{"id":4545,"date":"2020-03-17T19:45:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T02:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/?p=4545"},"modified":"2020-03-17T19:45:18","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T02:45:18","slug":"cwa-urges-congress-to-pass-p-a-i-d-leave-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/?p=4545","title":{"rendered":"CWA Urges Congress to Pass P.A.I.D. Leave Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Tuesday, March 17, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nCommunications Workers of America (CWA) is urging the House and Senate to\nimmediately pass a bill introduced today by Senator Murray, Senator Gillibrand,\nand Rep. DeLauro, the P.A.I.D. Leave Act, a comprehensive bill to provide all\nworkers with paid sick days and paid family and medical leave, in response to\nthe current coronavirus crisis, and to have these benefits in place for workers\nand families to deal with future crises and life events.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNobody\nshould be forced to go to work while sick or capable of spreading a disease\nduring a pandemic. Congress must immediately act to give all workers paid sick\ndays and paid family and medical leave to stop the spread of COVID-19,\u201d said\nCWA Senior Director for Government Affairs and Policy Shane Larson. \u201cWorking\npeople across the country and across the world are looking to their elected\nofficials to use their power and provide leadership in this time of crisis. Our\nlegislators have an opportunity to act now and save lives by passing this\nbill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nP.A.I.D. Leave Act would:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>To respond aggressively to the current Coronavirus crisis, require the federal government to cover the cost of  7-days of accrued paid sick leave, 14 paid emergency sick days, and the 12-weeks of paid emergency leave outlined below until January 2022. Under the bill, employers will submit documentation to the Department of Labor      (DOL) that they provided paid sick days or paid leave. DOL is required to certify the documentation within 5 days as being true and tell the Treasury Department to issue a check to the employer within 2 days, fully reimbursing them. <\/li><li>Require all employers to allow employees and independent contractors to accrue up to 7 days of paid sick leave at 100% of wages. <\/li><li>Require all employers to provide a separate amount of 14 days of paid sick leave at 100% of wages that is immediately available at the beginning of any public health emergency (including in the current crisis upon passage of the bill). Under the bill, a qualifying Public Health Emergency could be declared at the federal level or the state or local level and still trigger the additional 14 paid sick days. <\/li><li>Require all employers to provide 12-weeks of paid leave at 2\/3 of wages during a public health emergency. <\/li><li>Expand the list of qualifying events for the use of paid sick days and paid leave to include:<ul><li>If your child\u2019s school is closed for a public health emergency<\/li><li>If your employer is closed for a public health emergency<\/li><li>If you or a family member needing care are quarantined or isolated because of exposure linked to a public health emergency<\/li><li>The list of qualifying events still includes the original events, being: for your own medical issue, for going to the doctor, for a family member\u2019s medical issue or doctor\u2019s visit or need for care, for attending a child\u2019s school meeting on medical       issue, and for addressing domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>The requirements in the bill would extend to all employers, regardless of size, and would also cover independent contractors.<\/li><li>To ensure supports for workers and families going forward, beginning on January 1, 2022, the cost of the 7-days of accrued sick leave will be paid for by employers; the 14 days of additional emergency paid sick leave will continue to be reimbursed by the      federal government in future public health emergency. <\/li><li>Beginning on January 1, 2022, S. 463, the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act will become effective. Employers will be required to provide up to 12 weeks of partial income when they take time for their own serious health conditions, including      pregnancy and childbirth recovery; the serious health condition of a      child; and\/or for particular military caregiving and leave purposes. Workers will earn 66 percent of their monthly wages, up to $4,000. Paid Family and Medical Leave is funded by employee and employer payroll contributions.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tuesday, March 17, 2020 The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is urging the House and Senate to immediately pass a bill introduced today by Senator Murray, Senator Gillibrand, and Rep. DeLauro, the P.A.I.D. Leave Act, a comprehensive bill to provide &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/?p=4545\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cwa9003.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}