March 6, 2009 .
The Workplace Flexibility 2010 News Roundup is a compilation of the latest news articles, reports and other materials related to workplace flexibility. The News Roundup appears twice-weekly. If you have questions about any of the items, please contact WF2010@law.georgetown.edu.
Articles
Chattanooga: Business connects people to jobs with flexible hours
“When Avery Patten needed someone experienced to do part-time bookkeeping at her floral design studio, she turned to a new locally owned business called FlexWorks. Within a matter of minutes, the Chattanooga business, run by Joy Lusk and Kathleen Hunt, had found someone that Ms. Patten feels confident will work well with her venture. That is exactly why the owners of FlexWorks launched their business — to connect people like Ms. Patten with experienced professionals who want flexible work hours.”
Sharing the workload at work - and home
“So what was the problem with this cheery picture? They kept hearing the bad news about couples trying to work and raise families without wanting to kill each other or their bosses. The more they talked, the more they wondered why most of the talk centered on women and their seemingly insurmountable frustrations. There was little mention of husbands and how struggling to balance work and family affected marriages. Was it true, as some news stories said, that women were "opting out" of work because they were fed up with trying to manage the demands of kids, spouse and work and, frankly, found staying home easier and more rewarding?”
Group pushes for paid sick leave in N.C.
“More than 1.6 million workers in North Carolina face a difficult choice: Get well or get paid. They lack paid sick time, a benefit that lets them recover when they're ill without losing income. A bill in the N.C. House would change the calculus. It would require employers to provide up to seven days of paid sick time per year, a change that would help 42 percent of workers in the state who now lack the perk, according to statistics provided by the N.C. Justice Center. It lobbies for the poor and is pushing the legislation.”
Unannounced Layoffs Hit Workers by the Thousands
“These unannounced cuts, labor experts say, raise issues of disclosure and the treatment of workers. They argue that the federal law requiring warning of certain kinds of layoffs should be overhauled to cover smaller job cuts. That would give people more time to seek new jobs, career counseling and retraining. “The twin goals are transparency and decency,” said Harley Shaiken, a labor economist at the University of California, Berkeley. “The issue becomes all the more pressing in this downward economic spiral.” The notification law, known as the WARN Act, is a legacy of an era when the economy was more dependent on manufacturers and legislators were concerned about blue-collar workers being locked out of their factory. That kind of shutdown is hard to hide, while white-collar layoffs spread across many locations are not.”
N.J. family leave law may be model for nation
“New Jersey's family leave insurance, set to take effect in a few months, might be the model for similar national legislation. The effort is likely to provoke the same sort of business-vs.-labor and partisan debates that preceded enactment last May of the New Jersey law. [. . .] New Jersey is the second state to create family leave insurance, which is similar to unemployment insurance. California was the first -- in 2004 -- and, while Washington State enacted its law before New Jersey, it has yet to implement it. In New Jersey, workers needing to care for a newborn or sick relative will be able to collect two-thirds of their weekly wage up to a maximum this year of $548. The benefit -- paid for, not by employers, but by employees through a payroll deduction -- lasts six weeks.”
Unpaid leave will help parents and kids
“Although our economy depends on a well-educated workforce, many students in Colorado do not have access to their most important educational resource - their parents. Parental involvement is one of the most important factors in determining a child's success in school, and yet many workers in Colorado face obstacles to being involved with their children's school activities and keeping their jobs. According to the National PTA, parents cite time as the single greatest barrier to volunteering, attending meetings, and joining decision-making committees at their children's school. These activities often are scheduled at times that interfere with work or other obligations. National research shows that 3/4 of all parents whose children scored in the bottom quartile of math and reading tests, cannot rely on flexibility at work. One in three of these parents has no paid time off.”
Serving My Country - and Me
“Rather, if public service is to become a more attractive option, the government must ensure that career advancement is a real possibility. Here, some inspiration may be taken from the elite military academies. The prestige and concrete career boost conferred on West Point graduates—they start out as second lieutenants after graduation, rather than privates—motivates students and assures them of being properly valued in the military. A similar career boost for bright students would be helpful in government. The public sector already has plenty of institutions that do the job of a West Point in the form of high-ranking government and public-service schools. The government would be well-served by starting a “Public Service Fellows” program in which students who graduate magna cum laude are put on an official career fast track. Of course, this does not mean that such graduates should be blindly promoted regardless of competence. But simply giving a promise of open doors and professional attention ahead of time—in return for merit-worthy work—would make public service a much more attractive career option.”
