Dear Friend,

When the fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget was first introduced, Mayor Bowser made sweeping cuts to the Paid Family Leave Program. Together, we fought back and thanks to your hard work, we restored many benefits to the program. However, DC is still about to become the only jurisdiction to roll back existing Paid Leave benefits.

Here are the reductions in benefits starting October 1, compared to today:

• Weekly benefits maximum amount for all types of leave cut from $1,190 to $1,100
• Family caregiving leave cut in half from a maximum of 12 weeks to 6 weeks
• Personal medical leave cut from a maximum of 12 weeks to 10 weeks

Send an email to the Council telling them to restore full benefits before the final votes on the FY27 budget.

This is a huge improvement compared to the Mayor's proposed budget. Read our full recap here.

We appreciate the work of Chairman Mendelson and the many councilmembers—particularly Councilmembers R. White, Allen, Nadeau, Lewis George, and Crawford—who prioritized restoring Paid Family and Medical Leave benefits in this budget. Through their actions, DC workers will still be able to access some time to care for themselves or their family members in the case of a serious medical issue.

However, at the end of the day, families with the most severe medical needs will be hit hardest by these cuts, as will workers in jobs that provide no other medical leave benefits—who are more likely to have lower incomes or be Black or brown. Last year, nearly 65 percent of the workers who took medical or family leave in DC were Black or Latino. Cutting these benefits will worsen racial and economic disparities.

We need to continue the fight to fully restore Paid Family Leave and stop DC's practice of balancing the budget by undermining this successful program. Send an email now to all 13 Councilmembers: The budget isn't over. There's still time to fully fund Paid Family Leave.

In solidarity,

Eduarda Serafim

Solidarity Organizer

DC Jobs With Justice