The president issued an Executive Order that federal contractors offer employees up to seven days of paid sick leave per year, and exhorted Congress again to pass legislation expanding the benefit to all US workers.
Obama made the Labor Day holiday announcement in Massachusetts, where voters overwhelmingly approved a new paid sick-leave law that went into effect statewide on July 1. He also encouraged other states to follow suit.
An estimated 44 million mostly low- and middle-income private sector workers, or 40 percent of the private workforce, lack access to the leave, according to the administration.
While roughly 60 percent of workers are eligible under the Family and Medical Leave Act to take unpaid, job-protected leave for family and medical reasons for more extended absences, many workers are without coverage for shorter-term health care needs.
Beginning in 2017, the order will give approximately 300,000 people working on federal contracts the ability to earn up to seven days of paid sick leave each year. They will earn a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked and can use it for themselves, a family member, such as a child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner, or another loved one–as well as for absencesresulting from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
The order is part of an arsenal of executive and regulatory actions the adminstration has deployed in recent months to increase worker pay and protections in the absence of Congressional support for such initiatives.
On July 1, the Dept. of Labor doubled the amount of pay employees would need to earn before they could be exempted from overtime pay rules, then issued guidance defining most workers as employees protected under the law. The National Labor Relations Board in late August issued a decision that effectively defined most companies who use workers as employers, subject to traditional obligations, including collective bargaining.
The White House also said the Dept. of Labor this week will publish a final rule prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against employees and job applicants who choose to discuss their compensation. The rule–issued under an April 2014 Executive Order–is intended to encourage pay transparency.
