Channeling my high school self

[chargirlgenius]

Whereas, the powers that be are encouraging sick people to stay home from work or school when they’re sick, and
Whereas the United States has the paltriest sick and maternity leaves among all industrialized nations, and
Whereas individuals will come to work sick because they will either lose pay or vacation time when it is combined, and
Whereas companies will not voluntarily offer better sick and maternity leaves without it being legally mandated, and
Whereas a legal mandate will put American companies on an even playing field with one another, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED that Congress should get their collective heads out of their asses and pass legislation that
1. Requires employers that have a minimum of 10 employees to offer at least 15 paid sick leave to employees.
2. Requires the aforementioned employers to separate sick time from vacation time.
3. Requires the aforementioned employers to provide at least three months paid maternity leave.

Comments

[alyclepal.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a great idea---short and simple. I'd like to think something like that could work.

That being said to offer these things would potentially break our small business...especially since when folks lay out of work (sometimes sick, sometimes not) other people have to work double to cover for them and get the paper out. Each person has a specific job to do in the process. It's all the family can do to continue offering health coverage, the cost of which keeps doubling each year----if folks want additional perks then some folks are going to have to be let go (and to avoid that the folks at the top of the business were the first to take cuts already). If folks are getting additional paid days off where is the money going to come from to pay for their replacements? In a large corporation this may be easier to sweep under the rug but if you're running a business with 10-49 employees things are tight and the margins for slush nonexistent right now. The government is already very unfriendly to small businesses and I think there's some misconception of business owners as rolling in cash or something. Additionally, how to you determine sick days from vacation days? There will always be people who will burn sick days so as not to take away from their vacation time. Also, small companies are exempt from the Family Leave Act already - it puts undue strain on them and honestly, paying for 3 months maternity leave would place a lot of strain on small companies for something that is ultimately not their fault or their problem. There are consequences to every decision we make, and choosing to be a mother has consequences if you choose to work outside the home that affect not only the family but the employer. A worker has to be brought in and trained to replace the person on maternity leave so where does that money come from? There are a lot of difficult questions that would need to be answered before these ideas would be realistic without running the businesses that make up the backbone of our economy into the ground further.

[greta-k.livejournal.com]

That is, unfortunately, correct. I was lucky that my bosses in were willing to negotiate 6 weeks maternity (whatever I had saved up - about 2 or 2.5 weeks - and the rest unpaid) plus 2 weeks part-time to transition back into the office.

In my profession (architect), it's also rather difficult for many of us to work from home. Our drawings require a lot of in-person coordination, and it is very expensive to purchase the software (or even the licenses for same) which we use for our drawings. This is why I often work on specifications for several of the other architects. They are portable, I already have the software, and I can do the necessary research at home on my own laptop whenever I have to stay home sick or with the baby.

Oh, and owners of small firms often must pony up their own money to help their company in tough times. I don't think my brother has drawn a salary from his business in months, and has been using his savings to keep it going. The principals of my firm probably work harder and longer hours than just about anyone here - AND they have the added worry of billing, payables, receiveables, and rain-making (getting the clients). They have my deepest respect for all that they do - and they are good to their employees :-)

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

I don’t disagree with much of what you say. But realistically speaking, that’s why actual bills are thousands of pages long. :-D

And perhaps it’s not something that needs to be funded by companies. Of course, then we’re veering into the bigger government argument. But as I understand it, many smaller (and even larger) businesses like the idea of the government taking over the health care benefit, because then the burden is no longer on the business.

In any case, every other industrialized nation has better leave laws than we do. In fact, many *developing* countries have better laws than we do. There have got to be some good examples to look to, to pick and choose what works for the particular situation in our country.