California voters recently passed a bill making it the first state to offer workers paid family leave. However experts said Iowa is not likely to follow suit.

Paid family leave would enable workers to take time off to care for a newborn, adopted child, or sick family member while getting paid a portion of their wages, Peter Orazem, professor in economics, said.

He said Iowa is not likely to pass a law making paid family leave mandatory.

“Iowa is in a legislative brain-lock,” Orazem said.

Iowa has a Democratic governor and a Republican legislature, which makes passing any bills difficult, he said.

“They haven’t been able to agree on anything for the last four years,” Orazem said.

“There is currently no strong move to pass a bill and even if there was agreement in the legislature, they may concentrate on other issues.”

Traditionally, firms set their own policies. Forty to 55 percent of larger firms already have some sort of family leave, paid or unpaid, Orazem said.

Diane Muncrief, manger of human relations for Iowa State, said the university complies with the Family Medical Leave Act, which allows for up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off for the birth or adoption of a child. She also said Iowa State presently has a policy draft under review by the Board of Regents to get paid family leave.

Sharon Bird, assistant professor of sociology, said she thinks paid family leave is a good idea.

“It helps men and women balance work and family responsibilities together. Even with the option of paid family leave, it is still not normative for men to take advantage of such policies, but it’s a good first step,” Bird said.

Orazem said there may be a stigma attached to people taking leave. It may cost future promotions because the employees may be viewed as disloyal or taking advantage of the firm.

“[Also], a subset of the labor force is going to get the majority of the benefit,” Orazem said.

The majority of the people who would benefit are women who work and have children, he said. Men who are single and have no children will likely receive little to no benefit from paid family leave.

Paid family leave has met some opposition from some women’s groups. They argue paid family leave will be an excuse not to hire women because employers will equate women with children as a cost to their firm, Orazem said.

Paid family leave may be harder on small businesses (100 employees or less) than on large firms. The small number of employees will make it hard to shift workers around to cover the missing employee, Orazem said.