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Job Quality Newsletter: COVID-19 Edition
April 2020
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The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating impacts on workers and their families across the country. Failing to ensure that all working people have access to basic rights like paid sick days and paid family and medical leave has exposed them to serious health and economic consequences. In the face of this public health emergency, these consequences have become far more acute for workers receiving low wages, in particular, those who can least afford unpaid leave, and in many cases, don’t have access to paid leave at all.In this issue of our newsletter, dedicated to the coronavirus pandemic, we're sharing information and resources we and our allies have developed to respond to the crisis and support the needs of working people at this time. We hope you find these resources helpful in your work and that you and your families stay safe during these challenging times.
Our Latest COVID-19 Resources
Paid Sick Days and Paid Leave Provisions in FFCRA and CARES Act [[link removed]]
On March 18, 2020, Congress passed a historic bill called the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) which was the first time that Congress mandated paid leave for private sector workers. On March 27, 2020, Congress passed and the president signed, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or the CARES Act, which amended some of the paid leave provisions of the FFCRA.This fact sheet outlines and explains the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion section and Emergency Paid Sick Leave section in the FFCRA, as amended by the CARES Act.
Webinar: Implications of COVID-19 Response Provisions and Public Benefits [[link removed]]
This webinar explores how income supports provisions within the COVID-19 response legislation intersects with existing public benefits and the implications the legislation has on programs like paid leave, SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, and child care.
Letter to DOL to Hold it Accountable for Providing Workers Access to Paid Sick Days and Paid Leave [[link removed]]
CLASP worked with our partners to send the U.S. Department of Labor a letter from over 100 organizations urging it to re-consider parts of its regulation that undermine the paid sick and paid leave provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).
Webinar: Bi-Weekly Call: State & Local Action on Paid Leave & COVID-19 [[link removed]]
This bi-weekly webinar call with CLASP and our partners provided an overview of the paid leave and paid sick day provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the CARES Act. It also detailed the Department of Labor regulation, provided updates on unemployment insurance, and described recent state and locality actions on paid sick days and paid family and medical leave.
Testimony on the Importance of Healthy Families Act in Light of COVID-19 [[link removed]]
Tanya Goldman testified in February before the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee explaining the critical need for a permanent, inclusive, national paid sick days law — the Healthy Families Act. This legislation would protect all workers and their families during this COVID-19 pandemic and whenever they may need it for their health or to care for a loved one. She emphasized the economic and health benefits to workers, their families, employers and the broader public, and shared valuable lessons from states and cities across the nation that have adopted similar laws.
Why Low-Wage Workers Need the Healthy Families Act [[link removed]]
While workers earning low wages need paid sick days, they particularly need that basic right during the COVID-19 outbreak more than ever. This updated fact sheet argues for the necessity of a comprehensive national paid sick days legislation, like the Healthy Families Act, that can benefit all workers, especially workers in jobs paying low wages. Provisions of the Healthy Families Act have been incorporated into the PAID Leave Act that was recently introduced by Senators Murray, Gillibrand, and Congresswoman DeLauro.
Paid Sick Days Know Your Rights Op-Ed Template
Millions of workers are experiencing the detrimental effects that a comprehensive lack of sick leave access has caused. CLASP has created an op-ed template that can be adjusted and adapted based on community stories and organizational priorities to inform workers of their rights and be a tool for advocacy around the expansion of these rights.
If you would like to be sent this template, please email Job Quality's Research Assistant, Adewale Maye at [email protected] [[email protected]?subject=Paid%20Sick%20Days%20Know%20Your%20Rights%20Template%20Request] .
CLASP Responds to COVID-19 [[link removed]]
The COVID-19 pandemic has particularly acute implications for people with low incomes who have been most affected by the failures of the health system and the economy before the crisis. Read more about how CLASP is actively engaged in advocating for policies across our issue areas as our country addresses this public health crisis.
Additional COVID-19 Resources
Facilitating Low-income Families' use of Emergency Paid Family Leave: Considerations for Human Services Agencies in Supporting Workers and their Employers [[link removed]]
This brief offers lessons for facilitating the use of the emergency paid family leave under the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act by families with low incomes. It draws on research by the United States Department of Health and Human Services on families’ participation in state paid family leave programs. The brief also proposes considerations and possible next steps for human services organizations, early childhood education programs, schools, and others who work with lower-income families and their employers and can assist them in learning about and using the new emergency family leave program.
Unemployment Insurance Provisions in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act [[link removed]]
This fact sheet from the National Employment Law Project discusses the creation of three unemployment insurance programs — Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance — under the CARES Act. It outlines what benefits are available to workers who find themselves without any or enough employment or work during this pandemic.
Paid Leave for All’s Coronavirus Emergency and Paid Leave Resources [[link removed]]
A list of useful resources from various allies and partner organizations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and workers’ paid sick and paid family leave.
Job Quality in the Media
Paid sick time advocates say pandemic proves point [[link removed]]
“As the economy has changed to include more workers classified as independent contractors, more families have lost access to benefits like paid sick time,” Pronita Gupta says. Pronita describes the growing share of independent contractors in the labor market and what that means for these workers and paid sick time during this pandemic.
Coronavirus raises concerns about lack of paid leave in the US [[link removed]]
The U.S. is one of a few developed countries with no federal paid sick leave policy. Although the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provided Americans who qualify with 12 weeks of unpaid leave every year, “most low wage workers cannot afford to take unpaid leave,” says Pronita Gupta. During a public health crisis, the lack of paid leave for all leaves many low-wage workers making the impossible choice between their paycheck and their health.
Virus Paid Leave Law’s April 1 Start Muddles Layoff Decisions [[link removed]]
Given the availability of billions of dollars in loans in the $2 trillion stimulus COVID-19 response, many small businesses will have the added capacity to preserve their workers and provide them with virus-induced leave, Tanya Goldman argues. “I’m always concerned about unintended consequences of laws, but in this instance, I think that the Families First Coronavirus Response Act — and particularly with the CARES Act provision that allows small businesses to seek an advance credit — is a real benefit to employers who want to retain their valuable workforce,” said Tanya Goldman.
Podcast: Breaking Through with Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner [[link removed]]
In this podcast show, topics range from how you can get access to the new unemployment insurance provisions; steps you can take to help stop the dangerous increase in racist and xenophobic discrimination targeting Asian Americans; how to access the new federal emergency paid sick days and paid leave; and information regarding the crisis in Detroit and how to lend a hand. Special guests include Tanya Goldman from CLASP along with many others.
What We're Reading
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Trump Administration Scales Back Paid Leave in Coronavirus Relief Law [[link removed]]
THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Companies Putting Profits Ahead of Public Health [[link removed]]
THE NEW YORK TIMES
At Walmart, the Coronavirus Makes It Feel Like Black Friday [[link removed]]
VICE
Most Black and Brown Americans Are Exposing Themselves to Coronavirus for a Paycheck [[link removed]]
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Could the Pandemic Wind Up Fixing What's Broken About Work in America? [[link removed]]

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CLASP
1200 18th St NW
Washington, DC 20036
United States