The hardest thing about this situation was thinking of others who, if they had landed in our situation, would have been left out in the cold with no leave or unable to take the unpaid leave.
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"This causes a ripple effect of more people getting sick."
Many families are not as lucky as ours. My children can take off work to care for their families. However, many people lose their money if they stay home with a sick child, or are sick themselves. This causes a ripple effect of more people getting sick. It is important to allow people family leave, so that our society is both healthier and richer.
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"The idea of even starting a family..."
The idea of even starting a family — you know, what people do and have done for millennia — is a foreign one to me because it means being an absentee father, having to work a tyrannical amount to make it happen. There's no way my partner and I could afford to live anywhere without one another.
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"It could have cost me my job to leave early to deal with my distraught wife and injured step daughter"
The hardest thing about this situation was that my continued employment required 100% attendance, which made it both unaffordable and harder for my wife. The employer didn't care or want to hear about it, and told me to just get back to work and not bother them with personal issues.
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"My wife's disability because of Multiple Sclerosis is a daily struggle."
The unpaid FMLA allows me not to lose my job, but it sure would be nice to have paid FMLA.
It might be the difference from paying for medicine or groceries.
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"It would make our state exceptionally more family friendly"
My husband and I are planning on having a child in the next year. The problem is, I provide half our income and I work a very physical job. Right now, my work is happy to give me the time off, but I get no income during that time. That just compounds the issue of how much having a child costs
Read MoreNEW: Fast food CEO Puzder "may be bailing" as Labor nominee
We're striking back.
We can pretend it’s not happening. Or we can open our eyes and gather our strength. We can bargain with ourselves and hope maybe it will all turn out ok. Or we can strike back.
Read MoreDid a WA State Rep just endorse slavery?
It was bad enough when WA State Rep. Matt Manweller said a $0 minimum wage would be "perfect". But when a voter pointed out in an email that $0 wages haven't been allowed since the Civil War, Manweller suggested he should "add that to the list of mistakes made during the Civil War then."
Read MoreCelebrating the arrival of $15
"We’re here today because these workers walked out on strike, and walked into history. And now we’re hearing from workers that they’re now going to be able to go back to school, make a trip to the grocery store instead of the foodbank, and go to the movies."
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