New Survey of Small Business Shows Many Support Federal Job Quality Improvements

A new report from the Main Street Alliance surveyed over 1000 businesses from 9 states to get their feedback on a variety of public policies. Among other findings, a majority of businesses supported a federal paid family leave policy and a national earned sick days policy.

From the report summary:

JOB QUALITY and WORKPLACE ISSUES

• Paid family leave. While a majority don’t currently offer paid family leave, most small business owners surveyed support a national paid family and medical leave program.
• Earned paid sick days. While just over half don’t currently offer earned paid sick days to their employees, a majority of small business owners surveyed support a national earned paid sick days policy, like the Healthy Families Act.
• Raising the minimum wage. An overwhelming majority believe that anyone working full-time deserves to be out of poverty.

Read the full report here.

Philadelphia Paid Sick Days Task Force Issues a Draft Report

The Mayor's Task Force on Paid Sick Days has issued a draft report on the need for earned sick days in Philadelphia. Public comments on the report are encouraged. A hearing has also been scheduled for tomorrow, November 19, 2014, at 3 PM in the Mayor's Reception Room. If you have thoughts on the issue or the report, please join us there!

Working Parents’ Lack of Access to Paid Leave and Workplace Flexibility

Most workers whose employers offer paid sick days are able to take them in order to
stay home and provide care for ill family members. Others with access to workplace
flexibility can work from home or otherwise change their schedules in order to stay home with a sick child. But all too often this is not an option for working parents because they do not have access to paid sick leave or workplace flexibility. This can place parents in a precarious situation when their children fall ill—something which can happen quite frequently.

Unlike every other advanced economy, the United States does not guarantee workers the right to paid sick days or paid parental leave after the arrival of a new child. Other economies such as Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland are excelling while guaranteeing leave benefits for workers.

Read the Full Article

Read the Entire Report from
the Center for American Progress

MCC Releases "Price of Being a Woman" Report

Maternity Care Coaltion's (MCC) report, which compares insurance options in cities across Pennsylvania, demonstrates that women face significant barriers and discriminatory practices when buying health insurance in the individual insurance market.

The study revealed that individual market health plans largely exclude vital maternity coverage for women. Findings showed that only 20% of "best-selling" individual insurance plans available on www.eHealthInsurance.com, a leading online source for insurance sales, offer maternity coverage in Pennsylvania.

Read the Full Report

The Numbers Behind the Philly Fight for Paid Sick Days

Restaurant Opportunity Center

Behind the Kitchen Door, released two weeks ago by Philly ROC, is a 65-page report conducted by talking to restaurant workers and employers and using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to put local working conditions into perspective.

The information reflects a tone which argues restaurant workers should be provided paid sick days and a higher tipped minimum wage, among other things, using statistics regarding employees working sick because they don’t earn enough to take time off.

Read the Full Article
Read the ROC Report

University of Michigan Poll Shows Need for Paid Sick Days

Read the Full Report

The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health recently asked parents who have children younger than six years old in child care about the impact of child care illness on their families.

In the poll, almost one-half of parents with young children in child care indicated that they've missed work in the last year to care for sick kids, and one-quarter missed work three or more times. 33 percent of parents were concerned about losing pay or jobs because of missing work for sick kids, 31 percent said they don't have enough paid leave to cover the days they need for sick children.

Tell Philadelphia City Council support Paid Sick Days!

Week After Philly Restaurant Report, Fight Begins in City Hall

Oct 18, 2012 by Randy LoBasso

"Behind the Kitchen Door: The Hidden Reality of Philadelphia’s Thriving Restaurant Industry” reveals shocking evidence of injustice and inequality in one of Philadelphia’s fastest growing economic sectors

Just a week after the Philadelphia Restaurant Opportunity Center released its “Behind the Kitchen Door” report, which details the wages and conditions under which restaurant employees work in Philadelphia, the fight for new workplace standards is on. But advocates have their work ahead of them.

To read the whole story, please visit Philadelphia Weekly's page.

Call your Councilmembers about earned sick days today!

Young Adults Struggle with Lack of Paid Sick Days

During the health reform debate there was a lot of talk about the need for young adults to have access to their parent’s insurance because many found insurance too expensive and went without. Because illness can strike anyone, even the young, Congress extended the age that a child can be on their parent’s insurance until 26.

