Posted on 01/15/2015 5:31:44 AM PST by EBH
Anyone who has ever faced the challenge of raising or supporting a family, while holding down a job, has faced tough choices along the way, and likely felt stretched between the financial and personal needs of their family.
How many working parents know that sinking feeling from sending their child off to school with a fever? How many Americans have to show up to work when battling an illness even when they know they won’t be at their best, it will lengthen their recovery time, and they may likely spread their sickness to others? And how many moms and dads have been denied the ability to bond with their newborn, or to care for an aging parent, all because they could not afford to miss work? These are real, significant moments in life that nearly everyone faces at some point. The last thing we should do is add guilt, fear, and financial hardship on working parents as they try to do what’s right – while keeping their job.
Tomorrow, President Obama will announce several initiatives that will spur action and move us toward our goal of fully supporting and empowering working parents in both their roles as workers and parents.
We know that states and cities are leading the way in this fight to pass laws to protect their workers. We’ll work to support these states and cities in their efforts to bring paid leave and sick days to all working families, and the President is continuing his push to bring similar flexibility to federal workers.
So on Thursday, President Obama will call on Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act, which would allow millions of working Americans to earn up to seven days a year of paid sick time — and call on states and cities to pass similar laws. The President will outline a new plan to help states create paid leave programs, and provide new funding through the Department of Labor for feasibility studies that will help other states and municipalities figure out the best way to implement programs of their own. And the President will sign a Presidential Memorandum that will ensure federal employees have access to at least 6 weeks of paid sick leave when a new child arrives and propose that Congress offer 6 weeks of paid administrative leave as well.
These steps build on the progress made when, this past June, President Obama convened the first-ever White House Summit on Working Families, bringing together business leaders, educators, researchers, advocates, members of Congress, state and local government representatives, and American workers to have a real, honest discussion about how we can make our workplaces work better for American families. But the conversation we had that day was only the beginning. It has carried on in the months since then around the country and the President has continued to take action to make progress for families.
We know that today, 43 million private sector workers in the U.S. are without any form of paid sick leave. Only three states — California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island — offer paid family and medical leave. The United States remains the only developed country in the world that does not offer paid maternity leave.
The truth is, the success and productivity of our workers is inextricably tied to their ability to care for their families and maintain a stable life at home. More and more employers are coming to understand this. And voters get it too—from Massachusetts to Oakland, they have been showing their overwhelming bipartisan support for policies allowing workers to earn paid sick days.
At a time when all parents are working in more than 60 percent of households with children (up from just 40 percent in 1965), and 63 percent of women with children under the age of 5 participate in the labor force (compared with 31 percent in the early 1970s), one fact is resoundingly clear: The fundamental structure of our workplaces has simply not kept pace with the changing American family.
Fixing that won't just make life better for millions of American families. It will ultimately improve the financial bottom lines of the companies that choose to step up and make a change on their own – which is precisely why this news is breaking first on LinkedIn.
This is the world's largest online audience of professionals. And if you're an employer, the folks who are coming to your company's pages will be looking to see if you offer precisely these sorts of policies on your books. These are the policies that will attract the best new talent. They are the policies that will make the employees you hire more productive — and encourage them to stay longer. Keep in mind that nearly one in two working parents has turned down a job because it would not work for their family. Don’t let your job be one of those.
This is the very first place we're breaking this news because you're in the best position to drive change.
The President and his Administration have engaged workers and employers around the country in roundtable conversations about how to build 21st century workplaces that meet the needs of the 21st century workforce. And the President has received thousands of letters from people around the country sharing why these issues are so personal for them.
He heard not long ago from a mother of two in Maryland. She was working full-time while raising a family, which she said felt too often like “a no-win situation." She told us that she hopes that when her daughters are grown, "times will be different and flexibility will be the standard so that they don't have to choose between caring for their sick child or dying parent, and their job."
Let’s make that happen now.
Because 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 of work after giving birth.
We can't say we're for middle-class stability when a man has to sacrifice his economic security to care for his ailing mother.
If you’re an employer, ask yourself what you’re doing for your workers on paid sick days and paid leave. If you’re looking for a job, ask yourself what you want out of your employer.
The President intends to ensure that the federal government is a model employer. We'll have the most-skilled and productive workforce possible as a result.
“The President intends to ensure that the federal government is a model employer.”
