Cecile Johnston and her husband Kevin Diffily have just filed for bankruptcy. Their mistake? They had a new baby, and Johnston took 12 weeks off to care for her, as is provided by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

"I was working at part-time jobs for two agencies," explains Johnston, who is a community educator and organizer, "and had only a small amount of accumulated sick and personal leave from one job. The other agency agreed to lay me off under the impression that I could then get unemployment insurance. But that turned out not to be the case."