Hearing exposes split over portable paid leave: advocates press portability for people laid off or fired; DOES opposes as outside law's intent

Advocates, residents and city officials debated the Universal Paid Leave Portability Amendment Act of 2025 at a May 14 Committee on Executive Administration and Labor hearing. The bill would allow individuals to receive paid family leave wage replacement benefits if they are unemployed and not receiving unemployment insurance but were covered by the Universal Paid Leave Act in the prior 52 weeks.

Advocates' case: Multiple witnesses urged passage as a fairness fix for people who lose work because of caregiving, pregnancy discrimination, or layoffs. Laura Brown, executive director of First Shift Justice Project, said the bill would make benefits "portable, attached to the worker instead of the job" and called portability an issue of fairness for people whose employers had already reported wages and paid into the fund. Ward 4 constituent Mindy Lee…