May 28

May 28 "Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste": 5 Steps Essential to Strengthening America's Working Families

Now is the time to make real positive change for working families.

Hello, Talking About Money Community! How are you? Right now I am caught between the hamster wheel of day-to-day life, and daydreams of what this country might look like in the future.

I am plowing through each day with my nose down, checking off items on a list of tasks that I hope will advance the field of financial capability. I (try to) keep to my routine, drink my water, take my walks, cook my food, talk to my loved ones… Then I do it all again. Over and over and over.

And now it’s the end of May 2020.

Is it just me, or wasn’t March 15th like, two weeks ago?

But while I am completing these concrete tasks and doing my best to self-care practice what I self-care preach, I also have moments when I wonder,

“Is now the time when we can tear down this social system that supports the have’s and demonizes the have not’s, and rebuild it a way that provides justice and equity for all people?”

So in the spirit of forward movement and in support of my optimistic daydreams, today’s post will attempt to answer this question.

The following Essential Steps come directly from two great resources. First, please take a look at A Woman-Centered Economic Agenda: 8 Policies that Boost the Economy and Work for Everyone by Elyse Shaw, M.A., and Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D., of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Their research and attention to detail covered all the bases of what equitable and just social policy might look like.

Then make sure to read Policy Checklist for Supporting Women and Families by the National Partnership for Women and Families, where I sourced the pending legislation listed below. And I encourage you to read the complete checklist for all of their recommendations!

While the Families First Coronavirus Response Act puts some workplace protections in place temporarily (you can read more in my post, “16 Tips and Tricks for Securing Your Finances in the Time of Coronavirus”), they need to be made permanent!

Let’s get started…

5 Steps Essential to Strengthening America’s Working Families

Eliminate the gender wage gap by pressuring government to require all contractors to publicly report the details of their gender pay gap and take remedial action.
Policies that help families get to work:
The Paycheck Fairness Act would make it easier for people to learn about pay disparities in their workplaces, more difficult for employers to pay disparities, and bring penalties for pay discrimination in line with other civil rights statutes. It would also help to close the pay gap between women and men, and diminish wage disparities that result from gender-based occupational segregation (did someone say social services?), so that people who hold similar jobs are paid the same wages.
Eradicate sexual harassment and assault on the job on the part of employers by testing reporting systems to make sure they are functioning as intended, and ensuring that reporting is followed by action against perpetrators.
Policies that help families get to work:
The Equality Act would amend existing federal civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations and in federally funded programs or activities. It would also prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in education, employment, housing, credit, and federal jury service.
The Ending the Monopoly of Power Over Workplace harassment through Education and Reporting (EMPOWER) Act addresses workplace harassment by ending practices that silence victims, like nondisclosure and non-disparagement clauses, providing stronger remedies for violations, and require public companies to disclose the number of settlements and judgments they are party to.
Ensure equal access to high quality jobs by supporting:
*An increase in the minimum wage/eliminating the tipped minimum wage
*Fair scheduling practices and policies
*Policies that invest in the caregiving infrastructure to improve worker’s pay, benefits, and career opportunities
*Access to affordable and quality child care (including for parents enrolled in training programs, college, or university)
*Initiatives that make STEM more attractive to women and people of color
Policies that help families get to work:
The Raise the Wage Act would raise the minimum wage to at least $15 per hour and eliminate the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers and workers with disabilities.
The Schedules that Work Act would establish national fair scheduling standards that give workers more control over their schedules and offer them predictability and stability in shifts and work hours.
Improve Access to Paid Family Leave, Paid Sick Days, and Child Care by supporting:
*Paid family leave policies (especially those have premiums shared by employers and workers and provide earnings replacement to all eligible workers)
*Paid sick and safe days policies (especially those that provide minimum paid days off that do not leave out small employers)
*Access to and funding of subsidized child care for those who earn low incomes, and support employers who fund or provide child care for their employees
Policies that help families get to work:
The Healthy Families Act would guarantee working people the right to earn paid sick time at their jobs to deal with a routine illness or health care need, a health care need of a loved one, and for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, to receive supportive services. For workers at businesses with fewer than 15 employees, working people would earn unpaid, job-protected sick time.
The Family And Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act would create a sustainable and affordable paid family and medical leave program through a national fund to ensure that everyone can take up to 12 weeks to care for a new child, a seriously ill, injured or disabled family member, their own serious health condition, or for certain military-related caregiving needs.
Congress should permanently expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to ensure that job-protected leave is available to more people for more reasons and to care for more loved ones, including eliminating the barriers that make FMLA leave unavailable to 40 percent of the workforce (because they work for small employers, work less than full time or haven’t spent long enough at their job and by expanding the range of family members eligible to provide and receive care).
The Child Care for Working Families Act would make substantial new investments in child care and early learning and help make child care more affordable for working families.
Expand and Protect Social Security and Medicare by supporting:
*Caregiving credit to Social Security benefits to cover reduced time in the labor force due to caring for family
*Increased benefits to ensure adequacy and improve cost-of-living adjustments
*Eligibility in Medicaid, SSI, and CHIP are not affected by Social Security benefit increases
*Increasing the number of physical Social Security offices
*The control of prescription drug prices in the Medicare Program as well as other regulated areas of health care

Policies that help families get to work:

Strengthen Social Security by raising or eliminating the cap on taxable wages for high-income workers to help enhance benefits for retirees.

The Social Security Caregiver Credit Act would create caregiving credits to make it possible for people to take time out of the workforce to care for their loved ones without substantially diminishing their own Social Security retirement security.