Cities Step Up Worker Protections - Has Yours?

The United States is way behind most other western nations in protecting its workers. While Congress has dropped into paralysis, U.S. cities have stepped in where Congress and the states have failed to protect working Americans. Florida is one of the most anti-employee states in the nation. The cities here could do much to help working people if they had the political will.

Here are some examples of how cities are stepping up to help workers:

Intern sexual harassment: New York City, along with Washington, D.C., Delaware, and Oregon, have laws against sexually harassing unpaid interns. There is not a single federal law banning intern sexual harassment. Title VII doesn’t cover it because they aren’t “employees.” Same with most state laws including Florida. So, yay for sexual harassers. High school and college students are fair game.

Paid sick leave: San Francisco, Oakland, Emeryville, Los Angeles, Berkeley and San Diego; Washington, D.C.; New York City; Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane; Philadelphia; Montgomery County (Md.); Chicago and Cook County; St. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth); Newark, Jersey City, Irvington, Passaic, East Orange, Paterson, Trenton, Montclair, Bloomfield, New Brunswick, Elizabeth, Plainfield and Morristown; and Austin all have some form of paid sick leave. Eleven states including California provide some form of paid sick leave. Not Florida, of course.

Paid safe days: The cities that provide paid "safe" days, giving time for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking to seek services include: San Francisco, Emeryville, San Diego, Los Angeles, Berkeley and Santa Monica; Washington, D.C.; Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane; Philadelphia; Montgomery County (Md.); Chicago and Cook County; Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth; New Brunswick; and Austin.

Salary history: 13 states and 11 cities have banned employers from asking about salary history. The reason behind the legislation is that basing pay on prior salary can lock in pay discrimination. The sponsor of the Philadelphia ordinance explained: “Simply put, when a woman is paid less at the beginning of her career she will continue to earn less throughout her career. By eliminating the question of salary history we will be one step closer to decreasing the wage gap.”

Ban the box:  33 states and over 150 cities and counties have adopted “ban the box” laws. These laws generally prevent employers from asking about applicant arrests or convictions at the beginning of the application process, and only allow inquiries after the applicant passes their initial screening. Why? Because about 70 million Americans have some criminal record, and the majority of them are minorities. An entire class of citizens has been made almost completely unemployable due to criminal records that have nothing to do with their ability to do jobs.

Predictable schedules: San Francisco, Emeryville, San Jose, Chicago, New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C. have ordinances requiring that employers give specified advance notice of work schedules, advance notice of shift cancellations, and/or predictability pay for last minute cancellations. Oregon is the first state to enact such a law.

Paid family leave: 35 cities/counties and 11 states have paid parental leave laws.

Right to vacation: New York City would require most employers to offer 10 days of paid vacation to employees under this proposed ordinance

Firing for just cause: This proposed law would prevent employers in New York from firing on a whim.

Minimum wage: Florida’s legislature has prohibited local ordinances raising minimum wage, and that was just upheld. Sad. Many other cities around the nation have raised minimum wage for their workers.

Some cities that have led the way on employee rights are San Francisco, New York, A list of San Francisco’s very pro-employee ordinances is here. New York’s employee rights page is here.

So talk to your local elected officials about stepping up to help working people. If the state and federal governments won’t help workers, it will be up to the cities to protect them.

Florida Democrats Take Another Swing At Pro-Employee Legislation (That Won't Pass)

Another legislative session coming up, some more pro-employee legislation that will not pass. But here’s what some Florida Democrats (okay, I didn’t check them all, but c’mon, what are the odds that any of the co-sponsors of any pro-employee laws are Republicans?) are trying to pass in 2016 to help Florida employees:

$15 minimum wage: SB 6 and HB 109 would raise Florida’s minimum wage to $15/hour

ERA: SCR 74 and HCR 8001 would ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Better late than never.

Sexual Orientation: SB 120 and HB 45would add sexual orientation and gender identity to prohibited categories of discrimination in the workplace.

Social Media Privacy: SB 186 would prohibit employers from demanding your social media passwords.

Unemployment and Domestic Violence: SB 188 protects employees who leave or lose jobs due to domestic violence from being disqualified for unemployment benefits.

Paid Sick Leave: SB 294 and HB 205 would require state and local governments with at least 9 employees to provide paid sick leave to employees. Why only government employers? I'm really not sure that's what the sponsors meant to do, but that's what it says employers are.

Paid Family Leave: SB 384 and HB 603 would require employers to provide paid leave similar to FMLA for birth or adoption of a child and care in the first year, but it applies to employees who work at least 20 hours a week, applies to employers with at least 15 employees, and would permit up to 6 weeks of protected leave. Creates a rebuttable presumption that any demotion or discharge taken within 90 days against an employee who takes leave is a violation.

