Posted on 05/15/2009 7:03:35 PM PDT by reaganaut1
A long-stalled effort to guarantee American workers paid sick days takes a big step forward Monday with the introduction of legislation by Congressional Democrats.
The proposal went nowhere during the presidency of George W. Bush, but as a senator and then a presidential candidate, Barack Obama backed it, and Michelle Obama embraced the idea last week in a talk to business leaders.
Now women’s groups, labor unions and other supporters are voicing optimism about its prospects.
“The last eight years, you kept clawing and scratching and didn’t get anywhere, but we have a real opportunity now,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, who along with Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts will introduce the measure. “There’s something wrong when people have to choose between their jobs and taking care of themselves or their families when someone is sick.”
Business groups are vowing to block the legislation, arguing that the recession makes this an inopportune time to create a new mandate that they say would raise costs for employers.
“Given that small businesses are barely able to keep their heads above water in this economy, we don’t think this is the right legislation to be pushing right now,” said Susan Eckerly, senior vice president at the National Federation of Independent Business, which represents small-business owners.
Supporters, on the other hand, say the legislation is especially timely now, given the swine flu epidemic.
The bill, the Healthy Families Act, would be binding on employers that had 15 or more workers. It would guarantee employees one paid hour off for each 30 hours worked, enabling them to earn up to seven paid sick days a year. They would be entitled to claim their days when they or a child, a parent, a spouse or someone else close to them became ill.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
My present employer gives us 10 sick days a year which accrue if you don’t use them. I now have over 480 hours (60 days) accrued. I tell people I’m saving up for my first heart attack.
THey tried to push this through in Milwaukee. (It’s in the courts right now.) Immediately several restaurants closed their doors. Other employers negated all paid holidays. 7 paid holidays = 7 paid sick days. It’s a wash. I don’t know what happens when someone wants to work on Christmas and the business is closed that day.
Can I get a pony too? I’ve always wanted one! A unicorn would be better, but I’m willing to settle.
Mark
What a crock, don’t work, don’t get paid!!
Equivalent to produce to expectations or i’ll fire you!!!
More jobs overseas.....
I've never really understood how anyone would like taking days off of work for illness, unless something really is wrong. I felt really guilty about taking a day off of work about a month ago. I just wasn't feeling well, and felt like I was coming down the with flu, being dizzy and having thrown up a few times. Plus my foot hurt. Later in the day, I noticed the pain had spread, and my foot was swollen, and my leg was starting to swell and turn red to mid-calf. I was feeling really tired, so I laid down and took a nap. When I woke up a few hours later, the pain, redness, and swelling had gone past my knee. I called an "ask-a-nurse," and they told me to get to a hospital ER as quickly as possible. I drove myself to the local hospital, where they took a look at me, got me into the ER, and told me that I made it in just in time. My blood pressure was 70/45, temp was 101, and I had a white cell count of 39,000. They told me that I probably would have passed out within the next hour or so, and the infection (cellulitis) would have killed me. As it was, I was in the hospital on IV anti-biotics for 5 days, and told to stay at home for 2 more days, and I was on oral anti-biotics for another 2 weeks afterward. And as an added bonus, it seems to have screwed up my lymphatic system, because now I have "lymphadema" so I'm getting physical therapy twice a week for that! GRRRRRR.... It was rough, not being able to work.
Mark
Good grief. Talk about Theory X hell. Or is this a low-skilled position?
This kind of weak, sniveling, obsequious response is the reason that we lose. Rather than say that this is an egregious example of a thuggish and overreaching government, they just say that this is an 'inopportune time' for such thuggish and overreaching government.
If they are going to stand up for themselves, then they should do it for real...JFK
How about seven “Sick of Democrat Lunacy” days?
We also have the option of selling our PTO time back to the company at the end of the year.
The Democrat Employment Reduction Act
(1) Make it easier for employees to sue for discrimination — the “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act”.
(2) Push for card check and mandatory arbitration. With Specter now a Dem, they may get it.
(3) Take no action to delay the increase in the minimum wage to $7.25 in July of this year.
(4) Proposed an employer mandate in their drive for universal coverage.
(5).. arent they also doing something on gay rights in the workplace aka ENDA, a lawyers bonanza
(6) Govt mandated sick leave
But they use a rolling 6-month period. For instance, if you called off January 2nd, on July 3rd, that call-off would be deleted from the new current 6-month period.
Due to the nature of the hospital business, they really can't afford to have workers who have responsibility for sick patients call off willy-nilly every time they want to party or just don't feel like working today. And in this business, it's also a very detrimental added burden to the staff who do come in to work.
“I now have over 480 hours (60 days) accrued. I tell people I’m saving up for my first heart attack.”
Hope you never have to use them that way. My husband had upwards of 80 days last year. Got him through a triple bypass and a bout with bladder cancer.
I on the other hand get no sick days and have no health insurance. I get a major illness or injury and we’re screwed.
My thought when I read the Article.
Just stop at 14 employees or less!
Sigh............
“A lot of those people without paid sick time have customer contact and/or food service jobs. Yeah, I really want THEM sick.”
Exactly. Many people have to go to work sick, because they can’t afford to lose even one day’s pay. They should be home in bed. Instead, they are out spreading germs to others and doing themselves no good either...even prolonging the illness by not resting at home and recovering.
Not so many years ago, life was normal. Sick people stayed at home and got well. Then they went back to work.
These days are different. Much of the blame for this can go to many employers who don’t care about the employee-—all they care about is the employee coming to work, sick or not. So, now we have people everywhere dragging into work sick, getting other employees and customers sick. And all because they are “expected” to be there.
Believe it or not, many people do live paycheck to paycheck. If their employers will not provide a few paid sick days a year, maybe this bill will help them out. I believe that is the spirit of the bill...not so much a power grab for more government control, but to help people who really need it.
While it may seem like that, there is also an attitude re the sick policies that works against human nature, and the result is counterintuitive.
When I worked in HR in a Swiss company, the laws in that country guarantee pay to any employee who is truly ill up to 2 years. After 3 days they needed a note from a doctor. Employees could stay home for weeks and get paid, but since they always knew that, they were almost ashamed to stay home ever. Socially it was like saying you were a total loser if you didn't come to work for more than a day or so with an illness. I had to literally send feverish workers HOME so they would not infect the rest of the company.
There is truly an attitude here of "getting something over on the boss" that maybe would not be in existence if they knew they'd be paid for all sickness that a doctor would excuse. People would man up instead of taking sick days. I know it SOUNDS like people would take more advantage, but the system here is so heartless that actually it sets employers and employees at severe odds.
There, fixed it.
Re: Your post 30. If I were a business owner and this were crammed down my throat, I’d do just that!!! I’d also emphasize that it was the “administration” that was responsible for it and why their policies are wrong.
Wanna bet that after this is passed, I get a limit of 7/yr?
Way to kill capitalism and small business!
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