Blogs
The "Opt-In Project" Inspires Change In The Legal Profession
“When I first interviewed Patricia Gillette, an employment law expert and partner at Orrick in San Francisco, I noticed two things about the way she spoke about the future of the legal profession. First, despite the temptation to point fingers when discussing the ever-present wage gap in the legal profession, Pat Gillette focused on solutions. Second, she was optimistic about the possibility of change in the profession, especially due to the shifting economic reality. In Pat’s view, for example, women may be at an advantage as firms shift away from hourly fee structures – a shift that may be inevitable as the economy turns sour for law firms and clients. Women lawyers, in Pat’s experience, are at times more efficient at completing assignments. While the current billable hours system may not value the fact that they are able to complete work quickly, the legal profession of the future is likely to value this type of efficiency.”
The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights
“During these hard economic times, household workers report that abuses are increasing as their employers face strain in their own lives. Nannies are facing lay-offs without severance or other protections. Housecleaners are suffering unjust firings or wage cuts. Many household workers have been given additional responsibilities for the same pay. Fortunately, a dedicated group of domestic workers and their allies are organizing to make things better. Last month, over 250 people went to Albany to urge legislators to pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (A1470/S2311). Nannies, housecleaners, eldercare providers, and their supporters from employer groups, labor unions, religious organizations, and schools held more than 60 meetings with legislators.”
Encouraging Family Friendly Practices in a Recession
“Despite the continued economic storm, the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing on how to encourage workplaces to adopt family friendly practices, such as paid sick leave, during a down economy. "As a human resource manager, I saw how important employee benefits — such as paid leave, paid sick days and health care — are to workers in both good times and bad. And there is substantial evidence that they ultimately improve the bottom line of the employer," said Chairwoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) in opening the hearing.”
Women Like the Self-Employment Lifestyle, Earnings Motivate Men
“A new study (pdf) released from the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy finds that women base their decisions on lifestyle and family factors while men are motivated by earnings' potential. While that may come as no great surprise, it's interesting that although self-employed women spend more time with their children and families, according to the study, self-employed rates for women remain about half of those for men. "Self-Employed Women and Time Use" shows that women are about 57 percent less likely than men to enter self-employment. Entry rates are lowest among African-American and foreign-born women in comparison to their male counterparts.”
Telecommuting During Tough Times
“During a discussion here last week about parents working from home, many of the comments were along the lines of ‘nice work, but my boss would never…’ The difference between a flexible work schedule and a restrictive one is often a conversation with an employer – a conversation that can be nerve-wracking in the best of times, which these certainly are not. Does this recession mean the end of the flexible workplace? Will the only people working from home be those who are working for themselves?”
Global News
Labor MPs lobby for paid maternity leave
“The federal government is refusing to commit to paid maternity leave, but a number of Labor backbenchers are lobbying hard to have it included in the May budget. The federal government is sitting on the Productivity Commission's final report into paid parental leave, which it received last weekend. The report is likely to back the commission's draft recommendation of 18 weeks taxpayer-funded leave paid at the minimum wage. Labor ministers, including Julia Gillard and Tanya Plibersek, are yet to commit to introducing the scheme this year due to the impact of the global financial crisis.”
British compulsory retirement age can stay at 65, says European court
“British businesses can continue to force employees to retire at age 65 without breaking EU rules, the European court of justice ruled today. However, the case will now return to the high court, and the charity behind it, Age Concern, said the UK government now had to "overcome a high hurdle" to justify forced retirement. Around the UK 25,000 workers are believed to be forced to retire each year when they would be happy to continue working simply because they have reached the state retirement age. Laws which came into force in 2006 ban age discrimination but exclude pensioners, who can be laid off at 65 without receiving redundancy. Today European judges backed Britain's compulsory retirement age - as long as it has a "legitimate aim" linked to social or employment policy.”