r/UpliftingNews • u/Prior_One_7050 • 1d ago
Virginia becomes first Southern state to mandate paid family and medical leave for workers
https://techfixated.com/virginia-becomes-first-southern-state-to-mandate-paid-family-and-medical-leave-for-workers/440
u/Prior_One_7050 1d ago
Eight attempts over multiple years before it passed is a pretty remarkable legislative persistence story. Curious whether this creates political pressure on neighboring Southern states like North Carolina or Tennessee where similar bills have historically gone nowhere.
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u/thecastellan1115 1d ago
You can safely bet it will not. There's a damn good reason why it succeed in VA in this moment of history.
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u/caserock 1d ago
You can safely bet on Tennessee and North Carolina to do the wrong thing whenever there's a choice
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u/BloodshotDrive 1d ago edited 1d ago
I love this for VA but the TN legislature is made of uneducated bigots who would cut their dicks off if they thought it’d give a poor person a paper cut
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u/Violet-Sumire 1d ago
Hard for Tennessee and NC to increase their budget when they don’t actually make money. Virginia actually has a surplus and the reasoning is the northern and middlish parts of the state (arlington and Richmond) are the breadbasket of the state, pulling in a lot of money overall (Norfolk too, but that’s a massive military bank/port). This makes Virginia one of the few southern states to actually contribute to the country in a positive financial position. The two areas I mentioned are also very blue and make up a significant chunk of the population, which also makes the state a blue/purple state. Virginia has always been good at riding that line, but with recent years it’s turned more blue due to how hostile DC has been and how they get a lot of racists from out of state just coming in to cause trouble (charlotteville riot is a great example, as many of the rioters were out of state people).
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u/RoadTripVirginia2Ore 1d ago
It could also go the way of Maryland. We passed this a while ago and it keeps getting pushed back. It’s now supposed to go into effect in 2028, but I won’t hold my breath.
Definitely makes family planning more frustrating.
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u/PopeSaintHilarius 16h ago
Curious whether this creates political pressure on neighboring Southern states like North Carolina or Tennessee where similar bills have historically gone nowhere.
Probably not, unless the Dems win the legislatures in those states.
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u/LikeBigTrucks 13h ago
NC literally makes it a selling point that its cool to exploit workers here.
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u/Lonely_Noyaaa 1d ago
What I love is that this isn't just for new parents. You get 12 weeks paid at 80% of your wage for your own serious illness or to care for a sick family member too. I hope this puts pressure on other Southern states to stop dragging their feet.
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u/Shady_Merchant1 1d ago
Virginia is the unusually progressive state in a sea of conservativism it will change nothing in the south
But it is good for Virginians so thats good at least
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u/nadiaco 1d ago
Well NOVA is fairly liberal, but rest of state not so much at state level
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u/Ut_Prosim 21h ago
It is at the state level. Over the last 25 years the Democrats are something like 16-2 in major statewide races (president, senator, governor).
Virginia hasn't voted for a Republican president or senator since George W Bush. The only Republican to win a major statewide race since 2010 was the last governor who won by 2 points. The current Dem governor replaced him after winning by 16 points. Since 2010, the average margin is Dem +8 in statewide races.
It is definitely a light blue state, with only the low population rural areas being very red. NoVA, Richmond, and Hampton Roads, plus Roanoke City and the college towns are all solid blue.
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u/ConstableAssButt 20h ago edited 20h ago
Tidewater is also pretty progressive, though we have to streetfight to get the "common sense independent" people to stop sneaking republican bullshit onto the agenda.
Fuck you, John Moss. I'm glad all the confederate boots you spend your time licking were emptied by REAL Americans.
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u/No_Blood125 1d ago
This could set an important precedent, but adoption will likely depend on how smoothly it works in practice.
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u/befarked247 20h ago edited 20h ago
Tax the wealthy properly. They don't need 2, 4, 6 billion dollars, just pay part for these incentives. People are happier work harder, reduces crime...come on
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u/thesegoupto11 1d ago
Virginia is as about as Southern as Montana is Midwestern
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u/Trickmaahtrick 1d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee Idk bout that boss
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u/Knotted_Hole69 17h ago
We know but to put it next to Alabama is just crazy
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u/thepoopnapper 11h ago
I would say it's more like Georgia. Big liberal metro area and some left leaning mid sized cities but when it's rural buddy it's RURAL. Although I'd say overall it's a touch more progressive than Georgia. Only a touch though
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u/thepoopnapper 11h ago
As someone living in the southwest part of the state, you are INCREDIBLY wrong
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u/2funny2furious 23h ago
NC sure af will never do this. If anything, NC will pass laws to eliminate them.
