Here’s what’s happening in the current labor market:
A living wage: Everyone wants to have one, but the term “living wage” is a very specific one that applies to regulations many cities in the United States have passed since 1994.
According to a national study by the Public Policy Institute of California in San Francisco, living-wage laws “mandate that businesses under contract with the city, or in some cases receiving assistance from the city, must pay their workers a wage sufficient to support a family financially.”
The Institute notes that “Baltimore was the first city to pass such legislation and nearly 40 cities and a number of other jurisdictions have followed suit.” Living wages usually pay more than minimum state and federal laws provide.
In California, for instance, where the minimum wage is $5.75 an hour, living wages range from $7.25 in Pasadena to $11 in Santa Cruz.
While higher salaries are a boon to workers, an important finding of the study is that even though living-wage laws are known to reduce hiring, “the substantial pay increases generated by such laws can outweigh job losses among low-income workers–and the net effect is a modest decrease in family poverty.”
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The study, by David Neumark, professor of economics at Michigan State University, examines 36 cities with living wages, including Chicago, where it’s $7.60 an hour. “How Living Wage Laws Affect Low-Wage Workers and Low-Income Families” can be downloaded at no cost from the Institute’s Web site at www.ppic.org.
Family & Medical Leave alert: The U.S. Supreme Court’s first decision involving interpretation of the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is an important one. According to Susan Benton-Powers, labor and employment partner at the law firm of Winston & Strawn, with headquarters in Chicago, “the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a Department of Labor regulation providing that . . . leave under the Act does not start to run until the employer officially notifies the employee that the time off will count as FMLA leave.”
The issue at stake is this: If your employer doesn’t designate the leave as FMLA, does it count against your FMLA entitlement of 12 weeks of unpaid leave? The Supreme Court says it does. “Initially it looks like a win for employers,” reports Benton-Powers, “but the impact of the decision on employers and employees is uncertain.”
FMLA, one of the most important employment laws, is just beginning to be tweaked by the courts.
“Regardless of the decision, a good employer will still provide timely notice to employees,” the attorney adds. And wise employees will continue to get it in writing.
Employer-based health care: It’s not unusual these days for people to take a job just for the health-care coverage it provides–and it’s also not unusual for people to stay in jobs they hate for its health-care coverage. But the cost of that coverage is going up. According to a 2002 survey of 1,000 workers by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation based in New York, one-third of those with employer-sponsored insurance faced higher deductibles or co-payments or had their benefits reduced, compared to last year.
And at the same time, health benefits are becoming less comprehensive. My advice: Stay well.
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Carol Kleiman’s columns also appear in Tuesday’s Business and Wednesday’s Working sections. She is the author of “Winning the Job Game: The New Rules for Finding and Keeping the Job You Want” (Wiley, $16.95). Send e-mail to [email protected].