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Dylan's wife was pregnant and because he had not been at his job for a full year, he was not eligible for job protection and the school he worked at would not approve his leave. Dylan's daughter had to go to the NICU for a week, and once they were able to take her home Dylan had to immediately return to work. "We need to improve job protection so that others are not faced with the pain of having to work instead of being with their loved ones during life's most important moments."'

In February of 2009, Lauren’s younger sister had cystic fibrosis and her lungs were failing. Lauren had recently used up all of her accrued leave when diagnosed with MS, so she only had three days of bereavement to grieve for her 25 year old sister. Lauren applied for compassionate leave at her job, but was denied. Her sister passed away 2 days later, and Lauren was with her and her family during her last moments. “No one should have to explain why compassion is needed when a family member dies.”

Habibah has heavily relied on paid leave after the birth of each of her 4 children and to take care of her sick spouse. Habibah’s family went through a crisis when her daughter was only three weeks old and her husband had a heart attack. “If I had been faced with losing my job for taking paid leave, my family would have been in an even more critical situation, financially, emotionally, than we already were.”

Ediza, a social worker, had her second daughter in 2017. She had only been at her job for about five months before taking leave, not allowing for much time to bond and job protection. Ediza was given 8 weeks of leave and had to return to work 6 weeks after having her baby- and since she was exclusively breastfed, Ediza had to spend lunch breaks traveling to ensure her daughter was properly fed. She states, “No one should have to determine the size of their family due to the lack of access to paid leave”