Public comment will be taken until Monday, April 30, 2012. Your input will be used to shape the final language of the Rules, which define terms used in the ordinance, and to clarify how SOCR will conduct enforcement.

Send comments via e-mail to rulecomment@seattle.gov, give input online at http://www.seattle.gov/civilrights/comment.htm, or submit them in writing to:

Seattle Office for Civil Rights
810 Third Ave., Suite 750
Seattle, WA  98104-1627
Attn:  Paid Sick/Safe Time Rule Comment

Two community meetings have been scheduled to take comments on the draft Rules. Both meetings are free and open to the public.

• Thursday, April 12, 8:30-10:30 am.
  Bertha Knight Landes Room, Seattle City Hall, 600 4^th Avenue

• Tuesday, April 17, 3-5 pm.
  Treehouse, 2100 24^th Ave. S. Room A

For more information about the meetings, to request language interpretation or an accommodation for a disability, contact Thai Nguyen at 206-684-4514 or thai.nguyen@seattle.gov.

If you have general questions about the Ordinance or about the materials available online, please contact Elliott.bronstein@seattle.gov or 206-684-4507.

[Cross-posted from Washington Policy Watch]

Ellen Bravo

Paid sick days are good for our economy, according to numerous studies by seasoned economists. That’s why Americans in cities and states across the country from all parts of the political spectrum support this policy.

The same policy is under fierce attack by big corporate lobbyists, whose job it is to protect the top 1% of society – folks who, of course, already have paid sick days. In their attempts to scare small business owners and the public, the corporate lobbyists have created a whole new math system to justify their position.

The abra-ca-dabra arithmetic practiced by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, (NFIB,) one of the Big Six corporate lobbies, is simply about pulling numbers out of a hat and daring to call it economics.

The NFIB is currently peddling a so-called “study” in Massachusetts, proclaiming that proposed legislation allowing workers to earn paid sick days in that state would cost huge amounts and be a disaster for small business. Legitimate research estimates the legislation would save businesses in that state upwards of $348 million and save hospital emergency rooms another $22.7 million, including $13.4 million in taxpayer-funded public health savings.

As economists have pointed out about a similar tome produced in Philadelphia, the NFIB document rests on incorrect facts and flawed assumptions. Here are a few examples:

• False Assumption #1: The NFIB assumes each employee who gains paid sick days will use every day provided to them. The document’s own footnote acknowledges that the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Center for Disease Control estimate much smaller numbers of usage – 3 days (BLS) or 3.8 (CDC). Also, in a random sample of employees in San Francisco, which has had similar requirements in place since 2007, employees used a median of 3 days per year. Researchers say workers tend to view the time as an insurance policy, saving the days they earn for when they may need them most.

• False Assumption #2: The NFIB includes in additional wages the cost of health insurance – but those costs are fixed and do not vary with work hours. They will be unaffected by new PSD coverage.

• Convenient Oversight: Perhaps most outrageous is the refusal of the NFIB to look at the other side of the equation – how much employers save from increased productivity, lower absenteeism when co-workers don’t catch the sick employee’s germs, reduced turnover when workers aren’t fired for following a doctor’s orders. A 2009 study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research projects s a $348 million annual benefit to Massachusetts employers if the earned paid sick days law were instituted.

Who does the NFIB really work for? While the group claims to represent Mom and Pop shops, it has never lobbied on behalf of bills small businesses really need – such as halting the expansion of big-box competitors that drive out Main Street businesses, or curbing the many tax policies that local activists say give national retailers an unfair advantage over independent small companies.

In fact, the NFIB is underwritten by far-right groups like Karl Rove’s American Crossroads. According to the Wall Street Journal, American Crossroads gave the NFIB a hefty $3.7 million before the 2010 election – money Rove’s group considered “well spent.”

If the NFIB cared about the economy and small businesses, they’d have to acknowledge that job retention policies like paid sick days help reduce unemployment and strengthen the economy. They’d recognize that jobs are lost when worker do NOT have paid sick days, as shown by a report from the National Opinion Research Center, which finds that 23% of workers are fired or threatened with being fired for taking time to care for personal or family illness.

And they’d admit that in San Francisco, which last year was named one of the best cities in the world to do business by PricewaterhouseCoopers, more than two in three businesses support the local law and six in seven report no negative impact on profitability.

You can call the latest output from the NFIB many things – distortions, misinformation, hocus pocus.

What you can’t call it is a study.

In these tough economic times, no one should have to lose income — or worse, lose their job — because they get sick, but this is just what happens all the time. Paid sick days is a commonsense measure that will help get our economy moving again by making sure hardworking men and women can hold onto their jobs, support their families and have money to spend to sustain local businesses.

Business owners across Massachusetts support paid sick days because it’s a good policy for their workers, their customers and their bottom lines. The NFIB is another corporate lobby that continues to show it is out of touch with business and the economy.

~by Ellen Bravo, cross-posted from the Family Values at Work Coalition

Will Washington’s 2013-14 Legislature support paid sick days and paid family and medical leave insurance? All the seats in Washington’s House of Representatives and half of the seats in the Senate will be on the ballot this November.

Washington’s regular 2012 legislative session ended without action on the Paid Sick Days bill. The special session that convened in mid-March is focused on the state budget.

Will Washington’s 2013-14 Legislature support paid sick days and paid family and medical leave insurance? All the seats in Washington’s House of Representatives and half of the seats in the Senate will be on the ballot this November.

