Monthly Archive for February, 2012

Time for Concrete Action to Stop Discrimination Against Pregnant Women and Caregivers

Published on February 15, 2012 in Judith Lichtman and Workplace Fairness. 1 Comment

Judith L. Lichtman, Senior Advisor

Today, I was honored to join a distinguished group of scholars, advocates, government officials, and legal and policy experts to discuss an issue of critical importance to working women and families in this country: discrimination based on pregnancy and caregiving.

The meeting was held by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and it focused on the latest research on these persistent forms of discrimination, enforcement of laws that prohibit discrimination, and actions employers and government officials can take to better protect pregnant workers, caregivers and families. It was on this last point that I focused my remarks.

The National Partnership has long been an advocate for pregnant women and caregivers in the workplace. We worked to pass the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and many other critical laws, and we continue fighting for anti-discrimination laws and policies today. 

With good reason. Sadly, discrimination against pregnant women and caregivers is on the rise. So today, we urged the administration to aggressively address the issue by creating a multi-agency task force that can address critical gaps in research, outreach, education, policy development and enforcement.

This complex and pernicious type of discrimination needs a well-coordinated and comprehensive response. And the EEOC, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) can all take concrete steps to strengthen their anti-discrimination work. Today’s EEOC meeting shows a commendable commitment to doing so.

The National Partnership made these specific recommendations:

  • EEOC should provide guidance and best practices for avoiding discrimination against pregnant workers and caregivers, in addition to training investigators to better identify this kind of discrimination, utilizing its own authority to file charges, enforcing recent caregiver guidance and participating in court cases as subject-matter experts.
  • DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs should issue specific regulations and guidance on sex discrimination, and it should train investigators to identify both discrimination against pregnant workers and caregivers and violations of the FMLA.
  • DOL’s Wage & Hour Division receives thousands of FMLA complaints each year. More resources should be dedicated to enforcing this essential law. In addition, newly-updated surveys of workers and employers on the FMLA should be implemented, and data from past surveys should be carefully analyzed to assess needs.
  • We applaud the recent efforts of DOL Secretary Hilda Solis and the first lady to raise awareness about the FMLA’s military leave provisions. However, Bush-era regulations approved in 2008 made it more difficult for employees to take leave. These changes should be rescinded.
  • DOL should also enforce the new right to breaks for nursing mothers, because many hourly workers remain unaware of it.
  • DOJ enforces state and local government employers’ nondiscrimination obligations. It should prioritize action in pregnancy and caregiver discrimination cases.
  • And finally, OPM should ensure that the federal government is a model employer by implementing family friendly protections such as paid parental leave.

Working women and caregivers depend on equal opportunity in the workplace, and their families depend on them. We applaud the EEOC for bringing attention to this important issue, and we look forward to continuing to work with the administration to put an end to discrimination that threatens the economic security of our nation’s families. No worker should have to risk adverse treatment, lost income or loss of a job due to pregnancy, childbirth or family caregiving responsibilities.

Read my full written and submitted testimony here. 

Widespread Inequality in the Restaurant Industry Means Hardship for Women Workers

Published on February 13, 2012 in Debra Ness, Work & Family and Workplace Fairness. 0 Comments

Debra Ness, President, National Partnership

Cross-posted from the Huffington Post.

There are more than 10 million restaurant workers in the United States. The majority are women. These are the hosts and hostesses who greet us, the waiters and waitresses who serve us, the bartenders who fill our drink orders, the attendants and dishwashers who clean up after us, set up our tables, and more.

Yet, despite the important role restaurant workers play in our lives and our economy, the restaurant industry provides some of the lowest-wage jobs in the nation – leaving many workers and their families living in poverty. And as a powerful new report reveals, these low wages are just one of many challenges workers in this industry face.

The report, Tipped Over the Edge: Gender Inequity in the Restaurant Industry, was produced by the Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC), the National Partnership for Women & Families and 11 other women’s and worker organizations. It looks at widely accepted practices within the restaurant industry – based on U.S. Census data and more than 4,300 worker surveys – revealing harmful trends and recommending modest, common sense solutions.

As the report explains, the restaurant industry is the only industry that has a wage gap established by law, which results in significantly lower wages for women workers than for men. Non-tipped workers, such as cooks, are 52 percent male and they are paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Tipped workers, on the other hand, are 66 percent female and they are guaranteed only a “sub-minimum” wage of just $2.13 per hour. Tips are supposed to make up the difference but, not surprisingly, often they don’t. This means that many restaurant workers, particularly women, and their families, are forced to try to survive on poverty-level wages.

If having to live paycheck to paycheck isn’t hard enough, 90 percent of the restaurant workers surveyed also don’t have a single paid sick day to recover from common illnesses like the flu – meaning that when illness strikes, they have to choose between already limited and much-needed income and their health. As a result, more than two-thirds report they have gone to work sick. And as the report documents, many workers say that they or a coworker have been fired simply for getting sick. This not only threatens the fragile economic security of these workers and their families, but also the public’s health.

