Fair Labor Standards – R&R – Reachout and Rebuild

How to Climb out of the Financial Rut in NY State

David Posnett — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 20:16:07 +0000

On Feb. 5th R&R heard a presentation by Rebecca Saletan and Nick Lyndon on “The Invest in our New York Act”. It is a package of 6 bills for the State of NY. Together they are proposed to raise more than $50 billion/year in sorely needed revenue:

TAXING HIGH INCOMES

Progressive Income Tax S2622: Creates a tax system where New Yorkers pay a higher rate if they earn significantly more money.RAISES $12-18 BILLION

Right now, individuals with incomes between $21,400 and $1,077,550 are all taxed at roughly the same rate of 6.5%. Higher earners should pay a higher rate. This bill would raise the tax rates on the top 5% of income-earners ($300,000 and above).

Sponsored by Senator Robert Jackson and Assemblymember Demond Meeks

2. Capital Gains Tax A3152:

Taxes income from investments like stocks same as wages.RAISES $7 BILLION

Rich people make much of their income from investments like stocks, not from their jobs. The federal government taxes investment income at a much lower rate than wages. New York can fix this by adding a tax to investment income that’s equal to the tax break the rich are getting from the federal government.

Sponsored by Senator Gustavo Rivera and Assemblymember Ron Kim

TAXING WEALTH

3. Heirs’ Tax S3462 :

A progressive tax on large sums of inherited wealth.RAISES $8 BILLION

Many rich people also make their money from inheriting enormous sums. They can make up to $5 million in a year through inheritance and pay no tax on it. Inheritances of less than $250,000, family homes up to $2 million, money from pensions or retirement funds, and family farms will not be affected.

Sponsored by Senator Jabari Brisport and Assemblymember Michaelle Solages

4. Billionaires’ Tax:

An additional tax on billionaires, and constitutional amendment to allow a wealth tax. RAISES $23 BILLION IN THE FIRST YEAR, $1.3 BILLION PER YEAR THEREAFTER

New York already has a wealth tax: it’s called a property tax. Homeowners pay it every year. But if you own a massive stock portfolio, it is not taxed. This tax would treat billionaires’ gains in wealth as income, and these increases would be taxed at income tax rates. Additionally, a constitutional amendment would allow the state to tax large sums of intangible wealth—i.e., stocks, bonds and company ownership— in the future.

Sponsored by Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Carmen De La Rosa

TAXING CORPORATIONS AND THE FINANCIAL SECTOR:

5. Wall Street Tax : A small tax on Wall St. financial transactions.RAISES $12-29 BILLION

Unlike other major financial centers like London and Hong Kong, New York doesn’t place any tax on financial transactions. The financial industry is the state’s largest industry: it makes up 30% of our economy. This bill places small taxes on trades of stocks, bonds and derivatives; a similar tax on stocks existed in NY until 1981.

Sponsored by Senator Julia Salazar and Assemblymember Yuh-line Niou

6. Corporate Tax S2833: A bill to repeal the Trump tax cuts, by restoring taxes on the profit a corporation makes each year. RAISES $9 BILLION

In 2017, Trump’s tax cuts reduced the federal corporate profit tax rate from 35% to 21%, and cut taxes on real estate businesses by 20%. New York can end these tax breaks in our state so that businesses pay the same tax as they did three years ago.

Sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman and Assemblymember Anna Kelles

There is a detailed discussion with over 50 slides which is well worth reading (and beyond this summary):

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MX3-gtlQzBi0nRxNmfTKcziy7YjfB4Y6jnT5Gj-8jVo/edit?usp=sharing

Republicans don’t like Teslas

David Posnett — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 23:43:33 +0000

David Dobrik

From Diane Saatchi:

Have you heard about #join2020vote ?

Gen Z is definitely different. These folks are all in on social media. We got lucky — or were well advised — and we were able to reach a huge audience of potential voters who are now registered and ready.

Much has happened since the early messages about #join2020vote, so I want to share some stunning numbers with you.

Last Spring, worried about the 2020 general election and wanting to do something proactive, I started a get out the vote initiative aimed at first time and young voters. #join2020vote was created to register and motivate this cohort group. While we have made strides in our outreach it took a few different turns and some very fortunate networking to reach the Z generation. But when we did, oh boy, did we hit the jackpot.

Just this week through our efforts, as an incentive to registering, David Dobrik and HeadCount launched a campaign to give away five Model 3s Teslas. We woke Thursday morning to this message from Headcount… “We’re thrilled to tell you that David’s campaign passed 100,000 registrations last night (and over 250,000 verifications). Literally unprecedented in our history and the entire history of celebrity-led voter engagement initiatives.” Since then, new registrations increased to over 120,000. Read more about this it in the Forbes story here. The Instagram post alone logged 3.5 million likes and 1.77 million comments. The additional millions of shares and replies to comments cannot be counted.

