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This Just In: Obama To Propose Paid Sick Leave For (Most) Employees


Today, President Obama is expected to call on Congress to pass a bill, the Healthy Families Act, that would require companies to pay for up to seven days of paid sick leave a year for their employees.  But as the saying goes, "Alright, how are you going to do it?"  Well, first of all, the bill would apply only to companies that employ at least 15 workers.  For those employees that qualify, they would earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 56 hours of paid sick time per year. 

In an executive action, Obama is also expected to give at least six weeks of paid leave to federal employees after the birth or adoption of a child.  To take it one step further, Obama also plans to ask Congress to allocate approximately $2.2 billion to help states and cities set up paid family leave programs.

For those who are readers of the blog (and those who aren't), remember that paid sick leave was one of the big issues that started to crop up last year.  Several cities approved paid sick leave for workers, including voters recently in the Bay Area last November. 

Time will tell if this bill actually passes.  Remember that Congress is controlled by Republicans, so it would not take much to kill this bill before Obama could even have a chance to sign it into law.  With that being said, this is the first step.  The ball is in Congress' court now...


Additional information can be found here, from the announcement of Obama's senior White House adviser, Valerie Jarrett:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/01/15/obama-proposes-to-cut-everyones-pay-with-paid-sick-leave/

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