The Wall Street Journal

In early rounds the Chamber comes out swinging, estimating the bill cost to NYC businesses at $3 to $3.5 billion per year. Quick jabs from businesses owners like Marc Murphy, who says it would cost his company $200,000 a year, seem to put paid sick days supporters on their heels.

But they battle back, citing a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report from 2009, which estimates the average of cost of sick leave per hour in the private sector was just 23 cents. As the bell rings, they land a stinging blow to the restaurant and service industry — the group most vehemently opposed to the legislation — by noting their costs are even lower: just 8 cents per hour.

It’s a short fight with no definitive winner, so the Journal calls in a referee: the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, which also (unsuccessfully) opposed similar legislation in that city a few years ago. Their verdict: After three years of living and working with a minimum paid sick days standard, the S.F. Chamber cannot find any strong opposition among it members — even during the Great Recession.

According to S.F. Chamber Senior Vice President Jim Lazarus, the burden on business has been minimal:

“The biggest impact was on small retailers and the restaurant industry,” he says. “It has not been a huge issue that we have heard from our members about.”

The WSJ writes:

“Businesses in San Francisco are not quiet when local laws hit their bottom line. City mandates for minimum wage and health-care coverage have drawn yowls of pain from members of the business group, Lazarus says. But compliance with the sick-leave law hasn’t not galvanized a similar level of opposition from San Francisco employers. ‘I don’t think it’s quite on the minds of employers,’ he says.”

Score this bout a unanimous victory for workers and their families.

When citizen delegates from Washington State converged in Washington DC to urge their representatives to take action on paid family leave and paid sick days, Selena Allen of Tacoma (whose story EOI has profiled before), and EOI Policy Director Marilyn Watkins were interviewed by NPR reporter Jennifer Ludden:

For millions of Americans, a major illness or family crisis means time off work with no pay. In recent years, several states have passed their own paid leave programs. Half a dozen more are trying but are largely stalled by the bad economy. Now, the Obama administration’s proposed budget aims to encourage states to push ahead.

Paid leave would help people like Selena Allen of Tacoma, Wash. When she found out she was pregnant with her second child, Allen started saving all her vacation and sick days. She hoarded away enough to take one month of maternity leave. Then her son was born a month and a half early. Allen, who worked at a nonprofit at the time, decided she simply couldn’t afford to take any more time off — time that would have been unpaid. She postponed her maternity leave and returned to work a painful four days after giving birth.

California enacted a paid family leave law in 2002, and New Jersey followed suit in 2008. And in 2007, Washington state made headlines when it passed a paid parental leave law. The law would provide new parents up to $250 a week for up to five weeks. Advocates wanted it to include other kinds of family leave, such as major illness, and still hope to broaden it eventually.

But the bigger dilemma was that lawmakers couldn’t agree on how to fund the program. Unlike California and New Jersey, Washington does not have an existing disability insurance program, so it had to create a funding mechanism from scratch. The state set up a task force to do that. Then, says task force member Marilyn Watkins, of the Economic Opportunity Institute, the recession hit.

“A new program, with a new source of funding, in the face of cutting so many other programs, was just not a feasible situation,” Watkins says. Washington state’s paid leave program has been put on hold until 2012, but Watkins hopes the federal government can rescue it sooner.

Read (or listen to) the full story here.

Government guidelines recommend babies receive only breast milk for the first 6 months. However, the report finds only 12% of mothers fully comply with this recommendation, while 43% do at least some breastfeeding for the first six months.

Citing the study, Dr. Larry Gray, a University of Chicago pediatrician, said mothers who don’t breast-feed for six months shouldn’t be blamed or made to feel guilty, because their jobs and other demands often make it impossible to do so.

Without paid family leave and job protection, most new mothers simply are unable do what’s best for their child’s health.

This study provides yet another dollar and cents reason (billions of them, actually) to get Washington’s family and medical leave insurance (FMLI) program off the ground as scheduled in October 2012. Washington’s FMLI will provide new parents with up to 5 weeks off work with partial pay, helping new mothers and fathers to balance their work and family obligations.