While this is a great accomplishment, if young adults cannot use their insurance because they cannot take off of work to see a doctor or get the care they need, then they will still find themselves facing chronic issues that could have been easily treated or resorting to the emergency room for non-emergencies.

A new report, The State of Young America, shows that young adults have little access to paid time away from work to use to recover from illness and care for a sick family member. A survey of young adults, ages 18 to 34, shows that fewer than 3 in 10 reported having paid sick days they can use for themselves, a child, and an immediate family member. Fewer than 1 in 4 women and fewer than 1 in 6 Latinos said they have this basic right.

Young Americans face very tough times ahead. Unemployment and underemployment are rising, the cost of living and student debt are increasing, and wages are declining. Missing even just one day of work can mean the difference between paying bills and putting food on the table.

Worker and family friendly policies like paid sick days are necessary for the economic security of all Americans because no matter someone’s age, everyone can get sick and everyone deserves the time to get better.

San Francisco Employment Growth Remains Stronger with Paid Sick Days Law Than Surrounding Counties

The Institute on Women’s Policy Research just released an update of a study of San Francisco’s paid sick days ordinance. San Francisco implemented a paid sick days ordinance in February of 2007 that is very similar to the bill passed by Philadelphia’s City Council this spring.

While many fear that businesses will leave Philadelphia if it has a paid sick days law and people will lose their jobs, the data from San Francisco shows that the growth of employment in the city exceeded the growth in surrounding countries that do not have such an ordinance. Cities throughout the country saw a decline in employment due to the recession, but the decline in San Francisco was less than those in the surrounding counties.

It is particularly interesting that the data shows that in jobs with the lowest rates of access to paid sick days, mainly accommodation and food services, the employment growth in San Francisco still exceeded surrounding counties both prior to and during the recession. Despite theories that the business would suffer in San Francisco due to the ordinance, they are weathering the recession better than other counties.

To read a press release from IWPR on this study, please click here.

Two New Reports on the Need for Paid Sick Days

Access to Paid Sick Days Would Reduce Health Costs – The Institute for Women’s Policy Research have a forthcoming report showing that giving employees access to paid sick days would reduce the number of visits to hospital emergency rooms. The report estimates that a national paid sick days bill would save $1 billion in medical costs per year. About half of which is currently paid by public insurance programs.

The report concludes that paid sick days is “associated with better self-reported health, fewer delays in medical care, and fewer emergency department visits for adults and their children.”

Rural Workers Have Less Access to Paid Sick Days – According to this new report from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, rural workers have significantly less access to paid sick leave than other workers. Among the key findings of the report are that:

1. A greater proportion of rural workers than urban workers (both suburban and central-city) lack access to at least five paid sick days per year,
2. Among business-sector workers, rural employees are less likely to have paid sick days than their urban counterparts, and
3. Rural workers who agree that workers are less likely to advance if they use flexible workplace policies have less access to paid sick days than their urban and suburban counterparts.

NFIB Economist Report on Earned Sick Leave Filled With Errors; PA Economists Find Costs of Sick Days Proposal Exaggerated and Benefits Ignored

For Immediate Release:
May 24, 2011

Contacts:
Lauren Townsend, Paid Sick Days Campaign
215-939-7621

Dr. Stephen Herzenberg, Keystone Research Center
717-805-2318

NFIB Economist Report on Earned Sick Leave Filled With Errors;

PA Economists Find Costs of Sick Days Proposal Exaggerated and Benefits Ignored

Philadelphia -- Pennsylvania economists today responded to a new report by William Dunkelberg, National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) chief economist, on the impact of earned sick days legislation, saying Dunkelberg’s report “contains serious errors that exaggerate the costs of the proposal and ignore the benefits.”

"Given the fundamental flaws in methodology and analysis in this report, its predictions are too one-sided to be credible," concludes Lonnie Golden, Professor of Economics and Labor Studies at Penn State Abington.

