Obama extends paid sick leave to over 300,000 federal employees

ON Labor Day 2015, President Obama unveiled a new executive order that will require federal contractors to offer employees up to seven days of paid sick leave.

Contrasting with Republican economic policies, Obama’s plan could benefit more than 300,000 federal US workers, who currently receive no paid leave, the White House said.

“Right now, you have parents who have to choose between losing income or staying home with a sick child,” Obama said to a crowd of hundreds during the annual Greater Boston Labor Council breakfast, sponsored by the AFL-CIO.

At the breakfast, the president was met with applause when he said he had signed the paid sick leave executive order on Air Force One. He chose Boston to make his appeal because “voters in the state approved a paid leave policy state-wide, which took effect on July 1 and is expected to affect 900,000 workers who didn’t have the option before,” according to the White House.

Under the executive order, workers on federal contracts would be eligible for paid leave if they are sick or tending to a sick relative. They will earn one hour of leave for every 30 hours worked, with a maximum of seven days a year, depending on how many hours they work, officials said.

The order would take effect with new contracts after Obama leaves office in early 2017.

The White House did not specify the cost to implement the order, but the Labor Department said “any costs would be offset by savings that contractors would see as a result of lower attrition rates and increased worker loyalty.”

The Obama administration has been working on the executive order for months, as the president works to enact what policies he can before his term ends next year, despite Congressional resistance to some of his previous executive orders to improve conditions in the workplace. The push has reverberated in the 2016 presidential campaign, where Democrat and Republican candidates seek to show the better support of the middle class.

Obama’s order drew a sharp contrast between his administration’s policies and those of Republicans. “The GOP believes the best way to stimulate the economy is to cut taxes and loosen regulation,” he said.

“Republicans who say they fight for the middle-class are making big claims, but they have to walk the walk. The values that built the middle class are working people’s values.”

“There are certain Republicans that said we can’t afford to do this,” said Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, lamenting how paid leave is seen as a “partisan issue” in the US despite broad support in Europe. “The Republican Party is out of step with similar conservative governments around the world.”

The Labor Day announcement also came with a renewed call for Congress to follow President Obama’s lead and pass the Health Families Act, which would require all businesses with more than 14 employees (not just contract workers, and excluding the smallest US businesses) to similarly offer seven days of paid sick leave.

About 40 percent of the private-sector workforce does not have paid leave, the White House said. The act would benefit roughly 44 million private-sector workers currently without leave.

The idea has gained little traction on Capitol Hill. In recent years, Obama has frequently used his executive authority to apply policies–such as worker discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation–to federal contractors that he lacks the authority to enact nationwide. His aim is to lay the groundwork for those policies to be expanded to all Americans.

Through labor groups have applauded the acts, many remain skeptical of the president’s push to secure sweeping new trade deals with the Asia-Pacific region and with Europe. Many unions have warned that the deals could lead to the widespread elimination of certain types of jobs.

“The administration has an obligation to get the most out of every federal tax dollar,” said Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. “The benefits with respect to businesses will more than offset the costs and ultimately make them, as employers, more productive and more efficient and, therefore, more valued to the taxpayer.”

Obama’s 2016 budget also includes $2 billion for states to expand paid sick leave, as well as create laws that would allow employees maternity, paternity, and eldercare leave. (with reports from the Washington Post, NBC News, Associated Press, KTLA5)