Trump’s Labor Department Takes A Hacksaw To Coronavirus Paid Sick Leave

[Bill]

Where is the Joe we know to protect us?? DNC??

The White House had already gutted the provision, the labor department figured out a way to do more damage.
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By Emily Peck

What started out as a valiant effort to provide Americans with paid sick leave during an unprecedented health care crisis has ended with a paltry measure that will barely cover anyone who is still working in the COVID-19 economy.

On Thursday, the Department of Labor published guidelines on the new paid sick leave and family leave provisions enacted last month as part of Congress’s second coronavirus relief act.

The measures in the law were already a watered-down version of what Democrats and advocates wanted: real paid time off for all workers who get sick, are quarantined, or have to care long-term for a family member who is sick or a child home due to a school closure.

Instead, the law made 10 days of paid sick time and 10 weeks more of longer-term leave available to those working at companies with fewer than 500 employees. Millions were left out.

Now the Department of Labor has further hollowed out those provisions. It’s totally exempting the estimated 9 million people who work in the health care industry ― from a doctor to a pharmacy clerk to a janitor in a hospital. These are workers who are most likely to be in contact with infected patients, at high risk of getting sick. And under the new law, they can’t get a guaranteed sick day.

“Thanks to Republican opposition, the steps we’ve taken on paid leave are inadequate in light of the crisis, and now, the Trump Administration is twisting the law to allow employers to shirk their responsibility and is significantly narrowing which workers are eligible for paid leave. This simply can’t stand,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in a statement slamming the “gratuitous loopholes.”

he new regulations give wide leeway to very small businesses, who can pretty much automatically bow out of providing longer-term leave to parents with kids at home from school.

Bottom line: Millions of more people ― including the workers who are most likely to come into contact with the coronavirus ― will be unable to do what the law intended to encourage: stay home if they’re sick and not be penalized for it.

“We know these occupations are essential, and we know that means that [health care workers] may have to keep working,” said Vasu Reddy, a senior policy analyst at the National Partnership for Women and Families. “But if they’re sick, they should be able to get the care that they need without having to worry about losing their paycheck or job.”

The law already exempted other workers whose roles are essential during the pandemic. Under pressure from big business, the White House and Republicans, the leave provisions had been gutted to only include companies with fewer than 500 employees ― meaning workers at large grocery chains, who like health care sectors are expected to show up and put themselves at risk, are exempt.

“Congress had an opportunity to enact a law that was stronger,” said Vicki Shabo, a senior fellow and paid leave expert at the liberal New America think tank. “Instead Congress made choices that are forcing people to continue to go to work potentially sick and infect others.”

On Twitter, Shabo simply said that the department took a “hacksaw” to the law.

Since Trump signed that law on March 18, large employers have proved again and again that they’re not up to the task of keeping workers healthy and protected.

Workers at Walmart, for example, told HuffPost that the company’s coronavirus sick leave is vastly inadequate. Amazon warehouse workers say that the company is incentivizing them to come to work even as more of them contract COVID-19. And they don’t feel protected on the job.

[Cypress]

I wonder how many Trump voters are getting screwed by Trump?

[Bill]

I would guess as much, if not more than the general public..

Big difference is they are more than willing, eager to take one for team trump, & he knows it..... Martyrdumb..

Is job rating is starting to fail now as well......

[Bigdog]

Where is the Joe we know to protect us?? DNC??

[Phantasmal]

I would guess as much, if not more than the general public..

Big difference is they are more than willing, eager to take one for team trump, & he knows it..... Martyrdumb..

Is job rating is starting to fail now as well......

Martyrdumb

[Cypress]

I would guess as much, if not more than the general public..

Big difference is they are more than willing, eager to take one for team trump, & he knows it..... Martyrdumb..

Is job rating is starting to fail now as well......

I am convinced some Trump voters are willing to sacrifice their own economic well being, as long as their hero Trump "sticks it to libtards".

There has to be a limit to how much pain they are willing to inflict on themselves by their voting choices, though

[jimmymccready]

The GOP hates the working class.

Vote Republicans out of office en masse.

[Centerleftfl]

Sure did. And FLA, the 3rd or 4th most populated state, already a broken system, will screw them over a 2nd time.

[Centerleftfl]

The GOP hates the working class.

Vote Republicans out of office en masse.

Expense item on their balance sheet.

[Bill]

I am convinced some Trump voters are willing to sacrifice their own economic well being, as long as their hero Trump "sticks it to libtards".

There has to be a limit to how much pain they are willing to inflict on themselves by their voting choices, though

We'll have to see.. They cheering him bringing in foreign workers??

I imagine some of the foreign workers must be scratching their heads.. Here he called me a rapist, drug dealer, murder, wants me out of the country & here he is inviting me back now that everyone is sick, to work for minimum wage & no healthcare..

Good luck to them getting a test for the virus upon arrival.......

Can't get a test unless you have a fever, if you have a fever you can't come in