Ban the Box: SB 448 and HB 353 would prohibit employers from asking about criminal history in initial employment applications.

If you support any of these bills, start calling and writing your legislators now. Especially the Republicans. If any of these proposed laws get overwhelming support, they may just have a chance. My prediction: DOA.

Employment Law Bills Pending In The Florida Legislature

Since I've been writing about states that have pro-employee laws, and complaining about the lack of protections for employees in Florida law, I thought you'd like to hear about some legislation that has been filed in the Florida legislature for the upcoming session. Will any of it pass? Doubtful. Still, now might be a good time to contact your representatives and state senators to support some of these laws:

Intern Sexual Harassment: Rep. Joseph Geller has proposed a law expanding the Florida Civil Rights Act to include unpaid interns. Why? Because we currently have no laws in Florida prohibiting sexual harassment of interns. Who will come out in favor of sexual harassment of our teenagers? Stay tuned.

Florida Overtime Act: This proposed law revises the number of hours of labor that is a full legal day's work from 10 to 8; revises rates of overtime compensation; provides that commuting to and from certain locations is not part of a day's work; prohibits an employer from requiring employee to continue working after punching out; prohibits employers from paying an employee for less than the amount of contracted hours worked by the employee; and provides penalties for violations.

Fair Pay: The Helen Gordon Davis Fair Pay Protection Act would condemn gender-based pay disparity and have the Department of Economic Opportunity and the Florida Commission on Human Relations do research and disseminate information about unequal pay. No remedies for victims, but it could help prove that disparities exist and spread the word about what legal protections women have.

Minimum Wage: A law increasing the state's minimum wage to $10.10 probably doesn't have a snowball's chance.

Social Media Privacy: Right now, Florida employers can get away with demanding employee social media passwords. A law prohibiting this kind of invasion of privacy would make it illegal for employers to demand user names and passwords for personal social media accounts of employees and prospective employees.

Bullying: The Safe Environment Work Act would make employers liable for allowing an abusive work environment to exist. Will Florida join Tennessee in banning workplace bullies? Not likely.

Ban The Box: With this law, Florida would join the many states that ban employers from making prospective employees disclose their criminal history on an employment application. So far 13 states have passed ban-the-box laws.

LGBT Discrimination: One law that might pass, mainly because lots of Florida employers have come out in favor of it and it has bipartisan support, is the law proposing to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the categories of prohibited discrimination under the Florida Civil Rights Act.

Although it isn't specifically related to employment law, there's yet another attempt to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in Florida. The ERA was the first campaign I worked on when I moved here in 1981, and I thought it was a no-brainer. Here we are, 33 years later, with no ERA. Will it pass? No.

States With Pro-Employee Laws: Ban The Box

Or, States That Don't Suck For Employees, Part VI

You may have heard the term “ban the box” but not know what it means. These laws generally prevent employers from asking about applicant arrests or convictions at the beginning of the application process, and only allow inquiries after the applicant passes their initial screening. Why? Because about 70 million Americans have some criminal record, and the majority of them are minorities. An entire class of citizens has been made almost completely unemployable due to criminal records that have nothing to do with their ability to do jobs.

Thirteen states, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, along with 67 cities and counties, have passed ban-the-box laws. Tampa and Jacksonville are just some of those cities. Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island have the only statewide laws applying to private employers. The rest apply to government employers.

Hawaii’s law was the first, and it prohibits employers from asking about criminal records until a conditional offer of employment is made (similar to what ADA requires for inquiries about disabilities). Since 1998, when this law went into effect, the incidence of repeat criminal offenses in Hawaii has dropped by 57%. Illinois law is similar to Hawaii’s.

New York’s law says employers can’t discriminate in the hiring process against applicants who have convications unless there’s a direct relationship between one or more of the previous criminal offenses and the employment sought, or if the employment would involve an unreasonable risk to others.

New Jerseys’s brand new law prohibits posting of ads saying those with criminal histories won’t be hired and from asking about arrests and convictions until the applicant is the top candidate selected. Then the employer must also consider factors like rehabilitation, good conduct, length of time that has passed, and how the crime relates to the employee’s suitability for the job.

Massachusetts’ law bans questions on written applications but not in interviews. If employers are going to refuse to hire based on a criminal record, they must first provide the applicant with a copy of the record.

Minnesota’s law is similar to Hawaii’s, but state law there also says government employers can’t discriminate unless the conviction is directly related to the job sought. It requires all employers to consider job-related factors in using criminal records.

Rhode Island’s law prohibits asking on written applications but employers can ask during interviews.

The ban-the-box movement is all about giving folks a fair chance. If they’ve done the time, let them get on with their lives. Americans usually like to give people a fair second chance, so let’s do that for the 70 million Americans who have criminal records. If we’re like Hawaii, letting people with records get paying jobs will drastically reduce repeat criminal offenses.