Healthy Families Act Introduced

On May 18, the Healthy Families Act was introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill would require employers with 15 or more employees to provide workers with paid sick leave.

The proposed statute, which had been  introduced in the previous Congress in 2007, would require employers to provide workers with up to seven days of paid sick leave annually on an accrued basis. Similar legislation is reportedly scheduled to be introduced in the Senate by Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Under the proposed statute workers would earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked to a maximum of seven days (56 hours) per year. Employers would be permitted to allow employees to accrue more than 56 hours but would not be required to do so.

The statute would require that workers begin accruing leave on their first day of employment. A worker  could begin using accrued leave after completing 60 days of employment. Accrued but unused leave would carry over from one year to the next to a maximum of 56 hours, unless the employer allowed greater accumulation.

Employees would be allowed to use leave for their own illness or to care for sick parents or children. In addition, leave could be used to visit a physician or other health care provider for preventive care. Further, leave could be used for absence which resulted from “domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking,” in order to obtain medical care, to obtain services from a victim services organization, or to participate in related legal proceedings.

The proposed legislation would allow employers to require that employees provide certification by their doctor if they are absent for more than three consecutive days.

According to Representative DeLauro of Connecticut, the bill’s sponsor, almost half of all U.S. private sector workers have no paid sick leave. Among the lowest quartile of wage earners, 79% have no leave.

A recent report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research comparing laws and policies related to sick leave in 22 different countries, notes that the United States and Japan are the only countries of the 22 examined that do not provide any short-term paid sick leave to workers. All of the countries, except for the United States, provide long-term paid sick leave to workers with serious illnesses.

In this era of Swine Flu concerns, there is some data suggesting that paid sick leave helps to reduce the spread of contagious illness.

One major employer concern is the abuse of sick leave. Large employers lose about $850,000 annually from unscheduled sick and other personal days. However, San Francisco, which enacted mandatory sick leave in 2007, reports no negative impact on business compared to businesses in surrounding communities.

Published in: on May 26, 2009 at 6:42 am  Leave a Comment  

The ARRA COBRA Subsidy: What Is Involuntary Termination?

For purposes of the ARRA, the term “involuntary termination” means more than simply being laid off or downsized. An employee is considered to be involuntarily terminated if:

  • Layoff.The employee is laid off, regardless of whether or not the employee enjoys recall rights.

  • Other Suspension.The employee is suspended in some other fashion which results in the loss of group health insurance coverage.

  • Resignation-Transfer.The employee resigns as the result of a material chagne in the geographic location of employment. For example, an employee living and working in New York resigns rather than moving to California when her employer relocates.

  • Resignation–Hours Reduction.The employee resigns when the employee’s hours are cut sufficiently to constitute a “material negative change” in the employment relationshiip for the employee. A reduction from 40 hours per week to 35 hours per week is unlikely to be considered a “material negative change,” while a reduction from 40 hours per week to 40 hours per month would almost certainly constitute such a change. The range in between such extremes will be open to interpretation and likely litigation. A reduction of hours which does not constitute a “material negative change” does not make an employee eligible for the subsidy.

  • Retirement.An employee who retires in lieu of being terminated is deemd “involuntarily” terminated, if he or she knows that the only alternative to retirement is termination.

  • Strikes and Lockouts. If employees strike, they do not have any rights to COBRA continuation coverage or the subsidy. Their suspension from work is voluntary. However, if an employer engages in a lockout so taht employees cannot work, the employees are deemed “involuntarily” terminated.

  • Buyouts. If an employee accepts a “buyout” in return for a severance package, the employee will be considered terminated “involuntarily” if after some period of time at lest some employees not bought out will be terminated.

  • Discharge. If an employee is discharged because of an extended illness or disability or “for cause” because of poor performance, poor attendance, or some other reason, the employee is deemed to have been involuntarily terminated for purposes of the ARRA. However, if the discharge is for “gross misconduct,” then the termination is not a qualifying event and the employee is not eligible for COBRA continuation coverage or the subsidy.

What Is Gross Misconduct?

Gross misconduct includes “intentional, wanton, willful, reckless, or deliberate indifference to an employer’s interest” by the employee. Illegal or dangerous acts committed in the workplace (and sometimes those committed away from work) will likely constitute gross misconduct. Examples include a teacher engaging in sexual activity with minor students or an airline attendant striking a coworker during flight.

Published in: on May 9, 2009 at 6:41 am  Leave a Comment  
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