April, 22 2014, 11:53am EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Alan Barber, (202) 293-5380 x115
Expansion of FMLA to Small Firms would Cover Additional 34 Million Working Americans
No evidence of undue burden on small firms that already have leave policies
WASHINGTON
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives eligible employees job-protected, unpaid leave. While the FMLA covers about 60 million private sector employees, roughly two-in-five private sector workers are not covered because firms with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the FMLA. A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) indicates that an expansion of the FMLA to would extend coverage to almost 34 million working Americans without posing undue hardships on business.
The report, "Expanding Family and Medical Leave to Small Firms," analyzes the Department of Labor's 2012 FMLA Worksite Survey to paint a fuller picture of the scope of leave policies already in place at small U.S. firms, and their experiences with those policies.
Currently, the FMLA gives covered employees job-protected and unpaid leave to bond with a new child, care for a seriously ill family member or military service member, or for their own serious illness for up to 12 weeks a year. Citing concerns that family and medical leave events would impose a heavy burden for smaller companies, business groups secured a carve-out to exempt firms with fewer than 50 employees from FMLA coverage. The authors of the study, Helene Jorgensen and Eileen Appelbaum of CEPR, found little evidence supporting the arguments against expansion of FMLA coverage to smaller worksites.
While not all of the firms examined in the study offered the full 12 weeks provided by the FMLA, the number of small firms offering some form of leave was significant. About 85 percent of these firms had a medical leave policy and 83 percent had a leave policy that allowed employees to take time off to care for family members. Roughly 87 percent of these worksites guaranteed the same or equivalent job upon return from leave.
Though technically exempt from the FMLA, some small firms do have leave policies that meet the FMLA standards and have not found the policies problematic.
"Our analysis found that small firms with leave policies that met the standards of the FMLA rarely reported any negative impacts on their business as a result of offering leave to their employees," said Jorgensen. Appelbaum added, "Less than one percent of small firm worksites characterized their experience complying with the FMLA standard as very difficult or even somewhat difficult. Extending coverage to all firms would provide job-protected leave to an additional 35 million workers."
There are also potential benefits to small business employers. The FMLA survey revealed that a number of small business owners found the FMLA to have a positive effect on productivity, turnover, and profitability. Echoing this sentiment, Matt Grove, owner of Bagel Grove in Utica, New York said, "Family medical leave not only provides a safety net for small businesses and our employees in terms of healthcare and medical situations, it creates a dedicated workforce. That leads to greater productivity, boosting small businesses' bottom lines. It also shows workers we recognize they are not only contributing to the success of our businesses, but also to the well-being of themselves and their families."
Jorgensen and Appelbaum's analysis yields valuable insights in the states that are pursuing their own family and medical leave policies as well as those seeking to expand the leave policies they have recently adopted. Strengthening leave policies at the national level by extending FMLA coverage to all firms could help these efforts.
"The landmark protections of the Family and Medical Leave Act sadly do not apply to more than two-in-five private sector employees," said U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney [D-NY]. "It's time for Congress to catch up to America's workforce needs and pass the Family and Medical Leave Enhancement Act legislation I introduced earlier this year to expand these protections. As the Center for Economic and Policy Research has demonstrated, the vast majority of employers that have voluntarily adopted FMLA standards have seen no detrimental effect and found it easier to attract and retain strong employees. I thank CEPR for providing this valuable research."
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) was established in 1999 to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. In order for citizens to effectively exercise their voices in a democracy, they should be informed about the problems and choices that they face. CEPR is committed to presenting issues in an accurate and understandable manner, so that the public is better prepared to choose among the various policy options.
(202) 293-5380LATEST NEWS
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New research, said one campaigner, "makes clear that the body in charge of implementing global policies to reduce GHG emissions is totally captured by the transnational companies that destroy the planet the most."
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As the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis has wreaked increasingly deadly havoc across the planet over the last two decades, lobbyists and other representatives of oil and gas interests have attended United Nations-led climate talks more than 7,000 times in an effort to prevent world leaders from challenging their destructive business model.
That's according to new research released Tuesday by the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition just over a week before the start of COP28 in the United Arab Emirates.
Drawing on official attendance lists since COP9 in 2003, the research shows that the U.N. has granted at least 7,200 attendance passes to delegates for fossil fuel companies and industry trade groups, which often use their presence to peddle false climate solutions such as carbon capture.