The economists pointed to the following errors and limitations of the Dunkelberg report:

• A simple analytical error doubles the estimated potential maximum cost of the bill to employers.
• Dunkelberg’s study assumes workers will take all of their allowed paid sick days when national surveys indicate that workers take less than half of allowed sick days, on average.
• It fails to use arguably the best evidence available, from the actual impact study of paid sick leave in San Francisco, which found that more than 2/3 of employers are now supportive of the measure.
• It does not consider the many potential cost-saving benefits for employers that would likely result from reduced turnover and greater worker effort and productivity due to an improved employment relationship.
• It neglects the potential costs when sick workers come to their job—including low-productivity and the cost of the workplace spread of communicable illnesses.
• It overstates the adverse effect on jobs by using a questionable methodology that exaggerates the sensitivity of employer demand for labor to the implementation of paid sick days.
• The report includes implausibly high estimates of compliance costs for businesses.

The full response to the NFIB report can be read HERE.

“The sky won’t fall if we enact modest paid sick days legislation, any more than it did when we enacted child labor laws and other basic labor standards,” said Keystone Research Center economist, Dr. Stephen Herzenberg. “When you use actual data on how much workers use paid sick days, and add in benefits such as lower turnover, any short-run costs are negligible. Long-term, paid sick days can help establish Philadelphia as a city with high workplace standards that help attract and grow innovative businesses and committed workers.”

“If paid sick days are such a job killer,” added Golden, “how do you explain that—in every employer size class—two-thirds of San Francisco employers with actual experience with a paid sick days law (one stronger than the current Philadelphia proposal) support are somewhat or very supportive of the law.”

Over 90 organizations that comprise the Philadelphia Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces have been pressing for a vote on Philadelphia's earned sick days bill before Philadelphia City Council recesses for the summer. The enthusiasm throughout the City for this long overdue legislation has been echoed by a Philadelphia public opinion poll conducted last week by Anzelone Research showing that over 70% of Philadelphia voters support the bill.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), whose chief economist produced the report, has been a long time ally of extreme anti-worker Members of Congress and special interest groups including the Chamber of Commerce. The group has spent the last several years fighting against the Family and Medical Leave Act, increase in the Minimum Wage, the Obama Administration’s economic stimulus package and health care reform legislation.

Background:

Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (Bill 080474) is a bill that would allow Philadelphia workers the opportunity to earn up to 7 days of sick time per year for a large business and up to 4 days per year for a small business. It was voted out of the Public Health and Human Services Committee on March 1, 2011. The bill could affect up to 200,000 workers in Philadelphia who do not have access to paid sick days.

With over 40 percent of Philadelphians lacking earned sick days, a large portion of the population cannot take the time off work to go see a doctor or obtain medical treatment - regardless of the medical coverage they have.

Employees with earned sick days are more likely to stay home when they are sick, limiting the spread of the illness and protecting co-workers, customers, or anyone else they meet during the work day. During the height of the H1N1 pandemic, people were urged to stay home if they had any signs of the flu, however, those without earned sick days were less likely to stay home because they could not afford to. As a result, nearly 8 million H1N1 cases were traced back to employees going to work while sick.

Press Release: Nation's First Paid Family Leave Program a Success with Businesses, Employees

Cross-posted from PathWays PA's Policy Blog.
A new study released today finds that California's Paid Family Leave program - the first of only two state programs in the country that offer paid leave to workers when they take time off to care for a new child or sick family member - has received high marks from employers and employees alike since its implementation six years ago. The study, by researchers from UCLA/CUNY and the Center for Economic and Policy Research, is the first to examine the California program and finds that initial business concerns over the costs or potential abuse of the program were unfounded, and that the economic, social and health benefits of paid family leave have been extensive. As a national model for how states can adopt work-family policies that meet the needs of 21st century families, the California study offers valuable insights as policymakers in Pennsylvania consider similar proposals.

"California's experience shows that paid family leave is a win-win for employers and employees," said Carol Goertzel of PathWays PA. "Policymakers in Pennsylvania should take note of this study and the great potential of paid family leave policies to bring the workplace into sync with 21st century families."

"Paid Family Leave has been remarkably successful in California since the state first created it six years ago," said co-author Ruth Milkman, professor of Sociology at UCLA and the City University of New York. "It has helped hundreds of thousands of workers - especially in low-wage jobs - balance the costs and challenges of tending to family and work, and it has begun to close the gap in access to paid leave benefits. More men are taking paid parental leave now than five years ago, for example, and Paid Family Leave has doubled the average length of time new mothers are able to breastfeed. Despite the fears of critics when it was first enacted, Paid Family Leave has been well received: the employers and employees we surveyed overwhelmingly give the program high marks, and for those who use it, the result has been better economic, social, and health outcomes."

