Service Employees International Union Issues Public Comment on Labor Department Notice
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The
The large employer exemption leaves out hundreds of thousands of SEIU members who work in airports, hospitals, nursing homes, and college campuses. It also leaves out fast food industry workers who are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 from their workplaces. Additionally, DOL can exempt certain smaller employers with fewer than 50 workers from providing childcare-related leave, leaving out an estimated 34 million workers. DOL also has the authority to exclude certain health care providers and emergency responders, potentially affecting 16.6 million workers who have some of the highest risks of contracting COVID-19 on the job.
Because of the loopholes in the FFCRA temporary leave provisions, too many workers have been without access to paid leave during this pandemic. Still more will lose access to paid leave once the FFCRA leave provisions expire. Aside from these temporary provisions, many workers lack access to paid leave simply because of where they live or for whom they work. Because our membership cuts across economic sectors, workplaces, and even geographies, our members face a patchwork of paid leave policies. Even the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which ensures access to unpaid leave, exempts small firms and certain workers. Most women employed by the private sector do not have access to paid maternity leave: only a third of private sector employees work for employers that offer paid maternity leave to all or most female employees./2
DOL's own research has found that fewer than one in five private sector workers has paid family leave through their employers, and only two in five have medical leave through employer-provided short-term disability insurance./3
Only five percent of the lowest-income workers had access to paid family leave in 2019. Moreover, occupations that do not provide paid leave benefits are disproportionately staffed by people of color.
A national paid leave program must include workers in all industries and sectors, regardless of company size, including contracted workers, so-called "gig" workers, and the self-employed. Broad coverage can best be achieved through a social insurance model./4
Under this model, employees and/or employers contribute a small percentage of wages into a public fund that can then be used to pay benefits when workers need leave. Not only would this universally cover all workers, it would also level the playing field for smaller employers who may lack economies of scale to administer a paid leave program on their own. This type of public model would remove the disparities in the current system that leaves many workers--disproportionately workers of color--without access to any form of paid leave.
A high-quality paid leave program would, at a minimum, allow leave for all events currently covered by FMLA, would not discriminate based on gender, and would have job protection provisions. The benefit should be generous both in the dollar amount and the duration of leave; reimbursement for low income workers should be a minimum of
Instituting a high-quality national paid leave program would be good for our health, our families, our businesses, our economy, and for racial justice. Numerous academic studies have found that paid leave improves children's health and development and maternal wellbeing./5
It benefits employers through better worker retention and productivity. It increases labor force participation, reduces poverty, and increases family income. And it is among the changes necessary to address America's racial inequities.
As this pandemic has shown, anyone can unexpectedly come into need for paid leave, but no worker should be forced to bear the costs on his or her own. A high-quality national paid leave program would expand the social contract where everyone contributes so that we safeguard the health and economic security of the most vulnerable and of us all.
Sincerely,
Policy Director
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Footnotes:
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2/ Zero to Three and
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5/ Zero to Three and
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The notice can be viewed at: https://beta.regulations.gov/document/DOL-2020-0004-0001
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