In the other Washington, President Obama’s proposed $50 million to help states set-up paid family leave programs would be a big boost to Washington and other states also struggling during this recession. Are your Senators and Congressional representatives leaders on work-family issues? If not, tell them how important it is to keep this money in the federal budget!

As soon as Washington’s legislature adopts a budget and heads home, members and candidates will begin campaigning for elections in November. Make sure they understand that putting families first makes good economic – and political – sense with the Candidate Questionnaire from the Washington Family Leave Coalition.

Via Washington Policy Watch

At the forum, the Council of Economic Advisers released a report on changes in the workforce that have led to increased need for workplace flexibility. The report, “Work-Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility,” is available on the White House website as well.

Coverage of the forum in the media focused on the Obamas as working parents, giving an unusually high-profile human interest angle to the sometimes dry talk of policy change, best practices, and economic data:

Obamas tout benefits of a flexible workplace, by Joe Davidson, Washington Post, April 1, 2010

The Obamas On The “High-Wire Act” of Work vs. Family Balance, by Sunlen Miller, ABC News, March 31, 2010

Obamas get to work from home. So should you, they say. by Mark Trumbull, Christian Science Monitor, March 31, 2010

By Ellen Bravo

As executive director of the Family Values @ Work consortium, I was one of the 100 people invited to participate in yesterday’s White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility. Anyone familiar with workplace change knows what a difference it makes in a company when top leaders embrace a new direction. The same is absolutely true for our government.

President Obama and Michelle Obama, other top government officials, corporate leaders, researchers and advocates, all agreed workplace flexibility is good for workers, families, business and the economy — and that most people don’t have it. While the forum focused mainly on voluntary best practices and culture change, I was delighted to hear the First Lady, President and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis talk about the need for public policy as well, including paid sick days and paid family leave. Advocates drew out that need in each breakout session.

The event began with findings from a report of the Council on Economic Advisers, “Work/Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility.” As Valerie Jarrett, director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, put it, flexibility at work is “not just the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do to stay competitive.” CEA member Christine Romer described flexible policies as “crucial to attract and retain, reduce absenteeism and turnover. That helps the whole economy. They also provide social benefits. We can invest more in kids, take care of parents — that’s good for society.”

Michelle Obama described her own work-family challenges, including having to take baby Sasha to a job interview. She got the job — the company president was a new dad — but she knows that most people are not as fortunate as she’s been. “Most have no access to any kind of family leave policy whatsoever,” she said, “no flexible arrangement, no paid sick days … That’s why we support the Healthy Families Act.”

In my breakout session, I responded to a question from Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes about the role of government. Here’s what I said: “For many workers, especially low-wage, flexibility means ‘you’re free to quit,’ leave means ‘if you leave, don’t come back.’ The greatest inflexibility is being fired for having a sick kid, or being allowed to take leave but given no way to afford it. Government can provide a floor, to guarantee some flexibility for all. I applaud those best practice employers in the room. We need you join with us in calling for a level playing field.”

At the closing session, the president announced his efforts to transform his own workplace, including a pilot project in the Office of Personnel Management that will explore different strategies for increasing schedule flexibility and refocus the department on measuring results rather than time in the office.

Noting that women are disproportionately affected by inflexibility — “as Michelle always reminds me” — President Obama said that “plenty of fathers wish they had more time with their kids, sons wish they had more time with elderly parents.” He described the issue as being about “the well-being of families and businesses, the strength of our economy.”

“Caring for loved ones and raising the next generation is the single most important job we have,” he concluded. “It’s time we made it a little easier for folks.”

We now have a president and First Lady who recognize that all families must address these work and family struggles and that some families have more resources, and flexibility — and power — to do so. They understand that government can educate, give encouragement and incentives, but it must also give protection by creating a floor of minimum workplace standards. Our job is to continue to build a powerful movement to make sure that happens.

