with disabilities, to find work in good paying jobs, with benefits and opportunities for advancement. Seventy-nine percent of individuals with disabilities who are without jobs would prefer to be working and many possess the skills and abilities needed to hold a job. Yet, a significant proportion of those with a work disability are limited in the kind of jobs they can perform because of the length of their workday or workweek. In other words, the lack of good job opportunities with controllable or flexible schedules render it difficult, if not impossible, for many people with disabilities to find a job.
Control over work hours and the increased availability of good part-time jobs would open up more job opportunities for people with disabilities, as well as for workers who need to care for children and other family members with disabilities, and help raise them out of poverty. In addition, a decent job can enhance self-worth, provide educational opportunities and skills training, give one's life structure and purpose, increase social contacts, and offer important fringe benefits such as health insurance and retirement benefits. Part-time parity will also help to decrease the other social costs incurred as the result of the high unemployment rate of people with disabilities. The U.S. government currently spends forty times as much on cash benefits for people with disabilities as it does on enabling them to work. It is time that our work policies reflect our national priorities -- and that we take steps to structure the workplace around the values that people hold in family life.
* The Program on WorkLife Law is a research and advocacy center, based at American University, Washington College of Law, that seeks to restructure the workplace around the values that people hold in family life. To learn more about the program, you may visit our web site at www.wcl.american.edu/gender/workfamily.