Join the Maine Women's Policy Center and the Family Planning Association of Maine for the

Women's Political Leadership Forum

Take the first step for running for public office.

Network with other Maine women and learn information about campaigning, clean elections and conquering the camera. Also hear from women leaders around the state.

Saturday, December 3

8:30 to 4:00 pm

Senator Inn, Augusta

For more information contact info@mainewomen.org

Maine's Family Care Act: Empowering Maine People with Time Off to Care for Families

This Spring, the Maine Women's Lobby successfully helped pass Maine's Family Care Act allowing full-time employees to use their paid sick leave or vacation time to care either for themselves or for an ill family member without being penalized by their employer. The bill was sponsored by Senate President, Beth Edmonds.

Beginning September 17, 2005, many Maine businesses are now required to extend to their employees the flexibility to use up to 40 hours of already-earned sick or vacation time to care for a child, parent, or spouse. It does not affect those who lack sick leave to begin with. This law will apply to businesses with 25 or more employees. The intent is simple: to enable families to take care of their dependents without the risk of losing their jobs.

Does your employer fall into this category? If so, it's a good time to check if your personnel policy has been updated, or to remind your HR department to do so. If you would like more information on Maine's Family Care Law, please email info@mainewomen.org

Best Buy: New Strategies for Work and Family Life

Balancing work and family life is never easy for women and men who work outside the home. Increasingly, businesses are understanding that supporting employees in balancing work with family life is not only good for families...It's good for the business bottom line. That's the way that Best Buy sees it. Best Buy has developed a program called ROWE - "results-oriented work environment" where employees can come and go as they please and work from home as long as they achieve the results the company is looking for. We think it's an interesting model that deserves attention, and especially like that it applies uniformly to salaried and hourly workers. But we have to wonder: Is ROWE simply giving people the "flexibility" to be wired into work, all the time? Decide for yourself by reading about it here:

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1083900,00.html

Best Buy says that ROWE has increased employee morale and enabled families to better balance work and home life, and that it's especially beneficial for parents. Other companies can look to Best Buy for ideas about how to redesign the workplace to meet the needs of families. What's your idea for how the workplace can better the workforce of today? E-mail us at info@mainewomen.org