Restaurant workers also have little to no control over their schedules, according to the report. Many don’t know from one week to the next what shifts or hours they will be working. They are forced to work longer or different hours than planned, or they are sent home early because business is slow. This unpredictability and income uncertainty would be challenging for any worker, but it can be especially difficult for women who have children and caregiving responsibilities. Setting up child care, planning for school and other activities, and taking care of a sick child can be next to impossible without the control and flexibility that paid sick days and predictable, advanced scheduling provide.

These are only a few of the appalling practices documented in Tipped Over the Edge. Restaurant workers also face rampant sexual harassment – which the report says is widely accepted and rarely prevented – discrimination and few opportunities for advancement.

We – ROC and the other organizations that produced this report – propose very reasonable steps to create a more just restaurant industry for workers and their families. The recommendations include increasing the sub-minimum wage to help close the gender gap and make wages more fair, establishing a national policy standard to allow restaurant workers to earn paid sick days, enacting legislation that would promote greater control over scheduling so workers can manage work and family responsibilities, and providing ongoing training to help prevent sexual harassment.

Given the seriousness of the inequality and hardships among workers in the industry, restaurant owners and legislators should waste no time in advancing all of these recommendations. Existing legislation like the Healthy Families Act, the Paycheck Fairness Act and efforts to raise minimum and sub-minimum wages should be top priorities.

If as a nation we are serious about getting our economy and families back on track, then we must heed the warnings and recommendations offered here, so millions of workers can provide for their families and continue holding jobs. As an industry that is experiencing significant growth, employs millions of women and yet, at the same time, is obviously suffering from a culture of inequity and unacceptable practices, our nation’s restaurants are good places to start.

Through the Looking Glass on Contraceptive Coverage

Published on February 6, 2012 in Debra Ness, Repro Health Watch and Reproductive Health. 18 Comments Tags: .

Debra Ness, President, National Partnership

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Birth control is basic health care for women. So the recent firestorm of criticism about the administration’s decision that insurers must cover all FDA-approved contraceptives without co-pay is, at best, overwrought.

The religious community, led by the Catholic Church, has overreacted in ways that have distorted the administration’s actions. Contrary to their claims, no individual health care provider will be forced to prescribe contraception, nor will any woman be forced to buy or use contraception.

Perhaps more importantly, to set the record straight, no church or other house of worship will be required to offer employees coverage for contraceptive health services. That’s the carve-out for religious institutions. It’s a big one. (Religiously affiliated institutions, including large hospitals and universities, that employ people of different faiths, will have to provide coverage.)

So why the furor? At its core, it’s because many opponents of a woman’s right to choose also oppose contraception. They don’t want women to exercise their consciences or get the contraceptive coverage they need.

These are extreme views far outside the mainstream.

So let’s be clear. Ensuring women’s access to contraception means fewer unintended pregnancies, healthier women and stronger families.

That’s why there’s an overwhelming consensus in this country that women should have coverage for contraception. Twenty-eight states already require insurers to cover contraception. Ensuring that coverage for women in every state, without expensive co-pays, is one of the most important advances for women in the health reform law.

That advance is long overdue. Nearly all women of reproductive age use contraception – including 98 percent of Catholic women. Reproductive health care is women’s health care.

Refusing to allow employers to substitute their views for those of women was the right thing to do.

So it’s time for all of us to take a stand. It’s time to urge every member of Congress to say ‘no’ to Senator Marco Rubio’s irresponsible legislation, which would dramatically expand the birth-control refusal clause and potentially allow any employer to use personal religious beliefs to deny contraceptive coverage to employees.

At times these days, it feels like we’ve stepped through the looking glass. Those who oppose abortion want to deny women the contraceptive coverage that reduces unintended pregnancies. The Susan G. Komen organization withdraws funds to Planned Parenthood, which screens millions of women for breast cancer.

These are bad decisions, bad policy, bad for women’s health.

If you care about women’s health, you put your ideology aside and you help make contraception and breast cancer screening available.

The Administration’s rule exempting churches and other religious institutions from the refusal clause is a compromise that should not be weakened.

19 Years

Published on February 5, 2012 in Vicki Shabo and Work & Family. 0 Comments

Vicki Shabo, Director of Work and Family Programs

That’s how long it’s been since the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was signed into law.  Today is the 19th anniversary of the day then-President Clinton made the FMLA the very first bill he signed.  An entire generation has grown up with the FMLA in place, giving many workers the ability to take job-protected leave to recover from illness or care for a sick family member or new baby.

In that time, workers have used FMLA leave more than 100 million times.  The law’s impact has been massive and overwhelmingly positive.  It’s meant parents could take job-protected time off to help their child, spouse or parent recover from serious illnesses; workers could take time to recover from heart attacks, cancer or other serious health conditions; and tens of millions of moms and dads could take time off to bond with new babies.  The FMLA meant those workers kept the health insurance they had, and had jobs to go back to.

