Paid Family Leave goes into effect in 2018

Governor Andrew Cuomo has his sights set on living in the White House one day and he continues to use the Empire State as a petri dish and a sort of campaign to that end.

For example, he has been on a mission to redefine how business is done in New York by determining what employers should offer in terms of pay and benefits. He introduced ridiculously-high fast food wages which then led to much higher mandated minimum wage laws for all industries. He has proposed new worker scheduling standards that will go into effect next year given they survive the public comment period. And, going into effect on January 1, is paid family leave (PFL), which makes New York just one of four states to offer it.

By law, all private-sector employees must be provided PFL (except for farm workers, clergy and teachers at private schools). It’s not like Obamacare where business with 50 or more workers have to provide the benefit of healthcare. Under this plan, it doesn’t matter if you have 2 people in your plowing and landscaping crew or 100 people in a factory, all have to be granted paid family leave.

Such leave provides job-protected, paid time off to workers to bond with a newly born, adopted or fostered child during the first 12 months after birth or placement; assist loved ones when a family member is called to active military service abroad; or care for a family member with a serious health condition. By definition, a serious health condition is an illness, injury impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves either inpatient care or continuing treatment or supervision by a health care provider.

In 2018, workers can take up to 8 weeks of PFL. That maximum rises to 10 in 2019. It then goes to 12 in 2021. It can be taken as a whole or intermittently throughout the year as needed.  

While out on PFL, income benefits received will be 50% of one’s weekly pay (up to $652.96 paid out). In 2019, that grows to 55%. In 2020, it becomes 60%. Then, in 2021, it becomes 67%. The payout maximum is periodically adjusted, too, being pegged to the average weekly salary for New York workers.  

The benefit is a form of insurance that is granted through the same insurers that issue disability insurance. The employers do not foot the bill for it. Instead, the premium is extracted as a deduction from employees’ paychecks at a rate of 0.126%, meaning that a $15 worker will pay 76 cents a week.

It should be noted that many business people and public policy analysts (including this writer) feel that this is nowhere near enough to cover what will be utilized -- people will max out and or abuse the program. It’s not out of the question that premium rates in terms of dollars per week will be collected in the coming years.  

But, I digress. Back to the task at hand.

Employers have the next week and a half to educate their workforce, revise their handbooks (and have their employees sign-off on the revision) and post signage in advance of the program.

After that, it’s a simple program in terms of administration and one that takes some risk away from the business. I know many supervisors had concerns over granting PFL. With HIPPA in play, how could one legally know the issues faced by a family? And, how could a manager determine if the woes are bad enough to merit leave and, if it was denied, could she be sued? Those concerns no longer belong to the employer – the state put that responsibility on the shoulders of the insurance companies. It is up to them to decide who gets or is denied PFL.

But, the employers do, though, have to be aware that the employee must return to the same or a similar position upon their return. Larger companies like mine will have an easier go at moving around employees to cover those who are off. For workplaces with just a few workers – which make up most of the economy -- missing someone for 3 months at a time (on top of paid time off they have coming) will create incredible stress: How do they find talent for such a term and keep their operations running well?

Every time something like this is introduced it not only adds to the cost and headaches of running a business in New York State. It also takes away from an employer’s recruitment arsenal. When the government determines pay scales and benefits and a sort of sameness for the entire economy, it takes away the ability of employers to differentiate themselves from others, which was how they acquired the best talent for their operations and, in turn, created the best outcomes.  

This is just another in a long line of game changing regulations the Cuomo Administration has put upon businesses, both small and large, in the state. What’s next? Will the Governor decree that all workers have to be granted a minimum number of paid days off annually? Don’t be surprised if that happens. It’s only a matter of time.  

From the 18 December 2017 Greater Niagara Newspapers

How welfare programs destroyed fatherhood

Social welfare programs are some of the most divisive topics in American politics. That should be expected when one considers that one-out-of-five American households take some form of means-tested welfare.

When discussing what most people consider classic welfare (food stamps, housing, Medicaid) single moms are regularly put in the crosshairs by detractors as they and their kids are recipients of vast amounts of it.

There are 10 million single-mother households and 45% of them are living in poverty, while only 10% of dual parent homes fall in that same category. Single mother homes receive 90% of all TANF funds (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). They account for 60% of all SNAP recipients (the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program is widely known as “food stamps”).  

Because of the benefits they receive, they are often looked at in any number of derogatory terms. Leeches. Scum. Losers. Welfare queens. Prostitutes. 

That’s unfair given that three-quarters of single moms work while being a mom is a full-time job unto itself. It’s not as if they aren’t trying.

On the other hand, those who actually deserve derisiveness, those who helped put them into that situation and helped to make a family but do absolutely nothing to maintain it – the so-called “fathers” – are left relatively unscathed when we address society’s woes.

In the good old days, a real man accepted his role in the development of a family. If he brought kids into this world, he was there for them. He married or stayed with the mother. As a functioning couple, through better or worse, they made the best life that they could for their children on their financial efforts alone --- not the taxpayers’. Men were men and families were stronger and healthier because of it. 