"Paid Family Leave has disproved opponents' claims that the program would be a 'job killer,'" said co-author Eileen Appelbaum, former Professor and Director of the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University and now a Senior Economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "Almost all employers found the program had positive or neutral effects on areas such as productivity, turnover and morale. If anything, the single biggest problem with Paid Family Leave in California is that not enough people know about it. The workers who need the program most - low-wage, immigrant and Latino workers who often lack employer-provided benefits - are the least aware of it. California will not realize the full potential of Paid Family Leave until all residents know it's there to be used. We hope this report shines a light on the great accomplishments of the state's program - and why it needs to further capitalize on its success."

Leaves That Pay: Employer and Worker Experiences with Paid Family Leave in California analyses surveys conducted in 2009-2010 of 253 employers and 500 individuals across the state about their experiences with the California PFL program. The law provides eligible employees up to six weeks of wage replacement at 55 percent of their usual earnings to bond with a new child or care for a seriously ill family member. Funded solely by employees paying into the program, the maximum payment is indexed to the state's average weekly wage and is $987 per week in 2011. According to California's Employment Development Department, in FY 09-10, 167,253 Californians used Paid Family Leave for bonding with new children and 23,220 used it to provide care for seriously ill family members. (More details on the program available at California's Employment Development Department.)

The employers surveyed - spanning a diverse and representative sample of the state's industries and regions - overwhelmingly reported that paid family leave had either a "positive effect" or "no noticeable effect" on productivity (89 percent), profitability/ performance (91 percent), turnover (96 percent), and employee morale (99 percent). Small businesses were less likely than larger establishments (more than 100 employees) to report any negative effects, and the vast majority of employers (91 percent) said "No" when asked if they were aware of any employee abuses of the program.

Many employers (60 percent) also reported that they coordinated the state Paid Family Leave program with benefits they already provided - meaning employers saved money when their employees used Paid Family Leave instead of, or in combination with, the paid leave supports these employers would otherwise have paid for.

The 500 workers surveyed had all experienced a life event that the Paid Family Leave program is designed to cover. About 30 percent of them had what the researchers defined as "high-quality jobs" - those that pay more than $20 per hour and provide health insurance - while the other 70 percent held "low-quality jobs" which failed to meet that standard. These two groups sharply contrasted in regard to access to employer-provided paid sick days and/or paid vacation: nearly all respondents with high-quality jobs (94 percent) had access to such benefits, compared to only 62 percent of those with low-quality jobs.

Consequently, the impact of Paid Family Leave on workers holding low-quality jobs was pronounced: 84 percent of those in low-quality jobs using PFL received at least half of their usual pay while on leave, whereas among those in this group who did not use PFL, 59 percent received no pay at all while on leave.

The study also found that Paid Family Leave contributed to fundamental shifts in work-family dynamics. The proportion of bonding claims filed by men has gone up steadily and substantially since the introduction of PFL, and many employers reported that the number of men taking paid parental leave is higher than it was five years ago.

Paid Family Leave also doubled the median duration of breastfeeding for all new mothers who used it, from five to eleven weeks for mothers in high-quality jobs and from five to nine weeks for those in low-quality jobs.

Despite the general satisfaction participants in the program, "Leaves That Pay" finds that public awareness of Paid Family Leave remains limited. Half the workers interviewed did not know the program existed, despite having had a qualifying circumstance for which to use PFL; low-wage workers, immigrants, and Latinos were least likely to be aware of the program. Among those who were aware of it, concerns over the level of wage replacement, fear of employer consequences for using the program, and the ineligibility of some public-sector workers also limited use of the program.

The authors recommend building on the success of California's Paid Family Leave by expanding outreach, particularly to low-income and immigrant communities; increasing the level of wage replacement provided by the PFL program from its current 55 percent of weekly earnings to two-thirds; and extending job protection to everyone who takes a PFL leave.

As the authors argue, the California program is a model for paid leave programs that is gaining increasing attention in other states and at the federal level.