It was a groundbreaking advance, the first national law ever to help this country’s workers meet the dual demands of work and family.  It very quickly proved the doomsday-predicting, nay-saying opponents wrong while transforming our workplaces, changing our culture, and making family friendly workplaces a shared national goal.

Since the FMLA became law, we’ve seen some further progress.  The law was expanded to help military families a few years ago. And this past week, the Obama administration enhanced the military family provisions to allow military family caregivers to take leave before, during and after their loved ones’ deployment.  That was a terrific step forward, and we applaud the administration for this smart, compassionate move.

But workers in this nation need even more, and it’s time for Congress to step up to the proverbial plate.  Only about half of workers are eligible for the unpaid leave the FMLA provides.  We need Congress to expand access to the FMLA by passing the Family and Medical Leave Enhancement Act (HR1440) which would amend the law to cover businesses with 25 or more employees, instead of those with 50 or more employees, as is the case now.  We need Congress to pass the Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act (HR2364/S1283) which would expand the definition of family member to allow FMLA leave to care for a domestic partner, parent-in-law, adult child, sibling, grandchild or grandparent.

And we need paid leave.  A Census Bureau report issued last November underscored the urgent need for a national standard of paid family leave.  It found that use of paid leave among first-time mothers has been largely stagnant for nearly a decade, and the divide based on socioeconomic status is striking. Two-thirds of first-time mothers with a bachelor’s degree or higher take paid leave, according to the report, compared to only one in five mothers without a high school diploma. We know that those who don’t take paid leave don’t have access to it – and they and their families suffer as a result.

It’s time for a national paid leave standard, so all workers can access some wages when they need time out of the workforce.  A study conducted by the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, released just a few weeks ago, provided conclusive evidence of what a good idea that is.  Commissioned by the National Partnership with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, the new report offers conclusive evidence that providing paid family leave to workers leads to positive economic outcomes not just for working families, but also for businesses and the public.

There’s no reason to wait.  This year, with candidates for office at all levels creating a public conversation about jobs, let’s all speak out and send a clear message that it’s time to put family friendly policies in place. That means expanding the FMLA and adopting a national standard for paid family leave.  Now.

To take action and send Congress a message, sign our petition for paid leave at www.paidleave.org/petition. Please share this link widely on Facebook and Twitter!

Legislation America Needs

Published on February 3, 2012 in Vicki Shabo and Work & Family. 0 Comments

Vicki Shabo, Director of Work and Family Programs

On Wednesday morning, at an event sponsored by the Center for American Progress, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) described for the first time sweeping new legislation that he plans to introduce this spring: the Rebuild America Act. This welcome and badly needed bill aims to help restore economic growth and rebuild the middle class by addressing inequality and creating good jobs.

It is a powerful legislative package that working Americans need. Senator Harkin has long been a champion for workers and for all who struggle to find good jobs, to meet the dual demands of work and family, to overcome discrimination, and to pay for food, housing, health care, child or elder care and other necessities. That has long been evident in his work as a member – and now Chair – of the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Senator Harkin is a key sponsor of the Healthy Families Act, which would give most workers the right to earn up to seven job-protected paid sick days a year to use if they get sick or face domestic violence, or if a family member needs care. So it is no surprise that, as he described his upcoming legislative package, he pointed to paid sick days as a key measure that can strengthen families and our workforce. “Today’s workers are caring for children and aging parents. They need jobs that support them and allow families to care for each other,” Senator Harkin said. He expressed concern for those in the “sandwich generation” who care for children and older relatives at the same time; too often, he noted, they fall out of the middle class and into hardship and poverty.

Senator Harkin said that his Rebuild America Act will include the Healthy Families Act, which now has support from more than 100 members of Congress and more than 200 advocacy groups nationwide. It will also include measures to raise the minimum wage, protect workers’ right to stand together, and fund investments in education, child care and infrastructure.

Panelists Heather Boushey of the Center for American Progress, John Schmitt of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution echoed Senator Harkin’s themes. “A strong middle class is not in opposition to a strong economy,” Boushey said. “We need to invest in families with things like child care and paid sick days…. Most other countries offer a rich basket of benefits [to their employees], including paid sick days and paid family leave. Parents are able to care for their children… it’s not only good for people, but also good for the economy.”

Senator Harkin closed his remarks by saying, “For three decades, our economy has been held back by failed trickle-down economics. It’s time for percolate-up economics. The middle class is the backbone of this country. It’s time for Washington to have the backbone to defend it.”

The National Partnership applauds Senator Harkin for including paid sick days as a crucial protection for working families. We look forward to the day when he introduces the Rebuild America Act, and pledge to work hard to help advance it. I hope you will join us.