Webinar recap — Guardian’s Paid Leave Rider: Supporting the needs of today’s workforce
Read more from the Guardian Absence Management blog
Paid family leave is becoming a recruitment and retention tool: 6 in 10 workers say that paid family leave benefits influence their job decisions.1 This trend is especially pronounced among millennials, many of whom are stepping into caregiving roles.
When paid family leave isn't available, the consequences can be significant. Two thirds of workers without these benefits report having to tap into emergency funds, borrow from friends or family, or rely on credit cards to make ends meet.2
From the employer side, managing paid leave benefits is becoming increasingly complex, especially for those organizations with workers in multiple states that each have their own paid family and medical leave (PFML) laws. Seven in 10 employers say that keeping up with state and local leave laws is a challenge for their organization.3 Employers with workers in multiple PFML states are also three times more likely to report difficulty maintaining absence management compliance.4 These evolving laws are prompting many organizations to seek benefits parity and greater ease of administration.
In our recent webinar, “Guardian’s Paid Leave Rider: Supporting the needs of today’s workforce,” Guardian’s Rich Lombard, Upstate NY and New England Market Leader, and Brian Morin, Head of Disability and State Programs, Product & Digital Strategy, explored how paid family leave benefits are changing, and how Guardian’s paid leave benefit rider (PLR) can help organizations stay competitive, compliant, and compassionate.
Introducing the paid leave benefit rider (PLR)
To meet the growing demand for paid family leave as part of their organization’s benefits package, employers now have a new option: Guardian’s paid leave benefit rider.
The paid leave benefit rider is designed to be added to a company's short-term disability (STD) plan and is currently approved in 38 states. It provides paid leave for non-disabling reasons and allows employers to choose coverage for parental/bonding leave only or parental plus family care (including care for a family member or military exigency).
Morin shares, “Guardian’s paid leave rider is very flexible and provides employers with many choices. It can be tailored to your company’s needs and the needs of your employees.”
Key features of the rider include:
Duration: Can choose from 2 to 26 weeks.*
Benefit percent: Options from 20% to 100% of salary.*
Maximum benefit: Must match underlying STD maximum benefit.
Elimination: No waiting period for parental bonding leave. Option of zero or seven days for family care leave.
Leave can be intermittent.
*Note: duration and benefit percent are the same for all leave types.
Why offer the Guardian paid leave benefit rider?
For employers looking to enhance their leave benefit offerings and experience, the paid leave benefit rider can help facilitate compliance, streamline administration, and boost employee satisfaction.
“Through our market research,” shares Morin, “we really found the need for and the interest in this benefit. The paid leave rider can play a significant role in helping organizations with employees across multiple states address the gap in inequitable offerings,” among many other use cases.
Likewise, Lombard adds, “The paid leave rider can help provide support during some of the most vulnerable moments in employees’ lives, helping them stay afloat without sacrificing their mental or financial wellness.”
It can be especially valuable for:
Companies that want to lead with benefits that reflect workers’ needs and help support their well-being.
Employers in PFML-mandated states who want to standardize benefits across their workforce.
Employers in newly-mandated PFML states.
Organizations seeking to extend maternity or bonding leave beyond STD coverage.
How the paid leave benefit rider coordinates with STD
The paid leave benefit rider is compatible with non-contributory, contributory, and voluntary STD plans. It is not currently available on ASO STD but may be in the future.
For non-contributory or contributory STD plans, the paid leave benefit rider must match the underlying STD maximum benefit. For voluntary STD plans, it’s available only on traditional voluntary plans, not on incremental/worksite plans or on buy-ups (unless the paid leave benefit rider is the same on the base and buy-up).
When it comes to coordination with STD benefits, employers have two options:
Option 1: Consecutive payments
Leave benefits aren’t paid when STD is active.
STD paid weeks reduces the available weeks under paid leave benefit rider.
Option 2: Concurrent payment
Offset will be at 100% cap (no offset until STD plus leave benefit exceeds 100%).
Employees can be "made whole" during this time.
Learn more
For more detail about Guardian’s paid leave rider, and to learn more about how it can support your workforce, visit our webpage or watch the full webinar here.