A report that the Obama administration plans to require federal contractors to provide paid sick leave to their workers has spread like wildfire in summertime.
The New York Times on Aug. 5 said it saw a “pre-decisional and deliberative” draft of an Executive Order, which would likely set a national precedent.
By affecting hundreds of thousands of federal contractors and their subcontractors, the order “would be the latest in a string of executive orders that seek to impose requirements on companies doing business with the government that the president and Democrats want applied nationally,” the Times reported.
Currently, there are no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave, although a handful of states and almost 20 cities have them. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 61 percent of private industry workers get it through benefit packages.
The draft order sets a minimum of 56 hours a year of paid sick leave for illness, but also for caring for a child, parent, spouse, domestic partner “or any other individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship,” the paper said, citing the document.
Additionally, the order would apply to absences from work resulting from domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, if that time was used to seek medical attention, obtain counseling, seek relocation assistance from victim services organizations or prepare civil or criminal proceedings.
Employers would also be required to allow unused paid leave to accrue, year after year.
“The draft order also states that an employer cannot make paid leave contingent on asking a worker to find a replacement,” the Times said. “It also says the implementation of the order would have no effect on longstanding requirements that federal contractors pay the ‘prevailing wage’ of the area where the work is being done.”
The Dept. of Labor, which was set to approve the order, according to documents the Times cited, has said that almost 40 percent of US private sector workers don’t have access to paid sick leave.
Regulations would be issued by Secretary Thomas Perez by Sept. 30, 2016, according to the order.
