As the coronavirus has shuttered swaths of America’s offices, many workers in corporate call centers say they are still expected to work, risking their own health. Call centers have been deemed “essential” by the Department of Homeland Security, but employees with little paid sick leave say they feel forced to work, in constant fear of infection, in …
Last week I asked everyone to consider the coronavirus pandemic as a pretty clarifying picture of class warfare—who are the people who get hurt most when millions of jobs go away or at best are in limbo because of a nationwide shutdown? It’s working people, minimum wage workers, service workers—almost none of whom have enough …
Corona and Class Warfare Part II: Stopping a Multi-Dollar CEO Pension Tax Break Read More »
Pandemics might be one of the single best mass events to shine a light on class warfare, especially in the U.S. Rich people don’t have to worry about getting sick—they can afford extensive care in a country in which millions of working-class people can’t even afford to see a doctor for a run-of-the-mill reason. If …
Corona in the Age of Class Warfare; McKayla’s Bid to Knock Out Hoyer Read More »
Michigan workers without paid sick leave have an extra reason to be angry about being forced to go to work during the coronavirus pandemic: Republicans in their state went to extreme lengths to keep 1.5 million Michigan workers from getting paid sick leave in 2018. In 2018, Republicans blocked a ballot measure that would have let workers at businesses …
Senate Republicans have backed down on the threat to wait until after a week-long recess to consider the House coronavirus response bill, and have canceled recess. But that doesn’t mean they’re gearing up to be reasonable about protecting families from the economic impact of the pandemic. “Per multiple sources, there are 2 issues emerging as sticking points …
You’d think the desperate need for paid sick leave legislation would be undeniable in the face of coronavirus. But trust Republicans to do the wrong thing. On Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray tried to speed the progress of an emergency paid sick leave bill to a full Senate vote, but Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander wasn’t having it. …
Nevada recently became the latest state to pass a paid sick leave law after 2018 put Democrats in control of the state. But Nevada isn’t the only state where paid leave has advanced in 2019, and the Democratic Governors Association is highlighting that momentum. In addition to Nevada’s paid sick leave law, which will require businesses with …
2018 elections give paid sick leave and family leave new momentum in the states Read More »
More than a million workers will be getting paid sick leave soon after New Jersey’s legislature has passed a bill, which Gov. Phil Murphy has said he supports. That makes New Jersey the tenth state to require paid sick leave, and the second to do so in 2018, but New Jersey’s path to this point has …
In a decision emblematic of the new climate of Trumpian governance, a federal appeals court in St. Louis ruled on July 3 that it is acceptable for the boss of a fast-food chain to fire workers for the sin of being “disloyal.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed a ruling issued by the …
Jimmy John’s Fired Workers for Making a ‘Disloyal’ Meme. A Court Just Ruled That’s Okay. Read More »
The United States of America: land of liberty, bastion of opportunity, the world’s leading economic power. But if you’re a low-wage worker and wake up sick, you’d better clock in on time or you risk losing your wages and even your job. Paid time off for illness, taken for granted in professional sectors and much …
420,000 More Workers in Cook County Will Soon Have Paid Sick Leave Read More »
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