How we arrived at headcount and David Dobrik is an interesting story, one I would love to share with you, but now, I want to get to the point. We’ve gotten this far without donations because we wanted to be sure of our strategy. There is no doubt its working and no doubt there is a committed pool of young voters ready to be heard. To put this success in content, a “When We Vote” event, led by Michelle Obama, along with Jennifer Lopez and other celebrities resulted in 82,000 people completing and starting registration. Our efforts resulted (so far) in over 120,000 completed registrations for new voters and 319,000 other interested voters who logged in to verify their registration.

As the online voter registration period is over October 5th in all but one swing state, our efforts will now turn to getting voters to the polls — early and on election day. Gen Z has the power in numbers to be the deciding demographic in this pivotal election, and we have plenty of ideas on how to continue the success of the Tesla give-a-way campaign. Time is running out, but with your help we can continue engaging young voters to ensure their voices are heard this election cycle. With more partnerships with influencers and use of social media in the works, the impact come November can be massive.

Please join this effort. We need to raise $100,000 immediately to complete our voter outreach initiatives through November 3rd. Will you please pledge to give or get $5,000 to help us meet this goal? All donations to HeadCount are 100% tax deductible. For now, asking for a pledge, if we raise $100,000 will go forward and reply with instructions.

I am happy and excited to discuss our work to date and future plans with you so please let me know good/best time and number to call. Or, if easier, email or text (631 375-6900) with your questions. dianesaatchi@gmail.com

With my best wishes and thanks, Diane

Trump Promised to Help Workers — But, Did He Really Mean It? His Justice Department just dropped appeal to save Obama overtime rule

David Posnett — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 21:33:00 +0000

BY JOHN BOWDEN – 09/05/17 12:35 PM EDT 47

The Justice Department announced on Tuesday that it will not defend an Obama-era Labor Department rule that would have extended overtime benefits to more than 4 million workers after a federal judge struck it down last week.

Bloomberg BNA reported on Tuesday that the administration will drop its appeal, filed in December, signaling it agrees with the court decision.

Last week, a federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obamastruck down the rule, saying it improperly focused on workers’ salaries instead of their job description. The rule would have forced employers to pay overtime to most salaried workers earning less than $47,476 annually. The salary cutoff for overtime pay now stands at $23,660.

The judge, Amos Mazzant, initially put the rule on hold last November. It was set to go into place on Dec. 1. The ruling was celebrated by conservative and industry groups such as the Restaurant Law Center, which represents the restaurant industry.

“The Department of Labor under the previous administration overstepped its authority in making changes to the federal overtime rule. Today’s decision to invalidate the rule demonstrates the negative impacts these regulations would have had on businesses and their workers. We will continue to work with [the Department of Labor] on behalf of the restaurant industry to ensure workable changes to the overtime rule are enacted,” the Restaurant Law Center said last week in a statement.

In December, the Labor Department under Obama wrote that it “strongly disagreed” with the judge’s initial hold on the rule. “We strongly disagree with the decision by the court, which has the effect of delaying a fair day’s pay for a long day’s work for millions of hardworking Americans,” the agency said.

“The department’s overtime rule is the result of a comprehensive, inclusive rulemaking process, and we remain confident in the legality of all aspects of the rule.Progressive groups reacted swiftly to the Trump administration’s decision.

In an email, the president of American Bridge accused Trump of trying to “further rig the economy for the rich.” “Donald Trump personally screwed over hundreds of employees by refusing to pay their overtime and now he’s using the Justice Department to slash the paychecks of 4 million hard-working Americans who will not receive the overtime pay that they earn. This is Trump’s latest action that is at odds with his campaign trail rhetoric, and it further shows how his economic agenda is solely designed to further rig the American economy for the rich – including Trump himself – at the expense of American workers,” group president Jessica Mackler wrote.

“The American Dream is moving farther and farther out of reach of our country’s workers and Donald Trump is to blame.”

An Empty Promise: The Working Families Flexibility Act Would Give Workers Less Flexibility and Less Pay

David Posnett — Wed, 03 May 2017 13:36:30 +0000

By National Partnership for Women & Families

APRIL 2017

The Working Families Flexibility Act sets up a dangerous false choice between time and money, when working families urgently need both. The bill does not promote family friendly or flexible workplaces. Instead, it would erode hourly workers’ ability to make ends meet, plan for family time, and have predictability, stability and true flexibility at work.

Truly family friendly policies are common sense solutions that are available to all workers. Lawmakers should focus on updating and expanding our public policies to help ensure that workers have both fair wages and time to care for themselves and their families.

