Comcast trying to block paid sick leave law

[xanis]

Advocates: Comcast is trying to block Philly’s paid sick leave law

Rikard Larma/Metro.
A coalition of community groups advocating for a City Council bill that would extend paid sick leave to most Philadelphia workers claims Comcast is trying to block the legislation.

“Comcast gets tens of millions in tax breaks from the city and state claiming it cares about local jobs,” said Hannah Sassaman of the Media Mobilizing Project.

“But if Comcast cares about its consumers, it should allow them to have the basic dignity of paid days off.”

Comcast during fiscal year 2012 spent over $108,400 lobbying City Council to vote against the bill that would require companies with five or more employees to grant at least an hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked, according to filings with the city Board of Ethics.

“Lobbyists’ activities depend on the organization,” said Marianne Bellesorte of PathWays PA, who herself is registered as a lobbyist for Pathways.

“I work with City Council to talk to them about bills like earned sick days and education advocacy, but other lobbyists give gifts and may even give donations to campaigns. We’re a nonprofit, so we don’t make gifts or do endorsements.”

Though Comcast’s exact activities aren’t itemized in the Board of Ethics filings, they spent $32,759 during the fourth quarter of FY12 alone opposing the bill through “direct communications” to Council members.

“My understanding is that ‘direct communications’ means an employee of the corporation or a lobbyist goes to Council, speaks directly with legislators or aides and says ‘this is why we believe X, Y or Z legislation is not good for us,’” Sassaman said.

But where does all that money go? “I would assume lobbyists are extremely expensive to get,” noted Kaytee Riek of campaign finance tracking website SumofUs.org,

“They’re not going to work for minimum wage and they’re certainly going to demand paid sick days.”



Rally


Activists will gather at City Hall tomorrow to hand-deliver a petition with more than 60,000 signatures – over 14,000 of them from self-identified Comcast customers – urging Council members to vote “yes.”

The move comes in advance of Thursday’s session, when the bill is expected to go up for a vote.

“Tomorrow’s delivery is about taking 60,000 voices – many of them from Philadelphia and Pennsylvania – and telling Council to listen to them, not big business, when comes to enacting legislation,” Bellesorte said.



Why does Comcast care?


Many advocates were mystified as to why Comcast seems to be fighting the legislation so virulently – their employees tend to receive paid sick leave, anyway.

“My understanding is workers for Comcast have access to paid time off the same way most employees of large businesses like that do,” Sassamon said.

“But if you’re a restaurant worker serving a Comcast employee a burger, you might have to come to work sick to pay your bills – including your Comcast bill.”

Bellesorte said those benefits don’t necessarily extend to Comcast contractors.

“For the most part, we learned a lot of people who work in offices or business buildings earn paid sick days,” she said. “But contractors, the people who go out and install cable, wouldn’t be covered.”



By the numbers


Comcast already gets a pretty sweet deal from the city:

>> Comcast receives $15 million from the city each year in job creation subsidies.

>> The corporation receives a 95% annual real estate tax break on corporation headquarters the Comcast Center under Philadelphia’s property tax abatement program.

>> Without the break, the Comcast Center’s property taxes would amount to $4.6 million in annual revenue.

But average workers, in general, don’t enjoy the same generosities:

>> 182,600 Philadelphia workers lack paid sick days.

>> About 123,900 of those workers have no paid leave benefits of any kind, according to a study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

>> Less than 25% of Philadelphia food workers get earned sick days, the same study estimated.

And those lack of benefits add up to sizable costs for everyone:

>> Up to 80% of outbreaks of the contagious stomach bug norovirus can be traced back to sick food workers, according to a Center for Disease Control study.

>> Philadelphia employers will save a net total of $500,000 each year if the bill is enacted, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

>> Employers are expected to spend $51.2 million on providing sick time, but yield benefits of $51.7 million due to reduced turnover and contagion combined with increased employee productivity.

http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/ne...-trying-to-block-phillys-paid-sick-leave-law/

 

[hans007]

you really shouldn't get paid sick leave if you are an hourly worker. isn't that kind of something you expect if you are hourly.

i mean you either get paid time or effectively everyone gets paid more as a group per hour. generally this just benefits the people who get sick a lot and in fact is bad for people who don't get sick often (or one can say, people who stay in shape and take care of themselves)

 

[cybrsage]

Verizon does not give sick days - they give personal days which can be used as sick days...that way you do not have to lie and say you are sick to use them. Perhaps Comcast is the same way.

