THREAD ON PAID SICK DAYS/PAID LEAVE EROSION. Earlier today, Trump said he was planning to fix the #paidsickdays & #paidleave provisions in #FamiliesFirstCoronavirusResponseAct to require more businesses to provide sick leave. Instead, his negotiators: (1/8)
(1) Scaled back extended paid #FMLA to cover parents affected by school or child care closure (no personal or family care leave)
(2) Made it easier for employers to carve out emergency workers and health care providers from both #paidsickdays and #paidleave (2/8)
(2) Made it easier for employers to carve out emergency workers and health care providers from both #paidsickdays and #paidleave (2/8)
(3) Made it possible for the Secretary of Labor to allow small employers to get out of providing reimburseable #PaidSickDays (similar provision already existed in #paidleave section) (3/8)
(4) Capped the wages employers must pay in #paidsickdays and extended #paidleave (prior version only limited the amount employers could be reimbursed) (4/8)
At a time when we must protect public health, Trump's requirements created huge loopholes that jeopardize individual and community health -- despite the fact that most GOP members voted for the original #FamiliesFirst bill! (5/8)
The original House Democrats #FamiliesFirstCoronavirusResponseAct would have actually protected public health, individual health and families' economic security, but GOP refused to go along. (6/8)
The next #FamiliesFirstCoronavirusResponseAct draft also protected public and individual health in this emergency - and reimbursed employers for costs. (7/8)
Is jeopardizing human life, community health & families' economic stability worth the price Trump exacted here? Where is accountability for eroding #paidsickdays and #paidleave, for carving out workers and for causing uncertainty in this very uncertain time? #FamiliesFirst (8/8)
CORRECTION to 3/8: Small business exemption in the #paidsickdays section only applies to school closure leave -- that's better for public health purposes, obviously! Still, terrible for the millions of parents whose kids are now out of school. I bet we all know one or more!
Here's the #FamiliesFirstCoronavirusResponseAct Amendments Act if you want to look for yourself: majorityleader.gov/sites/democrat…
