Carmen Maya’s son answered the telephone Thursday morning and told his mother that it was the White House on the line.
She thought a real estate agent was calling about a white house she might want to look at.
“He told me, `No, in Washington,’ ” said Maya, who lives in Rogers Park. “I know there is only one White House in Washington.”
And, indeed, it was the president’s office calling, asking if she would participate in a conference call with President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore on Friday to showcase what they say is the need for family leave legislation.
Maya and nine other people from around the country were asked to talk about the hardships they endured due to family illnesses or emergencies and the reluctance of employers to grant them extended leaves. She had related her story in testimony before the Senate in 1991.
Sitting in the Oval Office Friday, Clinton and Gore listened as each person described a choice between family and job.
During the call, Maya’s young daughter ran back and forth through a horde of reporters squashed into the living room, and other children could be heard giggling and talking over the phone line.
Maya, 43, was fired in 1988 by a North Side hospital that had employed her as a pharmacy technician for more than 19 years. The hospital told her she was being released because of staff cuts.
But Maya believes she was fired because of the 12-week leave she took after her daughter was born. The baby was diagnosed with Down’s syndrome, and Maya had painful swelling in her legs after her pregnancy.
Her insurance policy called for six weeks of leave due to pregnancy, but the hospital agreed to an extended absence because of the medical problems, according to Maya.
But, “two days before I was supposed to go back, they let me go,” she said. “I thought I’d always have a job at a hospital because people are always getting sick.
“What comes first, your family or your job?”
Maya is suing the hospital, seeking the return of her job.
Family and medical leave legislation failed to clear Congress twice, in 1986 and 1988, and was vetoed by President Bush twice, in 1990 and 1992. Congress failed to override the vetoes.
Clinton ran on a promise to sign the law, and congressional Democrats hope to have a bill on his desk next week.
The measure under consideration requires businesses with 50 or more employees to grant workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family medical emergencies. Some business leaders have contend forcing companies to grant such leaves would be a burden.
At the end of the conference call, Clinton said, “It’s easy for people to talk about family values, but it’s also important for us to value families.”
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