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New pro-worker rules, announced in late September and the beginning of October by Obama administration agencies, have the potential to benefit millions of workers in coming years.
The rules would particularly aid low-wage and exploited workers, said Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, whose agency unveiled one key final rule, ordering firms that get federal contracts to establish paid sick and family leave for their employees.
That would give 1.15 million workers up to 56 hours yearly of paid sick leave, the Department of Labor calculates. More than half of them – 594,000 – currently get no sick leave at all. The rule takes effect Jan. 1.
A second final rule, from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, mandates that firms supply the agency with wage data, broken down by gender, race and ethnicity, starting in March 2018. It applies to firms with at least 100 workers. The data, which would contain no personal information, would “improve investigations of possible pay discrimination, which remains a contributing factor to persistent wage gaps,” the EEOC said.
In addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics wants to reinstitute a survey, dumped in 2005, about “contingent workers” – but update it to include firms in the so-called “gig economy.”
The bureau said that, after a decade of no data, it’s time to learn about contingent workers and their conditions by adding questions to its frequent surveys of working conditions.
“Part of the basic bargain of America is that if you work hard, you should be able to take care of your family,” Perez said when he announced the final paid leave rule.
“Paid sick leave helps workers recover from illness, or be there for their families, whether it’s to take an elderly parent to the doctor or to stay home with a young child with a fever. It allows working families to focus on what really matters most without having to worry about the next paycheck.”
The Labor Department said the paid sick leave rule would cover all workers now covered by the Davis-Bacon Act – for construction workers – the Service Contract Act and federal concession contracts.
It will also cover workers subject to minimum wage and overtime pay laws, including those who are “exempt” from overtime pay. But the new rule will not cover workers under union contracts that already provide at least 56 hours of paid sick leave yearly, pending the end of the contract or Jan. 1, 2020, whichever comes first.