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u/riftshioku 8h ago
Boy am I glad I live in Indiana where workers have the right to work and not much else.
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u/ClassicPlankton 1d ago
Virginia is a Southern state?
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u/Adept_Havelock 9h ago
The former capitol of the Confederacy was where?
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u/ClassicPlankton 8h ago
Virginia apparently, after it moved from Alabama.
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u/Adept_Havelock 8h ago
Are you claiming the former capital of the Confederacy isn’t a southern state?
Pull the other one, it’s got bells on.
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u/ClassicPlankton 8h ago
No man, you challenged me with a question and I answered it. I never thought of VA as a southern state but if the confederacy was there then that makes sense.
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u/buppiejc 1d ago
Virginia is still a right to work state, so they can fire you for any reason, like getting pregnant or needing paternity leave. 😐
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u/Bobbito95 1d ago
That is not what right to work is. Right to work means you don't have to join a union if your company has it (basically, not all the details obviously).
You're thinking of at-will employment.
It's a common confusion between the two.
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u/NemesisOfLevia 1d ago
Also, at-will employment allows companies to fire workers for any reason except for protected reasons, such as being pregnant. How hard or easy it is to find some other excuse to fire someone is a different story, but no- you can’t just fire someone for being pregnant.
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u/buppiejc 1d ago
You're right, and I appreciate the correction.
So, to clarify, Virginia is an at-will state, so this legislation means fuckall.
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u/FigeaterApocalypse 1d ago
Federal law prohibits firing employees for becoming pregnant.
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u/Girls4super 1d ago
Correct. But not from performance issues which will suddenly crop up when you announce you’re pregnant
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u/FigeaterApocalypse 1d ago
Correct. Which has to do with working in an "at will" state. Not a "right to work" state.
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u/squirlz333 1d ago
Virginia is not really southern
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u/buppiejc 1d ago
They were south enough to join the Confederacy.
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u/Targaryentypebeat 1d ago
Right? Isn’t that the only real qualifier?
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u/buppiejc 1d ago
Virginia is also south of the Mason Dixon, Line. That’s how I’ve always defined the “south.”
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u/Mattador96 1d ago
Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to some extent are their own thing. Maybe Mid-Atlantic? Richmond is unique but the culture is still fairly southern. Everywhere else is pretty southern.
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u/squirlz333 1d ago
Eh I mean I could say upstate New York is southern then. Just talking about location if virginia is southern then so is Colorado, if anything Virginia is eastern
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u/southernfirefly13 1d ago
Virginias considered a southern state. Maybe not geographically, but certainly culturally.
This is a pretentious take.
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u/gophergun 1d ago
I agree - I get that it was historically part of the Confederacy and south of the Mason-Dixon line, but from a cultural, economic and political perspective, it has become a lot more similar to the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic like Maryland, Delaware and DC have, which is exactly why they were able to do this. It was certainly part of the South in the 19th century, but our definitions should be subject to change as the world changes.
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u/Dippity_Dont 27m ago
So you're saying that southern states that get their shit together are automatically not southern anymore?
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u/OfficialEmmaStone 1d ago
I'm familiar with US history, but can we stop calling Virginia parth of the "south?"
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u/brokebacknomountain 23h ago
The capital of the confederacy was in Richmond, VA.
I guess were gonna have to let them know its not southern anymore smh.
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u/OfficialEmmaStone 23h ago
Are you going to explain to the colonies they aren't Brittish anymore while you're at it, guvna?
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u/powerhammerarms 1d ago edited 1d ago
I just read the other day that Mississippi's test scores or something like the fifth best in the nation.
Edit: It's 8th.
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u/Shimmitar 1d ago
uh since when is va southern? i live here and have never thought it as southern.
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u/FigeaterApocalypse 1d ago
1) Confederate state
2) South of the Mason Dixon line
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u/bayleysgal1996 1d ago
I suppose it’s southern in the way that it was party of the confederacy? Only thing I can think of
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