[GA - DEFEATED] Paid Leave Act II

Status
Not open for further replies.

Hulldom

Winter Kingdom
-
Pronouns
He/Him/His
TNP Nation
Boston Castle
Discord
seathestarlesssky
ga.jpg

Paid Leave Act II
Category: Regulation | Area of Effect: Labour Rights
Proposed by: Minskiev | Onsite Topic


The World Assembly,

Highly regarding the economic security of workers, believing that it is part of the backbone of a well-functioning economy,

Realizing that the economic security of workers goes hand in hand with a healthy, growing populace,

Understanding that one such way to achieve these enviable ideals is through the secure introduction of paid leave and job security for workers everywhere, allowing those workers to care better for themselves and their loved ones,

Remaining cautious against excessively interfering with employers' operations, however, hereby:
  1. Defines, for this resolution:
    1. ”job security” as the assurance that one will likely remain in their job or a job with a similar salary, field of work, necessary skill set, set of employment benefits, work schedule, and work location now and for the foreseeable future;
    2. ”economic security” as having the stable income or resources to sufficiently financially support oneself and one's dependents now and in the foreseeable future, (including for one to at least afford, for oneself and one's dependents, housing, food, water, clothing, sanitation, relevant utilities, and relevant transportation that are all healthy, safe, and allow one to be able to work);
    3. a “worker” as any individual bound by a contract of employment who works for another party as a part of said contract; and
    4. ”paid leave” as time that a worker must not be required to work for their employer or any other party as part of their employment contract but during which that worker, and only that worker, still receives from their employer the same non-income benefits and job security as they would usually receive according to their contract. The employer may choose to pay that worker either the amount for them to hold economic security or that worker's regular pay, however.
  2. Mandates that member states have employers provide workers a minimum of the following durations of paid leave (or any higher minimums that the World Assembly may subsequently set for their respective conditions) if their contract employs them for at least sixteen weeks:
    1. the duration of a worker's illness or injury for recovery, but only up to eight weeks;
    2. the duration of a family member or dependent's illness or injury to care for the affected individual, but only up to eight weeks;
    3. two weeks per year for general purposes; and
    4. seventy-two weeks shared between each parent to care for a worker's new child, whether through childbirth, adoption, or foster care, should that child require care generally (potential caretakers are irrelevant); this does not need to be consecutive, however, a parent must at minimum take twelve weeks, if there is only one parent taking paid leave, they are only allotted ninety-six weeks, and this seventy-two weeks must be used before the child is the equivalent of three years in development.
  3. Forbids member states and employers from terminating employment, reducing benefits or compensation, or disciplining any worker because they filed for paid leave, because they notified their employer of events that may induce them to file for paid leave, or because they are on paid leave,
  4. Declares that a worker must give sufficient notice to their employer if they foresee any future events, or an event has occurred where giving advance notice was implausible, that should induce that worker to obtain paid leave,
  5. Allows any employer of a worker filing for paid leave to require any member state that worker is working in to provide (Clause 2 notwithstanding), throughout that paid leave, full financial compensation if the employer employs less than fifty workers, with one percent less coverage of financial compensation for every additional worker employed over forty-nine workers,
  6. Permits employers that pay into member state social insurance funds to claim its benefits and access these funds to provide financial compensation for paid leave, regardless of those employers’ sizes, and
  7. Restates and clarifies that:
    1. paid leave under 2a and 2b is only applicable if:
      1. for 2a, the illness or injury directly compromises that worker's or their co-workers' health or ability to work;
      2. for 2b, the illness or injury directly compromises the affected individual's health or ability to care for themselves or their dependents;
      3. for both 2a and 2b, the illness or injury is curable or manageable with treatment, a doctor's prescription, or natural recovery; if not, the leave ends after four weeks; and
      4. for 2b, no one of closer familial relations can and will care for that family member.
    2. when paid leave under 2c ends, that worker must be returned to their exact same job if that job still exists, filled or unfilled;
    3. any member state that a worker on a contract for less than sixteen weeks that files for paid leave is working in must provide at least the respective minimum paid leave time for that worker's condition of paid leave; and
    4. employers and member states may increase the duration of paid leave beyond the minimums listed in this resolution.
Note: Only votes from TNP WA nations and NPA personnel will be counted. If you do not meet these requirements, please add (non-WA) or something of that effect to your vote.
Voting Instructions:
  • Vote For if you want the Delegate to vote For the resolution.
  • Vote Against if you want the Delegate to vote Against the resolution.
  • Vote Abstain if you want the Delegate to abstain from voting on this resolution.
  • Vote Present if you are personally abstaining from this vote.
Detailed opinions with your vote are appreciated and encouraged!