The advocacy coalition stressed that its estimate likely understates the presence of oil and gas representatives at past U.N. climate summits given that many delegates didn't specify their affiliation or attended under the banner of nations where they do business.
At COP28, attendees will be required to disclose their affiliation under
new U.N. transparency rules put in place earlier this year after two consecutive climate summits were inundated by fossil fuel lobbyists. At COP26, oil and gas lobbyists had a larger presence than any single country, and more than 636 oil and gas lobbyists attended COP27.
Of the major oil and gas companies, Shell has sent the most staff—at least 115—to U.N. climate talks since 2003. The U.N. has granted a combined 267 attendance passes to disclosed staff from Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, and TotalEnergies over the last 20 years, the new analysis says.
The report also shows that the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), a group whose members include Exxon and Chevron, has been granted at least 2,769 passes to attend U.N.-led climate talks since 2003.
"The research makes clear that the body in charge of implementing global policies to reduce GHG emissions is totally captured by the transnational companies that destroy the planet the most," Pablo Fajardo of the Union of Affected Communities by Texaco/Chevron said in a statement. "The COP must be freed from polluting companies, or the COP becomes partly responsible for global collapse."
George Carew-Jones of the YOUNGO youth constituency at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change noted that the U.N. currently "has no conflict-of-interest rules for COPs."
"This unbelievable fact has allowed fossil fuel lobbyists to undermine talks for years, weakening the process that we are all relying on to secure our futures," Carew-Jones added. "Young people around the world are losing faith in the COP process—we desperately need strong safeguards on the role that oil and gas firms are playing in these talks."
The new research is likely to intensify concerns that fossil fuel industry influence at COP28—which is headed by the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company—will derail yet another critical opportunity to rein in oil, gas, and coal production, something that previous U.N. climate summits have failed to do in the face of worsening climate impacts across the globe.
Kathy Mulvey, accountability campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, warned Monday that "without protections against conflicts of interest at COP28, the fossil fuel industry will be out in force."
"As we near the end of a year of devastating climate change-fueled disasters and record-breaking global average temperatures, the options to limit the worst potential impacts of climate change are narrowing," Mulvey wrote. "The fossil fuel industry has a lot to lose in the negotiations at COP28, and a lot to gain from continued diversion, distraction, and delay."
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A press freedom group said Monday that at least 50 journalists—most of them Palestinian—have been killed since the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel, to which the Israeli military responded with an indiscriminate bombing campaign in the densely populated Gaza Strip.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which began documenting media worker fatalities in 1992, 45 of the journalists killed thus far were Palestinian, four were Israeli, and one was Lebanese.
An investigation by Reporters Without Borders found that the Lebanese journalist—Issam Abdallah of Reuters—was intentionally targeted in southern Lebanon by strikes launched from the direction of the Israeli border. He and other journalists in the area at the time of the strikes were clearly identifiable as members of the media, wearing helmets and press vests.
CPJ said the first month of Israel's assault on Gaza was the deadliest on record for journalists, and the toll has continued to grow in recent days. Over the weekend, at least six more Palestinian journalists were killed in Gaza—including Bilal Jadallah, a previous CPJ contributor.
The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate said Israeli forces "targeted" Jadallah's car.
"Bilal Jadallah helped CPJ document a deadly pattern of journalist killings by Israel Defense Forces and it appears that he fell victim to the same pattern on Sunday," Sherif Mansour, coordinator of CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program, said in a statement. "His killing leaves a gaping hole in the media landscape in Gaza, where journalists are in severe peril as they cover the war that has claimed the lives of dozens of their colleagues."
In addition to sounding alarm over the rising death toll, CPJ has expressed growing concerns about arrests of reporters, threats, censorship, attacks on media offices, and communications blackouts that have left journalists unable to safely do their jobs.
CPJ has documented several assaults on journalists, including by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Earlier this month, top Israeli officials—including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—amplified an Israeli media watchdog's false suggestion that Palestinian journalists were somehow complicit in the October 7 attack, an allegation that further heightened the dangers of reporting on the conflict.
"Journalists in Gaza are facing exponential risk," Mansour said Monday. "But their colleagues in the West Bank and Israel are also facing unprecedented threats, assaults, and intimidation to obstruct their vital work covering this conflict."
Israeli forces have repeatedly been accused of deliberately targeting reporters—a war crime under international law—but have yet to face accountability.
