Paid leave for climate disasters?
By Christina Lengyel | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Climate scientists anticipate the frequency and intensity of severe weather to continue increasing in the coming years. For many, these events represents an interruption to their working lives.
This week, Rep. Ben Waxman, D-Philadelphia, has introduced a bill that would create a Climate Emergency Paid Leave Act to address lost work due to weather events.
“In recent years, Pennsylvania has experienced an alarming increase in climate-related emergencies — floods that wash away homes, extreme heat events that endanger health, wildfires and smoke that make it unsafe to breathe, and storms that shut down entire communities,” wrote Waxman in a memo introducing the bill. “For too many workers, these disasters force an impossible choice: protect themselves and their families, or go to work to keep their paycheck.”
Through this legislation, if someone resides within a state or federally declared disaster area or they are impacted locally by extreme weather, they’d be immediately eligible for paid leave. That eligibility would extend to part-time and seasonal workers and be immediately available.
The bill would also establish a fund in order to partially reimburse employers for the expense. That fund would be generated through appropriations from the state as well as federal disaster aid.
Climate leave is not unheard of. It has been introduced in Spain following major flooding in 2024 that took 232 lives and cost billions of dollars in private and public property damage. Some individual companies already offer climate leave within their benefits packages.
“Paid leave in the aftermath of climate disasters is not just a workplace benefit — it is a public safety measure,” wrote Waxman. “By ensuring workers can stay home when conditions are dangerous, we protect lives, reduce injury, and give communities the time to recover.”