AH, there is an update to the story which shows Comcast DOES give paid sick time off to its employees:

UPDATE: Comcast responded to the story Wednesday morning with the following statement:
“Comcast employs more than 6,000 full and part-time employees in the city of Philadelphia and provides our employees with a generous compensation package that, among other benefits, includes substantial paid time off opportunities that meet and, in most cases, exceed the requirements set forth in this bill.
“So while we fully support paid sick leave for our employees – and provide it – Comcast, like many other local companies, opposes this bill. It would create unnecessary administrative burden and would disrupt a uniform benefits package that is best in class and that our employees have embraced in its current form.”

http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/ne...-trying-to-block-phillys-paid-sick-leave-law/

They simply think the law is terribly written and should be abolished. Nothing to see here, it is a manufactured liberal outrage. Move along.

 

[EagleKeeper]

1 hr sick leave per 40 hrs worked = 50 hours of sick leave per year = 6 extra days off.

Most salary people get 3-5 days at the most.

Hourly get time half
Salary get nothing.

 

[CitizenKain]

you really shouldn't get paid sick leave if you are an hourly worker. isn't that kind of something you expect if you are hourly.

i mean you either get paid time or effectively everyone gets paid more as a group per hour. generally this just benefits the people who get sick a lot and in fact is bad for people who don't get sick often (or one can say, people who stay in shape and take care of themselves)

So you don't have a real job and think you know how things work, got it.

 

[Jimzz]

1 hr sick leave per 40 hrs worked = 50 hours of sick leave per year = 6 extra days off.

Most salary people get 3-5 days at the most.

Hourly get time half
Salary get nothing.

[Citation Needed]

 

[EagleKeeper]

[

1 hr sick leave per 40 hrs worked = 50 hours of sick leave per year = 6 extra days off.

Most salary people get 3-5 days at the most.

Hourly get time half
Salary get nothing.

[Citation Needed]

Non available - based on experience only.

There are no Federal or State laws that require sick leave - it is a benefit provided by the employer just like vacation time

There are laws that dictate how it can be applied

 

[hans007]

So you don't have a real job and think you know how things work, got it.

Ive bad plenty of jobs and I've worked hourly before. I'm fairly certain that my job now is better than most.


That said people do get sick but if a company is paying hourly that I'm sure is taken into account in the rate paid per hour. So if they have to pay for sick time then they will lower hourly rate. This thus benefits people who get sick more often or everyone will lie about getting sick. If you never get sick you don't get sick time and thus get paid less per hour to make up for the new benefit. Or companies cut people.

 

[Jimzz]

Non available - based on experience only.

There are no Federal or State laws that require sick leave - it is a benefit provided by the employer just like vacation time

There are laws that dictate how it can be applied

So in others words you pulled it from your ars.

 

[Theb]

Non available - based on experience only.

There are no Federal or State laws that require sick leave - it is a benefit provided by the employer just like vacation time

There are laws that dictate how it can be applied

Ouch. I've never seen less than 5 when it's offered.

among full-time private industry workers who are provided with a fixed number of days of paid sick leave per year, workers received an average of 8 days per year at 1 year of service and 9 days per year at 20 years of service.4 The majority of full-time private industry workers with these plans, regardless of their length of service, received 5 to 9 days of sick leave per year.5

http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20120228ar01p1.htm

 

[EagleKeeper]

Rather than break it out seperately; they may be bundling it in with PTO

Back in the 80-90s; I used to have 5 authorized sick and 10 PTO while at DOD companies.
Later, it seemed to be bundled into one package - suspect that it was easier for paperwork.

 

[EagleKeeper]

So in others words you pulled it from your ars.

No, I pulled it from experience.

Numbers are on the low side per post above and may vary by industry.

My arse does not come into this at all unless you choose to investigate it. What ever floats you boat :hmm:

 

[Theb]

Ive bad plenty of jobs and I've worked hourly before. I'm fairly certain that my job now is better than most.


That said people do get sick but if a company is paying hourly that I'm sure is taken into account in the rate paid per hour. So if they have to pay for sick time then they will lower hourly rate. This thus benefits people who get sick more often or everyone will lie about getting sick. If you never get sick you don't get sick time and thus get paid less per hour to make up for the new benefit. Or companies cut people.

Paying an hourly employee who isn't at work because they're out sick is different than paying a salaried employee who isn't at work because they're out sick because...?

 

[dawheat]

Paying an hourly employee who isn't at work because they're out sick is different than paying a salaried employee who isn't at work because they're out sick because...?

On the flip side, salaried employees don't get overtime. Most of my co-workers do some work in the evenings, at minimum checking their email and responding throughout the evenings and weekends.

 

[Yreka]

Comcast responded to the story Wednesday morning with the following statement:
“Comcast employs more than 6,000 full and part-time employees in the city of Philadelphia and provides our employees with a generous compensation package that, among other benefits, includes substantial paid time off opportunities that meet and, in most cases, exceed the requirements set forth in this bill.
“So while we fully support paid sick leave for our employees – and provide it – Comcast, like many other local companies, opposes this bill. It would create unnecessary administrative burden and would disrupt a uniform benefits package that is best in class and that our employees have embraced in its current form.”