"Last May, we said the [Israel Defense Forces] must change their rules of engagement to stop unleashing the use of lethal forces against journalists and media organizations," Mansour toldThe Guardian on Tuesday. "We have not seen any indication that this has been done. This time, therefore, we have also called on Israel's allies, including the United States, Britain, and other European countries to pressure it to stop any use of lethal force against journalists."
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"At this rate there won't be any Palestinians left in Gaza before enough U.S. senators screw up the courage to do the right thing."
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U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley on Monday became just the second member of the Senate to demand a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, over six weeks into Israel's brutal bombardment and ground operations that have killed over 13,000 Palestinians, including 5,500 children.
The Oregon Democrat's move, which he explained in a lengthy post on Medium, follows a cease-fire call from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the number two Senate Democrat, earlier this month, and demands from a couple dozen Democratic House members.
Merkley, who first visited Israel in 1978, wrote that by his fifth visit earlier this year, "far-right extremists were now helping to drive Israeli government policy," with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu having "formed a government with Bezalel Smotrich as minister of finance and Itamar Ben-Gvir as minister of national security."
"Israel has unleashed a bombing campaign on Gaza of phenomenal ferocity... The impression the world has been left with is one of indiscriminate bombing."
"Under such a government, attacks by Israel's settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank have become more frequent and violent, often condoned by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)," he pointed out. "Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority (PA), which had worked closely with the IDF to prevent violence by Palestinians, was losing its legitimacy."
Since winning local elections in 2006, Hamas—which the Israeli and U.S. governments consider a terrorist group—has controlled Gaza, and Israel has limited who and what can come and go. After the October 7 Hamas-led attack in which around 1,200 Israelis were killed and 240 people were taken hostage, Israel declared war and intensified its blockade.
"The whole world was with Israel," Merkley wrote, noting U.S. President Joe Biden's trip to meet with Netanyahu—which was followed by a request that Congress give Israel $14.3 billion in military aid, on top of the $3.8 billion that the country already gets each year. "I and others defended Israel’s right to respond with a campaign targeted at destroying Hamas."
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Merkley also highlighted that "Israel has unleashed a bombing campaign on Gaza of phenomenal ferocity. Israel defends this campaign as necessary to strike Hamas wherever necessary. But the impression the world has been left with is one of indiscriminate bombing. Airstrikes have leveled much of Gaza City and hit crowded refugee camps, schools, hospitals, and even shelters operated by the United Nations."
"The result is mass carnage," he declared. "Too many civilians and too many children have died, and we must value each and every child equally whether they are Israeli or Palestinian. The war will damage Israel's economy with so many workers called to military duty. It also risks undoing the relationships with Arab neighbors won through the Abraham Accords, puts the negotiations for normalization with Saudi Arabia on ice, and could trigger a regional conflict with Hezbollah and other powers."
The senator previously called for humanitarian pauses, the position also held by the White House and various other senators. He wrote Monday that "after grimly witnessing accelerating body counts, many Americans, including thousands of Oregonians, have raised their voices to say more must be done to stop the carnage. I agree. So today I am calling for a cease-fire."
"The cease-fire requires an immediate cessation of military hostilities by both sides. But the cease-fire and the negotiations that follow must accomplish a number of objectives or it will not endure," he stressed. "Most importantly, the Israeli people and the Palestinian people must find leaders determined to partner with each other and the world to replace the cycle of hate and violence with both a long-term vision for security, peace and prosperity featuring two states for two peoples, and immediate, concrete steps toward that goal."
While individuals and groups who have spent weeks demanding a cease-fire—including with massive demonstrations around the world—celebrated Merkley's shift as proof that the pressure is working, he is still just the second of 100 senators.
"At this rate there won't be any Palestinians left in Gaza before enough U.S. senators screw up the courage to do the right thing and demand a cease-fire, and this after collectively embracing colonial Zionism and calling for its incessant support," University of California, Berkeley history professor Ussama Makdisi said on social media.
While many senators and representatives are under pressure from their constituents, a notable target is U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has also faced calls from hundreds of former staffers from his presidential campaigns to demand a cease-fire.
Sanders, who briefly lived in Israel in the 1960s and has since said he is "proud to be Jewish" but "not actively involved in organized religion," has argued in recent weeks that "Israel has the right to go after Hamas" but must stop its "indiscriminate bombing."
In a statement on Saturday, Sanders reiterated his positions while also suggesting that Israel should have to meet certain conditions to receive any more U.S. military aid, including "a significant pause in military operations so that massive humanitarian assistance can come into the region" and "no long-term Israeli reoccupation or blockade of Gaza."
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