Raising Expectations, a report released by the National Partnership for Women & Families, gives Illinois a grade of “C+” based on its policies that allow working people to meet their personal or family caregiving responsibilities. The new report analyzes state laws and regulations governing paid and unpaid leave in the United States and assigns grades to 50 states and the District of Columbia. It determined that half the states are doing little or nothing beyond what federal law requires to ensure that workers don’t have to risk their pay or their jobs when they need time off to care for a new child or a sick family member, recover from illness, or seek health care services. While Illinois fares better than many states, Raising Expectations paints a picture of a nation that is failing its families. The new report finds that, 25 years after the federal government enacted the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), half of the country has failed to meaningfully expand on FMLA’s baseline protection of unpaid leave. The report’s grades are based on how well state laws help people manage their work, health and care needs. States that guarantee workers access to paid or unpaid workplace leave beyond FMLA are likely to receive higher grades. It finds:

– Not a single state earns a grade of “A+.”

– Only six states – California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Washington state – plus the District of Columbia earn a grade of “A” or “A-.”

– Just six states receive grades in the “B” range, with Connecticut and Oregon each receiving a “B+.”

– Thirteen states receive grades in the “C” range.

– Fully half the states (25) earn grades of “D” (16 states) or “F” (nine states) because they are doing little or nothing to offer additional protections to working families. The nine failing states are Alabama, Idaho, Michigan*, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

The full study is available, along with state-specific graphics, at NationalPartnership.org/RaisingExpectations.