Saturday, June 19, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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In 2018, I was teaching fourth grade at a charter school in Las Vegas when I found out I was pregnant with my second-youngest child. Midway through the school year and at 20 weeks pregnant, I was diagnosed with a severe case of preeclampsia. My symptoms made it impossible to continue to teach a classroom full of students. Unfortunately, the school didn’t offer paid time off from work as part of its benefits package, so I had no choice but to take six weeks of unpaid leave prior to the birth.
Ultimately I delivered a healthy baby boy, but the weeks that followed childbirth were marred with anxiety as I slipped into a debilitating postpartum depression. Even walking down the stairs with my newborn left me panic-stricken. My family had been operating on one paycheck for the entirety of my leave and as this time neared its end, my employer called, inquiring about my return to the classroom. I was in no position to return to work as I managed to care for my family, as well as attending to my ongoing, serious medical condition. Paid leave would have eased my worries as I balanced my postpartum symptoms and my growing family.
I needed to put my children first and leave the workforce. It was the right decision for me, but I had to step away from a career that I enjoyed, and one where I was contributing to our community by educating students who could grow up to be our state and nation’s leaders. Without the support of pro-family policies like paid leave, I had to decide between teaching and earning a regular income, or raising my kids and attending to my health.
In my family’s case, my husband has a job that supports our family. But many Nevadans aren’t as fortunate. The state’s lack of a comprehensive paid leave policy has had devastating effects on families, public health and our economy. As many as 60% of working Nevadans do not have access to any type of leave, including unpaid leave, even under FMLA.
On top of that, this past year, COVID-19 upended our lives, workplaces and economy. As a direct result, many women were put in the same untenable situation I faced before and after my pregnancy. Nationwide, nearly 2.8 million women left the workforce during the pandemic because, as schools and child care centers closed or as they had to take care of a sick family member, they weren’t able to work. Like me in 2018, they were forced to weigh their careers and financial stability with the need to care for themselves and their loved ones.
It shouldn’t be this way. All Americans deserve the chance to earn a living and care for themselves or their family when a health issue arises or the unexpected happens. As our state and the country recover from the pandemic, one of the best ways to encourage people to return to the workforce is to enact a paid leave policy for all.
The Biden administration has recognized this and has proposed a comprehensive investment in paid family and medical leave, guaranteeing workers 12 weeks of paid time off. If passed, more parents and caregivers would be able to re-enter the workforce. And women, who made up the majority of the U.S. workforce pre-pandemic, would finally get much-needed support to work and raise a family.
Expanding access to paid family and medical leave makes our economy stronger. Ten states, including Washington, D.C., have enacted paid family and medical leave policies, and businesses in those states have thrived. Businesses with 50 or fewer employees were more likely than larger employers to report positive outcomes on profitability, productivity, retention and employee morale. There is no reason Nevada shouldn’t do the same.
As I watch my children grow up, I hope our state and our nation continue to grow into a more equitable future — one where no one ever again has to choose between a career and a family.
Zurii D’Ambra is a small-business owner and an advocate for Think Babies, a campaign created to make the potential of every baby our national priority.
