Employers in every state are subject to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows eligible employees to take unpaid leave with the right to reinstatement.

Six states offer a paid medical leave. Pennsylvania is not one of them.

But state Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-49th, has introduced legislation to create such a program.

Laughlin and state Sen. Maria Collett, D-12th, have introduced a bill that would impose a 0.5 percent tax on all Pennsylvania workers.

A worker earning $40,000 a year would pay an additional $200 if the tax were imposed, an amount proponents of the legislation tout as being negligible.

Under the proposed program, which would be administered by the state Department of Labor & Industry, workers would be eligible for paid coverage of up to 20 weeks time off per year while dealing with their own covered health issues or up to 12 weeks while caring for a covered family member.

Laughlin said the bill would require an employee to have worked for the previous 18 weeks before receiving coverage and to have earned at least $2,700 during that period.

In 2017, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry conducted an analysis of what this insurance program would mean to Pennsylvanians.

It found:

- Workers in Pennsylvania annually invest 1.4 billion hours of unpaid time caring for the elderly.

- Pennsylvania has one of the oldest populations in the nation, and it is expected to grow.

- Only 40.9 percent of working adults in the state are eligible for and can afford to take unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

While FMLA covers employers with 50 or more employees, Laughlin said the Family Care Act would cover employers of all sizes as well as self-employed workers.

Coverage would be based on earnings but would be weighted to provide more assistance to lower-income workers.

Almost 70 percent of Pennsylvanians agree with establishing paid family leave, according to a survey by Pittsburgh-based Osage Research.

Nearly 60 percent of Republicans are in favor of the Family Care Act.

Even though paychecks would be slightly smaller, we think the legislation would be a good way to ensure that a family would not face financial ruin due to a serious medical condition.