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CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois will become one of three states to require employers to offer paid time off for any reason after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law on Monday that will take effect next year. Starting Jan. 1, Illinois employers must offer workers paid time off based on hours worked, with no need to explain the reason for their absence as long as they provide notice in accordance with reasonable employer standards. Just Maine and Nevada mandate earned paid time time off and allot employees the freedom to decide how to use it, but Illinois’ law is further reaching,...

PORTLAND, Ore. — A decision by Portland city leaders is drawing attention from across the country. Portland is now the first to offer bereavement leave for employees after they have an abortion. City Council unanimously approved the changes earlier this month. Under the new policy, employees are able to take off three days of work after an abortion or any type of pregnancy loss.

Biden's American Family Plan would dole out free college, free child care, free meals, and more. But does the math add up? Nope.President Biden released the provisions of his American Family Plan last week, and just like with his American Jobs Plan, the details are scant and the price tag is high.Even given the limited details, the plans ought to give everyone pause — and by “everyone” I don’t just mean conservatives who oppose massive welfare state expansions, but also those who agree with the objective of an increase in the social insurance system in America. There are some serious...

Last week, Governor Newsom signed an Executive Order that will require Food Sector employers, including wineries and vineyards, with 500 or more employees to provide two weeks of paid sick leave for COVID-19 related issues. The Executive Order applies to Food Sector Workers who satisfy the following criteria: The person works in one of the industries covered by certain Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) wage orders, including IWC Wage Order 8-2001 (wineries) and Wage Order 14-2001 (vineyards); The person is exempt as an Essential Critical Infrastructure Worker from the requirements imposed by Executive Order N-33-20; and The person leaves the person’s...

One of the biggest arguments for paid leave for new parents has been an economic one: Research has repeatedly shown that women with paid time off after childbirth are more likely to keep working. But a new study, the largest to be done in the United States, found the opposite. In California, which in 2004 became the first state to offer paid family leave, new mothers who took it that year ended up working less and earning less a decade later. They averaged $24,000 in cumulative lost wages, it found. “I could feel the air going out of the room...

Just realized something. Donald and Ivanka made the announcements months ago about this. We just missed it. First, he called Ivanka, "My secret weapon", then she said at the RNC Convention, Equal Pay, Child Care. It's been said many times, he must win big to overcome election fraud and everything up until then. MSM Wolman Rink and the new DC Hotel are proof that he won't be costing taxpayers any more money. AND It's a (tax revenue producer) Pro life platform/benefit. Non tax revenue producers already get this stuff free. (Who's he doing bad with? Female and female pro life...

San Francisco became the first place in the country Tuesday to require businesses to provide fully paid leave for new parents in what was hailed as the latest move to address income inequality in the nation. The measure approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors will give new mothers and fathers six weeks of fully paid time off, a rarity now offered to some government sector workers and some private employees, particularly those who work in the tech industry. […] The measure requires another formal vote by the board next week as well as approval by Mayor Ed Lee, who...

A civil servant in southern Spain failed to turn up at the office for six years but no-one noticed and he still collected his salary each month, it has emerged. The long-term absenteeism of Joaquín García, an engineer employed by the municipal water company in Cádiz, was only discovered when he was considered for an award for performing 20 years of loyal service. The case emerged this week after a court ordered him to pay a fine of €27,000 for his prolonged absence, a figure that amounted to less than one year of his annual €37,000 salary, the maximum that...

The same group that was behind a 2014 ballot measure to increase the state’s minimum wage is now pursuing a voter-initiated law mandating that all Michigan employers provide paid sick leave. Raise Michigan has submitted petition language to the state elections bureau, and the Board of Canvassers is expected to rule relatively quickly on whether the draft language follows the proper form. The proposal would create an “earned sick time act,” which prescribes a paid leave policy all employers would have to adopt unless they chose to provide even more generous benefits. Specifically, businesses would have to allow workers to...

In Chile, a law requires employers to provide working mothers with child care. One result? Women are paid less. In Spain, a policy to give parents of young children the right to work part-time has led to a decline in full-time, stable jobs available to all women — even those who are not mothers. Elsewhere in Europe, generous maternity leaves have meant that women are much less likely than men to become managers or achieve other high-powered positions at work. Family-friendly policies can help parents balance jobs and responsibilities at home, and go a long way toward making it possible...