Background

The Working Families Flexibility Act (H.R. 1180), introduced by Representative Martha Roby (R – Ala.), claims to give hourly workers more time with their families by allowing them, through an agreement with their employers, to choose paid time off as compensation for working more than 40 hours in one week (“comp time”). The Working Families Flexibility Act would:

 Allow employers to offer comp time in lieu of time-and-a-half pay to non-supervisory (“non- exempt”) workers who work more than 40 hours in a week.
 Allow a worker to bank up to 160 hours of comp time, but without the guaranteed right to use that time when they need it, even in the case of a personal or family emergency. There would be no remedy for a worker whose request to use comp time is denied other than requesting a cash-out for the unused time.
 Allow employers to unilaterally decide to pay workers for any earned comp time that has been banked beyond 80 hours, jeopardizing a worker’s careful planning for time off for a parental leave or a major health event such as surgery.
 Allow workers to request that their banked comp time be paid out in cash rather than time off, but give employers up to 30 days to comply.
 Provide workers the right to sue if they are intimidated, threatened or coerced into requesting or not requesting a comp time agreement, but would not permit a worker to use more cost-effective administrative remedies through the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
 Provide no additional funding to DOL for investigation, enforcement or education, despite adding significant complexities to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

FACT SHEET

Forced Choices, False Promises Lead to Less Pay, Less Time

The Working Families Flexibility Act would erode the basic guarantees of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): fair pay for overtime work and time off from work.

 Nearly 80 years ago, the FLSA created the guarantee of basic wage and hour protections. The FLSA created the norm of a 40-hour workweek and the right for certain workers to be paid at one-and-a-half times their regular rate when their workplaces demand longer hours.
 The FLSA’s overtime pay requirement created a disincentive for employers to overwork employees, and an incentive to hire additional workers and create additional jobs.The misnamed Working Families Flexibility Act would mean a pay cut for workers without any guaranteed flexibility or time off. If the proposal were adopted, workers would have less time, less money and less flexibility.
-  Employers would have significant financial incentives to assign overtime hours to workers who agree to accept comp time instead of overtime wages. This would make workers’ schedules less predictable and mandatory overtime hours more common – neither of which are family friendly outcomes. It would also create financial turmoil for workers who depend on overtime pay to make ends meet.
-  Workers who accrue comp time would not be guaranteed the opportunity to use it when they need it. This means that hardworking people who have banked comp time still wouldn’t have the right to use it if their employers say “no” – even if they needed the time to attend a parent-teacher conference, help an aging parent relocate to a nursing home, care for a new baby, or recover from their own serious illness.The proposal includes few worker protections in cases of employer misconduct or bankruptcy.
-  Employers would supposedly be prohibited from coercing, intimidating or threatening workers for the purpose of interfering with their right to request or decline to request comp time, but the only remedy provided – the right to sue in court – would be too costly, protracted and risky for a typical employee to pursue.
-  Employees would have no remedy for denied comp time requests other than asking to have the value of the time cashed out. Even then, employers would have 30 days to cash out the value of the wages earned through overtime work, despite workers’ more immediate needs.
-  Workers whose employers go out of business or bankrupt would have no recourse to recover the value of banked time. For a typical hourly worker, 160 hours of lost comp time (the maximum allowed) would mean a loss of nearly $2,400. 1

Real Solutions Provide Workers Fair Pay and More Time

Truly family friendly policies must be available to all workers and reflect the needs of working people today, including by protecting workers’ financial stability and enabling them to care for children, older relatives and other family members while being productive, responsible employees. These policies include:

Guaranteeing paid sick days – The Healthy Families Act (H.R. 1516/S. 636) would allow workers to earn up to seven paid sick days each year to recover from short-term illness, to care for a sick family member or attend a child’s health- or disability-related school meeting, to seek routine medical care or to obtain assistance related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

Rather than forced choices and false promises, people need public policies that provide them with time to care for their own health and their families, wages that are fair and schedules that are predictable.

Creating a paid family and medical leave insurance program – The Family And Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act (H.R. 947/S. 337) would create a national paid leave insurance program, modeled on successful programs in California, New Jersey, Rhode Island and, soon, New York. It would allow workers to earn a portion of their pay while they take time away from work to care for a new child; care for a seriously ill family member; address their own serious health condition; or manage certain military caregiving responsibilities.

Expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act – The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act’s (FMLA) guarantee of job protection should be made available to workers in smaller businesses and those who work part time. FMLA leave should be available to workers who need to care for grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, in-laws and domestic partners. And the law should cover time for bereavement, for parents to meet with a child’s teachers or school administrators, and for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

Raising the minimum wage – Workers, including tipped workers, badly need an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 over time. Studies show the current minimum wage is not livable, and the tipped minimum wage has not been raised in more than 20 years.

Promoting fair pay – The Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 1619/S. 862 in the 114th Congress) would help women challenge and eliminate discriminatory pay practices in the workplace, limit the use of salary history in hiring and compensation decisions, help train women and girls to negotiate salaries, support government collection of critical wage data and reward employers that have good pay practice.

Ensuring fair scheduling practices – The Schedules That Work Act (H.R. 3071/S. 1772 in the 114th Congress) would give workers more control over their schedules and offer workers predictability and stability in shifts and work hours, consistent with FLSA protections.

____________________________________

1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2016, November). Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2017, from https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/womens- earnings/2015/home.htm (calculation is based on a median hourly wage of $14.91 for full-time and part-time workers aged 25 or older in a sole or principal job who are paid hourly rates)

The National Partnership for Women & Families, 1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW | Suite 650 | Washington, DC 20009 202.986.2600 | http://www.NationalPartnership.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace, access to quality health care and policies that help women and men meet the dual demands of work and family. More information is available at NationalPartnership.org.