Be sure the candidates running in your district know that you and your family members care about these issues! Here are questions you can ask at candidate forums:

• Paid Sick Days: The City of Seattle as well as several other cities and the state of Connecticut have established minimum standards for paid sick leave, to protect public health, family economic security, and worker productivity and business health.In Seattle, businesses with between 5 and 49 full-time-equivalent employees (FTEs) will be entitled to up to 40 hours of sick leave  per year; those with 50 to 249 FTEs have up to 56 hours, and larger businesses will be required to provide up to 72 hours per year.Would you support adopting a similar standard for all workers in the state?

• Family and Medical Leave Insurance: In 2007, the Washington State Legislature passed Family Leave Insurance that provided for individuals to take up to five weeks of paid leave to care for a new born or adopted child. However, the legislature did not set up a mechanism for funding the program and has postponed implementation until 2015.Other states, including California and New Jersey, have successfully established programs that provide 6 weeks of partial wage replacement to care for a new child or sick family member, as well as more extended leave for the worker’s own serious health condition, funded through modest payroll taxes.Would you support expanding and funding Washington’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance program as other states have done?

State lawmakers are studying paid sick and safe days bills - and they need to hear your stories!

UPDATED – 01/20/2012, 4:32 PM

Washington lawmakers are studying two Paid Sick and Safe Days bills during this legislative session (House Bill 2508 and Senate Bill 6229) – and they need to hear from you!

Please contact your legislators now to tell them why Paid Sick and Safe Days are important for you and your family’s health and economic security.

And if you’re able, come down to Olympia to show your support for the legislation at these committee hearings:

• Tues, Jan 24, 1:30-3:30 pm, Cherburg Senate Hearing Room 4: Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee

• Wed, Jan 25, 1:30-3:30 pm, Joint Legislative Office Building, House Hearing Rm C: Labor and Workforce Development Committee

You can learn more about the proposed legislation in this handy overview.

Eli Lanczos testifies at a Seattle City Council hearing in favor of paid sick days

Crossposted from the Washington Family Leave Coalition:

You helped pass paid sick days in Seattle – but the devil is in the details. As the city begins drafting the rules that will actually implement the new ordinance, your input is crucial!

By attending one of these meetings, you can help ensure Seattle’s Paid Sick Days ordinance is a success!:

• Tuesday, January 24, 2-3:30 p.m.
  Seattle City Hall, Bertha Landis Room

• Wednesday, February 1, 7-8:30 p.m.
  Meadowbrook Community Center, Room 22

• Thursday, February 9, 7-8:30 p.m.
  Jefferson Community Center, Hassselburg Hall

Last week, HB 2508 and SB 6229 were introduced in Washington’s legislature by a group of 18 legislators from the House and Senate. These bills would establish minimum standards for paid sick and safe leave for workers across the state of Washington – similar to a standard adopted by the Seattle City Council in September 2011.

The Washington Family Leave Coalition will be working with legislators on the Paid Sick and Safe Leave bills in the coming weeks – but we need your help. Public hearings on the bills will be held in late Januray, and we need people who can share personal testimony about importance of paid sick days for working people and families.

If you can help, please contact Marilyn Watkins.

Your nose is running, your throat is scratchy, and your eyes are burning. But you drag yourself out of bed, dress, and head to the office anyway feeling virtuous and sick. Once there, you proceed to share your virus with your coworkers. But at least you showed up to get the job done, right?

Wrong, according to a new study. Presenteeism — attending work while ill — is not always a smart choice for individuals or the organizations for which they work. It is entirely possible that a worker who is ill may be present physically, but mentally he or she might as well be home in bed.

A flu or cold virus or other illness spreading among coworkers can mean the loss of more than one employee’s productivity. It can paralyze entire departments. The study found that certain organizational cultures tend to promote presenteeism, or at least discourage absenteeism.

For the study, Gary Johns, a management professor at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business surveyed 444 people, asking about their job requirements, work experience, the numbers of days they had been out sick (absenteeism), and the number of days they had come to work feeling ill (presenteeism).

Read more from The Atlantic: The Cost of Not Taking a Sick Day »

Eli Lanczos testifies at a Seattle City Council hearing in favor of paid sick days

You helped pass paid sick days – but the devil is in the details. The new law becomes effective September 1, and the Seattle Office for Civil Rights is starting now to prepare administrative rules and an outreach plan.

Community input now is important to make the Paid Sick Days law a success. We urge you to attend a meeting and make your voice heard!

Tuesday, January 24, 2-3:30 p.m.
Seattle City Hall, Bertha Landis Room

Wednesday, February 1, 7-8:30 p.m.
Meadowbrook Community Center, Room 22

Thursday, February 9, 7-8:30 p.m.
Jefferson Community Center, Hassselburg Hall

The Seattle Office for Civil Rights will begin drafting Rules in March 2012. Learn more

The full timeline for ordinance implementation is available here »

We know how to provide opportunities for hard-working Americans to enter and thrive in a prosperous and growing middle class. What happens inside the home, for example, is a critical factor in whether children will be able to someday seize opportunities in our economy to become upwardly mobile. Effective parenting is critically important to giving children a good start on the road to social and economic mobility. At the same time, upward mobility is associated with stable family incomes, which is more common among those with two working parents — increasingly the norm in our society.

Yet the ability of parents to be good workers and effective parents is sharply curtailed by workplaces that haven’t adapted to this reality. Parents, especially those in low- and middle-wage jobs, are too often forced to choose between a day’s pay and perhaps losing their job if they have to take care of a sick child. These Americans have little to no flexibility to create schedules that can help address — or at the very least not exacerbate — work-family conflict.

Enacting paid sick days and giving workers the ability to better bargain for workplace flexibility are two simple steps that we could take to give their children a good start in life, helping them eventually move up the economic ladder. These are just two ways to foster economic opportunity to boost upward mobility.

Read more from the New York Times »