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said today that President Obama knows how to run small businesses better than small business owners. Asked what the White House message to small business owners who are concerned Obama's proposed new mandatory paid sick leave policy could hurt their bottom line, Earnest replied, "I think the president would have a different view which is to say that this is good business and I think there are any number of examples I can site for you where businesses have chosen to put in place these policies and it's served to reduce the turnover...

The White House will announce a major push Thursday to require paid leave for American workers. In a blog post on LinkedIn Wednesday, Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to the President, said Obama will sign a memorandum to ensure federal employees have access to at least six weeks of paid sick leave when a new child arrives. The president will also call on Congress to offer six weeks of paid administrative leave. “We can't say we stand for family values when so many women in this country have to jeopardize their financial security just to take a few weeks off...

EXCLUSIVE: Eight Environmental Protection Agency employees who racked up a total of more than ten years’ worth of paid “administrative leave” between 2011 and 2014 -- valued at more than $1,096,000 -- apparently did so because they were involved in “cases of alleged serious misconduct,” Fox News has learned. In a memorandum sent from EPA’s acting assistant administrator, Nanci E. Gelb, to EPA’s inspector general, Arthur Elkins -- a draft also was given to Fox News -- the agency has revealed that at least three of the affected employees have now left EPA. All of the eight “were or are...

President Barack Obama said Monday that the United States should join the rest of the industrialized world and require paid leave for mothers of newborns. Do you agree? Yes No

Warning: This video, posted on YouTube, contains graphic language. The police actions in question happen from the 1 minute mark through to 2:05. Eric Hightower was lying on the ground, coughing and choking because a St. Paul police officer had just squirted him with a chemical spray, when he said the officer suddenly kicked him. "It was like he was kicking a football or something," the 30-year-old man said Wednesday, Aug. 29, the day after his arrest, after a video of the officer's use of force was posted on YouTube. "He kicked me so hard, he knocked the wind completely...

(CNSNews.com) - The long-awaited inspector general's report on the Justice Department's botched gun-running scheme is finished, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said on Wednesday. But along with that news comes more questions: Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are demanding to know why a top ATF official involved in Operation Fast and Furious remains on paid leave from ATF -- while simultaneously drawing a six-figure salary from J.P. Morgan, a major investment bank.

The University of California's former No. 2 official, who resigned under a cloud last month, violated conflict-of-interest rules by helping to create a management job for a friend with whom she owned rental property, a UC investigation concluded Wednesday. In addition, UC investigators found that a subordinate for the former official, ex-Provost M.R.C. Greenwood, had improperly helped create an internship for Greenwood's son, though they couldn't find evidence he had done so at Greenwood's direction. The subordinate, university Vice President Winston Doby, 65, remains on administrative leave while UC auditors look into two other hires in which he was involved....

SACRAMENTO - For eight months, two aides who questioned whether Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn created an inappropriate, sexually charged work environment have been paid at least $75,000 in state salary to stay home from work. The Campbell Democrat's press secretary, Erika Weaver-Taylor, and office manager, Melissa Wilhite, remain on administrative leave while a powerful legislative committee continues to investigate their charges. Cohn, who is running for re-election in Santa Clara County's 24th Assembly District, said Wednesday that she could not comment on the investigation. The Mercury News first reported in February that the Assembly Rules Committee was looking into the complaints...

LEWISTON, Maine -- A general assistance caseworker for Lewiston's immigrant population has resigned amid allegations he used his position to solicit sexual favors from a woman coming to him for help."I did it because it is in the best interest for the immigrant population," Ali said in his resignation. He refused to elaborate and declined further comment.

Seeking to appeal to parents caught between the pressures of work and family, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman is proposing a new payroll deduction to finance a program that would allow workers to take paid leave to care for themselves or family members, his advisers said. The proposal, which Mr. Lieberman, of Connecticut, plans to announce on Wednesday, would expand on the Family and Medical Leave Act, a hallmark of President Bill Clinton that guarantees employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family medical emergencies. By offering a plan for paid leave, Mr. Lieberman, one of nine candidates seeking...