But what's up with the fascist-sounding name: "The Healthy Families Act"? It sounds like something the Nazi Minister of Family would have come up with. The bill applies to everyone, so why invoke only families in the title? I've become increasingly aware of how fascist the lexicon of mainstream American political discourse sounds. The slogan of the Vichy regime was "Travail, Patrie, Famille" - it sounds like just another presidential inauguration speech.]
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http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/white-house-endorses-paid-sick-leave-bill/
White House Endorses Paid Sick Leave Bill By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
The H1N1 pandemic is raising concerns about people reporting to work sick and spreading the disease. The pandemic has given momentum to Congressional efforts to enact legislation that would guarantee paid sick days to tens of millions of workers — although it is far from clear that such legislation will be enacted. Those legislative efforts received added momentum on Tuesday when the Obama administration backed the Healthy Families Act, which would guarantee seven sick days a year to workers in companies with 15 or more employees.
In testifying before the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee’s Subcommittee on Children and Families, Deputy Labor Secretary Seth Harris, said,
The Healthy Families Act offers an important opportunity to provide workers with economic security by assuring that they have the ability to stay home if they are sick without fear of losing their jobs or being forced to go to work sick because they cannot afford to stay home.
Mr. Harris noted that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that 39 percent of American workers do not receive paid sick days.
Last May, the Healthy Families Act was introduced in the Senate by Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat, and in the House by Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat. The bill has more than 110 sponsors in the House. In the Senate, Christopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat, has become the bill’s chief sponsor, and it has more than 20 sponsors.
Last week, Representative George Miller, the California Democrat who is chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, introduced an emergency bill that would guarantee five paid sick days to employees at businesses with 15 or more workers who are directed to stay home by management because they have or are believed to have H1N1 or another communicable disease. The bill would sunset after two years.
Mr. Harris said, “The vision for the Department of Labor is good jobs for everyone. And one of the key components of a good job is having workplace flexibility for family and personal caregiving. We believe that work-life balance includes policies such as paid leave, flexible work schedules and teleworking, employee assistance programs, child care, and elder care support.”