“This is the first of many wins we expect to see in our Valuing Families Agenda,” said Ellen Bravo, Executive Director of Family Values @ Work Consortium (FVAW).

The new provision, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Chris Dodd and in the House by Cong. Lynn Woolsey, will amend the Family and Medical Leave Act’s (FMLA) military family provisions first enacted in Fiscal Year 2008, allowing primary caregivers of military members to take up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave to care for the wounded service member. Today’s law will extend the time in which the family member can take such leave, and expand the scope of those who would be covered by exigency leave provisions.
A family member can now take leave within a five-year period if necessary to care for a veteran after he or she leaves service if that soldier develops a service-related injury or illness that was incurred, or aggravated while on active duty. In addition, exigency leave is extended to active duty members in regular military service. Current Department of Labor (DOL) regulations limit access to exigency leave to Reserve and National Guard members only. That means families of deployed service members can take time to manage their family or personal affairs while the service member is deployed.

The Valuing Families Agenda, which FVAW initiated along with the National Partnership for Women & Families, has been signed by more than 50 organizations women, labor, business, faith, children, aging and caregiver groups.

“Military families face a dramatic form of what the majority of families experience in the U.S. today,” Bravo said. “They need time to care for loved ones without losing income or a job.”

Bravo pointed out that the organizations developed this Valuing Families Agenda because public policies have not kept up with the dramatic work and life changes that America has seen in recent decades. “There is broad need and support for a fundamental transformation of workplace policies,” she said. “This win is a step in that direction.”

They had their moment in the sun at Union Square as part of a costume contest to select the “Most Contagious” and “Best Newly Discovered” germs. Among the judges, in white coat and stethoscope, was New York City Councilwoman Gail Brewer, who has introduced a bill to require businesses to provide paid sick days for all employees. Members of the press were provided with face masks.

During the morning rush hour Monday, supporters of paid sick days passed out fliers and postcards at four subway stations: 125th Street in Harlem, West 4th Street, Union Square and 86th Street, Mayor Bloomberg’s stop. The fliers urged the City Council to take action on the Paid Sick Time Act this year. A public City Council hearing is scheduled for Nov. 17, 2009, at 1 p.m.

In Union Square, Councilwoman Brewer delivered brief remarks and then took on her duties as a Germ Judge while a band provided appropriate accompaniment.

The event kicks off an ad campaign to raise awareness of the risk involved—particularly during flu season—of having so many New Yorkers reluctant to stay home when they’re sick because it costs them income. At least 1,000 ads drawing attention to the hazard of sick New Yorkers in public places will start appearing on subway cars. (In no small coincidence, the latest cover of the New Yorker features a swine riding on the subway, prompting apprehensive looks from her fellow passengers.)

Check out some examples of the ads.

Here’s a link to the video and the transcript: Unpaid Sick Days Leave Parents With Tough Choices During Flu Season

• reduced spread of pandemic and seasonal flu
• reduced use of emergency room visits for routine care
• enhanced public protection from diseases carried by sick workers in restaurants, day cares, and nursing homes
• reduced hunger and homelessness among sick low-income workers

Read the Massachusetts HIA: http://www.humanimpact.org/PSD

The coalition held a press conference to release the HIA and some coalition members testified before the legislature’s Committee on Labor and Workforce Development. Coverage of the day’s events included:

“Push to make sure all workers get paid sick days” (NECN)

“Bill would guarantee paid sick days for Mass. workers” (Lowell Sun)

“With flu worries, paid sick days act pitched as public health measure” (Arlington Advocate)

“Mass. sick leave bill gains momentum” (Sentinel and Enterprise)

“Labor committee reviewing bill mandating paid sick days” (Bay State Banner)

Find out about the campaign for paid sick days in Milwaukee. Below is a link to a press release regarding a recent study showing that paid sick days will save local employers millions and protect public health.

Paid Sick Days in Milwaukee Press Release