Strong Majority of Nebraskans Age 45+ Support Paid Family Leave

Kacso Sandor

A strong majority of Nebraska voters age 45 and over support paid time off for family caregiving responsibilities, according to a recent AARP survey.

LB 850, the Family Medical Leave Insurance Act, introduced by State Sen. Sue Crawford of Bellevue, would allow eight weeks of paid leave for workers who are caring for others and 12 weeks for those needing time away from their jobs to care for themselves.

“LB 850 supports the efforts of Nebraska’s unpaid family caregivers, who sometimes must take leave from work to care for a loved one,” said Mark Intermill, advocacy director for AARP Nebraska.

According to an AARP statewide survey conducted in October 2015, 71 percent of Nebraska registered voters age 45-plus support requiring all employers to provide paid leave to employees that can be used for family caregiving.

Approximately 125,000 Nebraskans age 45 and older are providing care to an adult family member and over half of these caregivers are employed.

In order to fulfill their caregiving responsibilities, the survey found that 29 percent of caregivers had taken a leave of absence from a job; 18 percent had cut back from full-time to part-time employment; and 15 percent gave up working entirely to take care of a loved one.

Nebraska’s nearly 200,000 family caregivers are the backbone of the state’s care system. They provide an estimated $2.5 billion in unpaid care annually and save the State of Nebraska money by keeping their loved ones out of costly institutions, such as nursing homes.

The AARP telephone survey of 800 Nebraska voters age 45-plus was conducted Oct. 2-7, 2015 to learn about their experiences with family caregiving. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percent. For more information, see the full survey.