###

44 Million U.S. Workers Lacked Paid Sick Days in 2010

Below is a press release from our friends at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR).

Many employees could not take time off when sick, including up to four out of five food service workers

WASHINGTON, DC - New research from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) finds that, after correcting for job tenure requirements imposed by employers, only 58 percent of private sector employees in the U.S. had access to paid sick days in 2010. Overall, 44 million private sector employees in the U.S. lacked paid sick days.

“This study has important implications for the nation’s economy”

IWPR’s estimate for employees who lack paid sick days is four percentage points higher than the most recent estimate from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics using data from the National Compensation Survey (NCS). The NCS data does not account for employees who are not yet covered for paid sick days due to employer-imposed requirements for job tenure. On average, employees have to wait 78 business days (about 3.5 months) before access to paid sick days is available to them.

“The fewer the number of workers who are able to stay home when sick, the more likely it is that diseases will spread, increasing health care costs and causing needless economic losses,” said Dr. Robert Drago, director of research with IWPR. “We saw this during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic when workers without paid sick days were more likely to go to work while infected with H1N1.”

With only 23 percent able to access paid sick days, employees in the food service and preparation industry have the lowest rate of access. Occupations with both low rates of eligibility for paid sick days and high rates of employee turnover not surprisingly generate extremely low rates of coverage—leaving workers much more vulnerable in the event of sudden illness or injury. These also include jobs in construction and extraction, personal care and service, and protective services.

“This study has important implications for the nation’s economy,” said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. “With unemployment so high and job searches taking so long, greater access to earned paid sick days will help ensure that workers won’t lose their jobs if they get sick or a child needs care.”

San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee have passed laws requiring that employers provide paid sick days to workers. Similar laws are being considered in states and cities around the country including New York City. The Healthy Families Act, introduced in Congress every year since 2005, would mandate employer-provided paid sick days at the national level.

The Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) conducts rigorous research and disseminates its findings to address the needs of women and their families, promote public dialogue, and strengthen communities and societies. IWPR is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization that also works in affiliation with the women's studies and public policy programs at The George Washington University.

New Report - Serving While Sick: High Risks and Low Benefits for the Nation's Restaurant Workforce, and Their Impact on the Consumer

The Restaurant Opportunities Center United just released a new report, Serving While Sick, which draws from the analysis of over 4,000 surveys of restaurant workers nationwide. Throughout the country restaurant workers reported very high rates of injury and illness and very low rates of benefits to cope with any such illness or injury.

The survey found that 87.7 percent of restaurant workers reported not receiving any paid sick time and more than 63 percent reported cooking and serving food while sick. Some workers reported working while sick because they could not afford to take a day off while others feared losing their job if they did not show up for work. Workers in one state reported that coming to the restaurant sick had consequences beyond themselves as 19.9 percent reported causing other workers to becomes sick and 12 percent reported that they coughed or sneezed into food they were preparing or serving.

With the work that restaurant workers do in preparing and serving food to the general public, the lack of paid sick days and the high percentage of workers working while sick is not only a personal but a public health concern.

To read the report please click here.

DMI Report: Paid Sick Leave Does Not Harm Business Growth or Job Growth

The Drum Major Institute just released a new report on job growth in San Francisco, the first place in the United State to have legislation requiring paid sick days legislation. An excerpt of the report is below:

By: John Petro, Urban Policy Analyst

This report presents new data on employment in San Francisco and finds no evidence that job growth has been harmed by paid sick leave.  For the first time, we also analyze growth in the overall number of business establishments and similarly find no evidence of any negative impact. Since San Francisco’s paid sick leave law was enacted, both job growth and business growth in San Francisco have consistently been greater than in the five neighboring counties of the Bay Area, none of which have enacted paid sick leave. Business growth has been greater in San Francisco for small businesses as well as large businesses, and in specific industries such as retail, food service, and accommodations.

Although there is not sufficient evidence to conclude that paid sick time increases employment or business growth, the main findings here are consistent with a large and growing body of research that shows paid sick leave to be a cost-effective policy with positive outcomes for employers and employees, including increased worker productivity, reduced spread of illness, and other health and economic benefits.

To read the full report, please click here.