President Obama proposed restructuring the Family and Medical Leave Act to include paid parental leave and paid sick leave in his 2015 State of the Union address delivered yesterday. The president also called for Congress to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work, and said we still need to make sure employees get the overtime they’ve earned.

Obama announced he will take new action to help states adopt paid leave laws of their own and also put it to a vote in Washington. He asked Congress for a bill that gives all US workers the opportunity to earn seven days of paid sick leave.

“Today, we’re the only advanced country on Earth that doesn’t guarantee paid sick leave or paid maternity leave to our workers,” Obama said. “Forty-three million workers have no paid sick leave. Forty-three million. Think about that. And that forces too many parents to make the gut-wrenching choice between a paycheck and a sick kid at home.”

The president also mentioned minimum wage concerns.

“And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it,” Obama said. “If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.”

A transcript of the President Obama’s State Of The Union Address is available here.

The Society for Human Resource Management responded to Obama’s calls for sick leave mandate, saying it is the wrong approach.

“Mandates limit employer flexibility and stifle workplace innovation and creativity, which are the hallmark of effective and flexible workplaces,” according to SHRM. “As an alternative, SHRM is committed to expanding voluntary workplace flexibility initiatives, including paid leave and flexible work arrangements, and welcomes further dialogue on proposals to encourage greater employer adoption of these initiatives.”