Confused on one part.. So I get the admin overhead objection, but if they already provide compensation that "meets or exceeds" the bill, how would it "disrupt" their current compensation offerings?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Potentialy force seperate teirs of benefits.

Also, sets a precedent for more government meddline into businesses.

 

[sourn]

On the flip side, salaried employees don't get overtime. Most of my co-workers do some work in the evenings, at minimum checking their email and responding throughout the evenings and weekends.

Whats that have to do with sick leave? You're simply comparing hourly vs salary. I can do a flip side to that also but it's pretty freaking obvious.

There are plenty of hourly jobs that get paid sick leave, but it should be up to the company if they want to provide it.

 

[Theb]

Verizon does not give sick days - they give personal days which can be used as sick days...that way you do not have to lie and say you are sick to use them. Perhaps Comcast is the same way.

AH, there is an update to the story which shows Comcast DOES give paid sick time off to its employees:


http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/ne...-trying-to-block-phillys-paid-sick-leave-law/

They simply think the law is terribly written and should be abolished. Nothing to see here, it is a manufactured liberal outrage. Move along.

Comcast doesn't care how well the law is written. If the law wasn't going to cost them anything they would ignore it. They don't want to give sick time to their contractors and I agree with them. Contract work is a perfectly good option for some people/positions and there's no reason to change that.

 

[cybrsage]

Paying an hourly employee who isn't at work because they're out sick is different than paying a salaried employee who isn't at work because they're out sick because...?

Because paying an hourly worker 1.5 times his normal pay for all the work done over 40 hours is different than paying a salary worker nothing for all the work done over 40 hours.

It is the blessing and the curse of being hourly.

 

[cybrsage]

Comcast doesn't care how well the law is written. If the law wasn't going to cost them anything they would ignore it. They don't want to give sick time to their contractors and I agree with them. Contract work is a perfectly good option for some people/positions and there's no reason to change that.

Giving sick time to contractors is the poorly written part.

 

[hans007]

Confused on one part.. So I get the admin overhead objection, but if they already provide compensation that "meets or exceeds" the bill, how would it "disrupt" their current compensation offerings?

it would make their package less competitive, if every other employer was forced to do it as well as now relatively their hourly work package.

basically all the other package would immediately be better because of teh sick leave and comcast would have to do something else to make theirs more competitive.

if you raise the minimum wage, and you used to pay just over minimum wage, then you have to raise pay to be "$s over minimum" or well thats the same concept

 

[hans007]

Paying an hourly employee who isn't at work because they're out sick is different than paying a salaried employee who isn't at work because they're out sick because...?

thats not the point. the point is that they were hourly to begin with and took the job without implied sick pay.

if you change the structure, then the total compensation obviously just went up, sick time is not free.

so companies will lower salaries or whatever to compensate.

you evaluate any job you take based on the total package. this changes things.

 

[Theb]

thats not the point. the point is that they were hourly to begin with and took the job without implied sick pay.

if you change the structure, then the total compensation obviously just went up, sick time is not free.

so companies will lower salaries or whatever to compensate.

you evaluate any job you take based on the total package. this changes things.

Ah that makes sense. The government is changing the compensation package the employer and employee agreed to. Hopefully they at least enact it a few years down the road so employers have time to price it in.

 

[trenchfoot]

Verizon does not give sick days - they give personal days which can be used as sick days...that way you do not have to lie and say you are sick to use them. Perhaps Comcast is the same way.

AH, there is an update to the story which shows Comcast DOES give paid sick time off to its employees:


http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/ne...-trying-to-block-phillys-paid-sick-leave-law/

They simply think the law is terribly written and should be abolished. Nothing to see here, it is a manufactured liberal outrage. Move along.

If you don't mind, please explain how this issue is exclusively a liberal one because I don't see a politically ideological slant to it, nor, as far as I've read in this thread, was there any mention of political parties banging heads to wrestle with this issue.

Or could it be that you have unintentionally exposed your particular brand of political skivvies from bending over too far that way out of habit?

 

[Yreka]

it would make their package less competitive, if every other employer was forced to do it as well as now relatively their hourly work package.

basically all the other package would immediately be better because of teh sick leave and comcast would have to do something else to make theirs more competitive.

if you raise the minimum wage, and you used to pay just over minimum wage, then you have to raise pay to be "$s over minimum" or well thats the same concept

That makes sense to a certain extent.. Benefit inflation.. I didn't think of that angle.. I think they are being petty, but I can see the potential for butt-hurt.