Family Attorney
U.S. Lags in Worker Protections
|
|
A new study by McGill University finds that the United States lags significantly behind other affluent countries in leave, sick days and other worker protections. U.S. policies to ensure decent working conditions for families still lag behind those of other high-income countries, according to a new study by McGill Universitys Institute for Health and Social Policy. In studying 173 countries, IHSP Director Dr. Jody Heymann found that 168 (97 percent) guarantee paid maternal leave, with 98 (57 percent) of them offering 14 or more weeks of paid leave. The United States, in contrast, does not guarantee paid leave for mothers, a status shared by only Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea. Sixty-five (38 percent) of the affluent countries grant fathers either paid paternity leave or paid parental leave, 31 (18 percent) of them for 14 weeks or more. In this category, too, the United States does not guarantee paid leave. Though breastfeeding has been demonstrated to reduce infant mortality, the United States does not guarantee the right to breastfeed at work. Yet, of the 173 countries studied, 107 (62 percent) do. While 145 (84 percent) of the 173 countries provide paid sick days for short- or long-term illnesses, with 127 (73 percent) providing a week or more annually, the United States provides unpaid leave for only serious illnesses through the Family & Medical Leave Act, which does not cover all workers. The United States has no federal law providing for paid sick days. The United States also lags in paid annual leave, which it does not offer. Seventy-nine percent, or 137 of the other countries do. In addition, the United States lacks a maximum work week length or a limit on mandatory overtime pay per week, though 134 (77 percent) countries have such laws. Finally, the United States does not have any mandates that employers provide a day of rest each week so workers are not required to go for long periods without a day off, though 126 (73 percent) other countries do. “More countries are providing the workplace protections that millions of Americans can only dream of,” said Dr. Heymann, the studys lead author, in a statement. “The U.S. has been a proud leader in adopting laws that provide for equal opportunity in the workplace, but our work/family protections are among the worst. Its time for change.” More : eweek.com |
Related Articles from Attorney for Family
Massachusetts to mull paid family leave bill.
Weeks after passing landmark health care reform legislation, Massachusetts legislators soon will consider a proposal that would, if passed, create the nation's most generous paid family and medical leave program. Senate President Robert Travaglini, D-Boston, is set to introduce legislation that would guarantee a worker in Massachusetts 12 weeks of full pay-subject to a $750 weekly cap-if he or she needs time off to care for a newborn or adopted child. An employee also could take paid, job-protected leave if he or she or a spouse, child or parent is seriously ill. An employee, though, would be entitled to paid
Disabled Workers’ Biggest Barrier: Bias
Employers have made significant inroads over the last decade to extend equal opportunity to people with disabilities. But obstacles still bar full inclusion of the disabled in the American workplace. And the most difficult to tear down may be a bias by the nondisabled. So says a new Cornell University study released this month to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act's signing. The landmark law, passed on July 26, 1990, mandated sweeping employment protections for the disabled, including a requirement that employers of 15 or more make "reasonable accommodations" for the disabled in hiring and
Pryor Appeals Court Nomination Continues Pattern of Divisive Far-Right Judicial Nominees
President Bush today announced the nomination of Alabama Attorney General William Pryor to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas called Pryor’s nomination “extremely troubling” and said it was “an unfortunate continuation of this administration’s efforts to pack the appeals courts with divisive far-right nominees.” Neas noted that Pryor is one of the nation’s most aggressive advocates for a states’ rights approach to the Constitution. As Attorney General and as a leader in the Federalist Society, Pryor has successfully urged the Supreme Court to roll back the clock on
Oral Arguments Held in Federal Appeals Court
St. Louis, Missouri -In oral arguments today at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the America Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal urged the court to uphold a lower court ruling which struck down the extreme antigay family law in Nebraska banning all protections for the relationships of same-sex couples. "As we stressed to the court today, states can't turn lesbian and gay people into political outcasts," said Tamara Lange, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project who argued before the court today. "Yet Nebraska enacted a law that doesn't even allow gay
Business Law column: The concept of family is changing
The concept of family has changed. Increasingly, our employees were by persons other than their parents. This is often the case when the person who the worker is a grandparent. This demographic shift has made an impact on the family and Medical Leave Act. As we have seen in the past, in part, on the FMLA, staff to attend up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for treatment of his own serious illness or a spouse, parents, sons or daughter. Note that the FMLA not expressly unpaid leave to care for a grandparent of a serious health condition. However, the