ForAgainstAbstainPresent
91001
"Paid Leave Act II" was defeated 6,251 votes (41.6%) to 9,156 (59.4%).
 
Last edited:
IFV

Overview
Following the repeal of the original Paid Leave Act, this proposal valiantly seeks to ensure strong economic and job security for workers in WA member states, without meddling excessively in the operation and overhead of employers. It attempts to achieve these goals by mandating strict minimum durations for sick/injury, dependency, vacation, and parental leave, and forbidding employers from openly penalizing employees for using or attempting to use paid leave. Moreover, the proposal offers up member state government funds to qualifying businesses in order to partially or wholly cover leave payment, and lastly, it permits employers to fund their paid leave programs through collective state social insurance funds should they contribute.

Recommendation
Despite its noble intentions, this proposal is quite flawed. A combination of cryptic language, arbitrariness, and shortsightedness compromise its otherwise laudable purpose. Egregiously, a section of Article 2d would require parents to leave their jobs for twelve weeks mandatory parental leave, regardless of their wishes, Article 3 has no protection against penalty or termination, maliciously or otherwise, based on attendance, productivity, and other measures that can be indirectly affected by taking leave, Article 6 offers a functional opt-out by potentially allowing companies to pay into state social insurance funds by collecting a portion of employee wages, then accessing those funds to cover leave, and Article 7a(iii) would prevent workers with untreatable conditions from using paid leave longer than 4 weeks, potentially denying them sufficient leave during times of extended affliction.

For the above reasons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote Against the General Assembly Resolution at vote, "Paid Leave Act Ⅱ".

This IFV Recommendation was written in collaboration with our World Assembly Legislative League partners.

Our Voting Recommendation Dispatch--Please Upvote!
 
Last edited:
As a note, this will go to vote in approximately one week's time at Major Update on Tuesday, January 11.
 
Changing vote to Against. I am worried about clause (2)(1) and clause (2)(2) in terms of workers with borderline illness (such as upper respiratory tract infection or stomach ache) running up massive bills - quite prevalent in some jurisdictions. (Australia incidentally being one of them, and NationStates itself being legally based in suburban Melbourne, following Max Barry - apologies for the 4th wall break). On the other hand, this is arguably less extreme than the Bernie Sanders/Jeremy Corbyn crowd that usually votes here.
 
Last edited:
Oy. Forgot to note it, but this was withdrawn a little over 36 hours ago. Accordingly, thread locked.
 
This proposal has received the necessary approvals to enter the formal queue. Barring it being withdrawn or marked illegal, it will proceed to a vote at Wednesday's Major Update.
 
Still a variety of confusing wording. For instance, clause 2iv as below:
iv. seventy-two weeks shared between each parent to care for a worker's new child, whether through childbirth, adoption, or foster care, should that child require care generally (potential caretakers are irrelevant); this does not need to be consecutive, however, a parent must at minimum take twelve weeks, if there is only one parent taking paid leave, they are only allotted ninety-six weeks, and this seventy-two weeks must be used before the child is the equivalent of three years in development.
When does a parent get 72 weeks of childcare leave, and when does a parent get 96 weeks of childcare leave? Would this matter if it is one parent taking such a leave, or 2 parents? Besides, this long duration would mean a child would effectively be eating an employer's money by being on leave for close to 1.5 years (if taken into account their maximum leave, obtained from childbirth and their general default leave), which seems extremely unreasonable to an employee. Most policies out there in the real world (that has both childcare leave and childbirth leave) split between childbirth leave and childcare leave, giving the former up to 6 months split between both parents; and a week of the latter yearly.

Against, by the way.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top