Healthy Families Act Introduced

The Healthy Families Act has been introduced in the both the House (H.R. 2460) and Senate (S. 1152). Sponsored by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), the bill would require employers to provide employees with up to 56 hours of paid sick leave. SHRM believes a paid sick leave mandate as outlined in the Healthy Families Act would limit an employer’s flexibility in designing a benefits package that meets the needs of their unique workforce, resulting in significant costs for employers as well as a potential loss to employees who prefer other benefits rather than paid sick leave. As such, we are opposed to the Healthy Families Act, as currently written.

SHRM Position

Rather than a one-size-fits-all government approach, where federal and state laws often conflict and compliance is determined under regulatory silos, SHRM advocates a comprehensive workplace flexibility policy that, for the first time, responds to the diverse needs of employees and employers and reflects different work environments, union representation, industries and organizational size.

SHRM has developed a comprehensive workplace flexibility policy that responds to the diverse needs of today’s employees and employers. For a 21st century workplace flexibility policy to be effective, SHRM believes that all employers should be encouraged to provide paid leave for illness, vacation and personal days to accommodate the needs of employees and their family members. In return, employers who choose to provide paid leave would be considered to have satisfied all federal, state and local leave requirements.

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IOWA H.F. 11 - WAGE AND HOUR
Sponsor: Representative Bruce Hunter (D)
Summary: Increases the state minimum hourly wage, including the minimum hourly wage established for
employees that are employed for less than 90 days, annually on July 1 by the same percentage as the cost
of living increase in social security benefits authorized in the previous fiscal year by the federal social
security administration.
http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=billinfo&;Service=Billbook&menu=false&hbill=
HF11-
Status: Introduced and referred to Labor Committee January 14, 2009.

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