It just so happens that those “good old days” were over 50 years ago. The abandonment of fatherly roles by millions of men commenced in earnest with the War on Poverty which began under President Lyndon Johnson’s watch in 1964. You would think that after 5 decades we’d be winning the war. But, as made evident by the numbers above, we’re treading water, even losing it in many places.

That’s because the very tools implemented in that war have contributed to today’s living conditions faced by young ladies and their kids. With Uncle Sam and state governments being able to provide to the women and children all of life’s requirements from food to shelter to heat to health, dads-by-name-alone can shirk their duties to them and instead put it on the greater population to handle his responsibilities, no questions asked.

Welfare has been in complicit in the decay of the moral fiber of many a man and the destruction of many a family. The proof is in the pudding: In 1964, when the War on Poverty began, 93% of all American births were to women with marriage licenses. Today, 41% of all births are by unwed women; for mothers under the age of 30, that rate jumps to almost 55%. Over that same period, the number of children living in two-parent homes dropped from 88% to 69%.    

Single mother homes have become commonplace because we’ve allowed it to happen by rewarding the men who use the young ladies for gratification and then cast them aside. But, are they really men? There are few things more disgusting than someone who claims to be a man but lives his life like a carefree boy. Yet, we as a society do little to change their ways and we make it too easy on them to not assume the responsibilities of fatherhood.

Doing what we need to do to right the ship won’t be easy. How do we change the modern man-child and encourage the acceptance of the responsibilities of fatherhood? It took 50 years to ruin what constituted manhood; will it take 50 years to bring it back?

From the 11 December 2017 Greater Niagara Newspapers

Don’t overlook public comment periods

Last week’s column about the Cuomo Administration’s proposed regulations for employee scheduling closed out by encouraging the reader to reach out to the Department of Labor while the public comment period is underway. 

Most folks would look at that suggestion dismissively, fully believing that their opinion means nothing. 

Don’t ever think that way.

Public comment works. I’ve seen it firsthand.

Back in 2011, this column looked at a proposal by the Obama Administration which would have excluded all minors (except the children of the farm’s owners) from most farm work and all animal husbandry, which would have killed the future of agriculture in this country and destroyed the 4-H and FFA. Thanks to the wonders of in the internet, the column went viral almost overnight and farmers, high school students, ag colleges, talk radio hosts, and politicians heartily voiced their opinions in the closing days of the public comment period. After that column made its rounds, public input increased tenfold to the US Department of Labor in a matter of just a few days. We beat back the regulations and it was a huge win for farming….all because people made their voices heard. 

It’s wonderful that our government gives us the chance to do that -- most don’t. Luckily we had founding fathers like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson who were adamant about citizen-driven discussions, something that caught on in New England town halls and similar movements that followed and continue to this day.   

The process in a nutshell: When an executive branch, be it at the state or federal level, is looking at creating policy or has proposed a change in policy it opens up the public comment period during which a special committee or the agency charged with enforcement of the new policies accepts either oral opinions (at special meetings) or written comment (via email, websites, or postal mail) regarding the proposals. After the period closes, that group goes back to the drawing board and either alters or, as was the case with the farm rules, scraps it entirely.

When delivering your comment there are five basic rules you should follow.

Be educated. Take the time to download the new rules and read through them. Also, read up on why they were created. Don’t take the word of radio/TV talking heads, your favorite elected official or columnists like me. Sure, we can lead you to an awareness or an understanding of government action, but you need to take ownership of your knowledge of the issues.

Be educational. Most policymakers have likely not been in the line of work, science, or art that they might be looking to change. But you have. Explain how the new rules will affect any number of things -- your workplace, your family, your community, the environment and the economy. Your real world perspective, from being in the trenches, is what the writers want to hear. Only you, being in the shadow of the dominos, can give the most realistic story of what could happen.  

Be professional. Although a proposed regulation might get your goat, maintain a poker face. Anger and resentment never win over people you are trying to influence. You have to be able to sell policymakers on your ideas – so be a good salesman…be respectful and positive, never demeaning.

Be to the point. Some public comment periods can be overwhelming to governmental agencies. With the aforementioned farm rules, the US DOL received 13,000 written comments. That’s 13,000 letters and emails they have to sift through and read individually. Don’t put them to sleep. Keep it short, just a few paragraphs or nothing longer than a newspaper column. 

Be yourself. Far too often, organizations you belong to will tell you to send a letter that they’ve written to an elected official or a department. Never, ever do that. If the individuals overseeing the task see a few hundred of the same letter it ends up making said letter meaningless, even when received in volume. It’s like activist spam. They want fresh ideas. Fresh voices. Fresh perspectives. They want you.  

It sounds like it could be a daunting task, but it’s not. The daunting task come when you have to live with a series of laws and regulations you didn’t want in the first place. So, do everything you can to stop them from happening. We’re granted a special power as a part of this republic. Use that power.

 

From the 04 December 2017 Greater Niagara Newspapers