H1N1 emergency sick legislation will soon be introduced in the Senate
During a November 10, 2009, hearing on The Cost of Being Sick: H1N1 and Paid Sick Days in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families, Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn) announced that he is preparing emergency legislation that will guarantee paid sick leave for those who are infected by the H1N1 virus.
“This isn’t just a workers’ rights issue – it’s a public health emergency. Families shouldn’t have to choose between staying healthy and making ends meet,” said Dodd. “But if staying home means you don’t get paid, that’s an impossibility, especially for families struggling to make ends meet in this tough economy.”
“Workers should have paid sick leave as a matter of basic fairness,” Dodd continued. “But now sick leave is a matter of keeping Americans safe from this pandemic – and from the next one, whatever it may be.”
Dodd’s emergency legislation is intended to slow the spread of the disease by encouraging those who have flu-like symptoms to follow the Centers for Disease Control’s recommendations by staying home instead of coming to work, while making it easier for parents to care for sick children or deal with school closings. Dodd is working on the legislation with Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn), who is a longtime advocate of paid sick leave and was a witness at the hearing.
Dodd and DeLauro are structuring the legislation off of their Healthy Families Act of 2009(S. 1152/H.R. 2460). It will include the following provisions:
- Workers will be given up to 7 paid sick days to use for leave due to their own flu-like symptoms, medical diagnosis or preventive care, to care for a sick child, or to care for a child whose school or child care facility has been closed due to the spread of flu.
- Discretion on the need for sick leave would be left to the employee, although medical certification could be required through regulation by the Department Of Labor.
- The bill would go into effect 15 days after being signed into law, and it would sunset after two years.
The Healthy Families Act would establish a minimum standard of paid sick leave for employees, allowing workers to earn up to seven paid sick days a year. It is currently under consideration in both the House and Senate. The bill allow the paid sick days to be used to care for an employee’s own illness or physical or mental condition, to obtain a medical diagnosis, a related treatment, or preventive care, or to care for a family member for any of the above reasons.
The provision would also allow employees using the paid sick leave to recover from or seek assistance related to domestic violence, stalking or sexual assault. Workers would accrue one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked in order to earn up to 56 hours or 7 days of paid sick time. Employees would begin to earn paid sick time at the commencement of their employment, but would not be entitled to use the leave until after 60 days. Paid sick leave would carry over from year to year, but may not exceed 56 hours unless the employer permits additional accrual. Employers can require workers to provide documentation supporting any request for leave longer than three consecutive days.
On November 3, Representative George Miller (D-Cal), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-Cal), chair of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee, introduced their own H1N1emergency temporary legislation.
Their bill would guarantee a maximum of five paid sick days for employees directed or advised to stay home by their employer because the employer believes they have symptoms of a contagious illness, or have been in close contact with an individual who has symptoms of a contagious illness, such as the H1N1 flu virus. The legislation, called the Emergency Influenza Containment Act (H.R.3991), would cover both full-time and part-time workers (on a pro-rated basis) in businesses with 15 or more employees. Employers that already provide at least five days’ paid sick leave are exempt.
Reprinted with permission. © CCH
<p>H1N1 emergency sick legislation will soon be introduced in the Senate During a November 10, 2009, hearing on The Cost of Being Sick H1N1 and Paid Sick Days in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and</p>
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