Liberal

Potter: Progressive legislation should continue to be tested at state level

California is among other states that have recently made tremendous progress for worker’s rights and have passed legislation that, if successful, could set a nationwide standard. Labor laws in the U.S. are often unforgiving to the problems of everyday life, such as sickness of employees or their family members.

According to a Sept. 10 Los Angeles Times article, Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) signed a new law that requires employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every thirty hours worked, but only up to 3 days per year. According to the governor’s office, about 40 percent of California’s workforce has no paid sick benefits.

Paid sick days provide a more reasonable and higher standard for treatment of employees, but its economic success remains to be seen. Passing legislation at a state level is an effective way to test for the economic success of a bill before proposing it at a national level. If the bill is successful in California, it should be implemented nationally in order to improve employee treatment.

California is the second state, after Connecticut, to pass legislation that mandates paid sick leave. According to a Sept. 11 US News article, Eileen Appelbaum, a senior economist at the Center for Economic Policy Research, says that in Connecticut there was very little abuse of the sick day policy. Appelbaum also claims that among employers that did not previously offer sick days to part time employees, 47 percent saw no change in cost upon beginning to offer sick days. 30 percent reported cost increases of 2 percent or less and the remainder had higher cost increases or were unable to report the costs. In short, there are some drawbacks to the policy, but it’s implementation in Connecticut has provided generally positive results.

Improved treatment of workers by providing paid sick days not only benefits the worker, but fosters better employee-employer relationships and prevents the spread of illness.



Mandating paid sick leave is not the only way Brown is helping employees. This year, Brown also signed legislation raising California’s minimum wage to $10 per hour by 2016. Brown says that there is more similar legislation to come. Higher minimum wages and paid sick days have the strongest influence on the labor standards for lower working class; they tend to hold jobs where employers do not readily offer benefits to their employees. It is clear that we can expect a lot from Brown’s administration.

These pieces of legislation, which protect California’s workers, are very progressive and help to raise the standard level of treatment for workers.

However, it is important to test legislation in big states  like California before bringing them to national prominence. After the legislation has been implemented, economists and politicians can analyze the costs and benefits and determine whether or not it is not only beneficial to the worker, but causes little or no harm to the economy. While every state has different needs, values and economies, data gathered from the implementation of policies in individual states can help form national policy decisions.

President Barack Obama should wait and see the effects of higher labor standards before trying to implement them nationally.

According to the White House website, the Obama Administration supports the Healthy Families Act, which would offer up to seven days paid sick leave. This legislation is premature and should be postponed until the effects of paid sick leave in California and Connecticut are thoroughly analyzed.

Brown and the State of California may be setting nationwide standards for sick leave and other employee beneficial labor laws. They should continue proposing progressive legislation in order to set a standard for other states and eventually the federal government.

Rachel Potter is a senior political science and sociology major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected].





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