~Except for the fact that the government produces no goods, manufactures nothing, sells nothing, and maintains its enormous size on the backs of taxpayers.
A business is dependent upon its production and sales.
“At a time when all parents are working in more than 60 percent of households with children (up from just 40 percent in 1965), and 63 percent of women with children under the age of 5 participate in the labor force (compared with 31 percent in the early 1970s), one fact is resoundingly clear: The fundamental structure of our workplaces has simply not kept pace with the changing American family.”
This is the key phrase. No one puts a gun to both parents’ head and says you both need to work. That decision is up to the family.
The problem with society today is that “stuff” is more important than family. Families could survive on one income, they just choose not to do it.
Our list of rights keep growing... but what if a right interferes with the rights of others? What right gets priority?
Its easy to be facile about paid leave but its not as simple and straightword as Valerie Jarett makes it seem.
More benees from 0bama that someone else gets to pay for. Paid leave used to be something companies used to attract top people. Now it’s an “entitlement” .
I have a good, updated LinkedIn account, which I keep strictly business, and I generally like the LinkedIn service.
However, I DO NOT like the “influencer” articles on LinkedIn, including Valerie Jarret and other obama Administration officials.
And I REALLY do not like the New Age “influencer” articles, by such miscreants as Deepak Chopra. If they have New Age heresy and paganism on LinkedIn, they should also feature Orthodox Christian “influencers”. But of course they don’t!
Why does he bother with asking Congress? Why not merely speak it into existence?
I cringe every time I hear Obama say ‘we want more women working’. All I can think is ‘they want more kids in their early indoctrination camps, aka Govt. Day Care’. I wish moms who want to stay home with their kids would receive the emotional support they need. But that is not going to happen in Obamaland.
I have worked construction and truck driving most of my life. Most of my employers have been understanding if I need sick time or personal leave, but the rule is you get paid when you work.
Sure, paid leave would be nice, but I knew going in what the deal is. Sad to say, there are people I have worked with who would happily game the benefit. Some of my employers are close to the bone, just couldn’t afford it.
What business has Valerie Jarrett ever run, except for her slum property in Chicago? Growing up with Communist parents certainly doesn’t qualify her.
How about reducing the tax burden on families so that moms can afford to stay home and raise their own kids.
How about reducing the regulatory burden on business so that there will be more jobs out there and wages will rise.
The government just doesn't come out and say you must do this and it magically is so. Regulations like this come with the requirement that business document that they are complying.
This is a huge new expense on business. Right now business must permit an employ unpaid time off for family medical issues. That means the employer must pay to replace that worker during that absence. That can mean overtime for other workers or bringing in a temporary worker.
These are not minor expenses. For a small business they are crippling burdens. But for Democrats it is not the cost that matters it is the thought that counts.
“Hey pajama boys and girls... make sure you contribute to the economic recovery! Get paid not to work!”
This sycophant and her mini-me boss are getting more insufferable by the day. Free community college, free time off work, where does it stop? They know they can never get this past Congress now, so they are just pissing into the wind.
And where’s muh free breakfast?
Why have it end with paid leave?
People need to understand that there are few things more destructive to employers than the costs they must bear for workers when they aren't working ... and that includes pension costs, disability payments, etc. Add this to the mix and you've got a recipe for disaster for a lot of employers.
I suppose the employer has a ‘right’ to pay for services not rendered?
I believe it is in employers’ best interest to encourage a healthy, balanced family life among their workforce. But in the end, employers pay for work, not need.
A really cool message to send to the youth of America in this regard might be something like:
“Life will be much easier if one gets married before raising a family. A married couple can balance the needs of child rearing much more effectively,” and then go into the benefits of having a parent choose a less demanding career, or staying home to raise children during formative years.
Because I suspect that the 41% national illegitimacy rate (75%among blacks, 51% among ‘conservative’ Hispanics) enters into this “I can’t raise my children” drama.
So Federal Government workers don’t have “sick days”?
Its one thing to have paid sick leave... but paid leave in general would create a disincentive to not work.
If the employer is going to pay you anyway for not showing up, why bother to punch in the clock?
In a jobless world, how people would get income would be structured differently but paid leave in a world where things need to get done simply cripple productivity.
you think it’s a right only because you aren’t paying for it. pretty lavish with other people’s money.
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