Q&A
Council Member Brewer questions DCWP on private right of action and paid safe and sick leave expansion
0:26:31
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Council Member Gale A. Brewer engages in a Q&A session with DCWP officials, focusing on the implementation of private right of action and the proposed expansion of paid safe and sick leave under Introduction 780. The discussion covers the usage of private right of action, calculations for additional leave hours, and the integration of temporary schedule change protections with paid safe and sick leave.
- No known cases of private right of action have been filed yet, suggesting effective enforcement by DCWP
- Introduction 780 proposes an additional 16 hours of unpaid leave for various caregiving needs
- The proposed changes would allow workers to use their paid safe and sick time for a broader range of reasons, including non-illness related childcare needs
Gale A. Brewer
0:26:31
Thank you for all your work on everything, but page 6 as I call it in particular.
0:26:35
So we did pass.
0:26:37
I hope it hasn't had to be used, but we did pass a while ago in this council the notion of private right of action.
0:26:44
Is that been used?
0:26:45
I hope not because because you don't want to get to that point, but I would just wanted to get an update.
Vilda Vera Mayuga
0:26:55
So we're not aware of any cases filed yet, but it doesn't mean that they're not filed.
0:27:00
Just workers or nobody has notified us that they've taken advantage of that provision.
Gale A. Brewer
0:27:04
Yeah.
0:27:04
Well, that's a good thing.
0:27:05
I think that means that you're doing your job, and hopefully, the employers are doing theirs.
0:27:09
That's number 2, this, 7 80 talks about another 16 hours for disabled children, which makes sense to me.
0:27:18
How do you find the calculations are made?
0:27:22
Obviously, 5 days you have it under hours, but to me, it's 5 days.
0:27:26
It's easier maybe to calculate than, I don't know, 4 hours to go to housing court, if you're lucky, 4 hours to go to HRA for, SNAP benefit.
0:27:34
How does that how does that work in terms of calculation?
Elizabeth Wagoner
0:27:39
So the idea here would be, to broaden the, list of reasons that workers can use, their paid safe and sick time, and also to integrate the temporary schedule change protections with the paid safe and sick leave protections.
0:27:56
And so, you know, the idea is, for example, if someone has just childcare needs, not a sick child, just childcare, they would be able to use their paid safe and sick time for that.
0:28:08
You know, assuming they have 56 hours of paid time, it would be an additional 16 hours in addition.
0:28:16
And those additional 16 unpaid, just as it is now under the temporary schedule change law, we would, anticipate that employers would administer that benefit, all sort of together as a single benefit, so that it's easy for workers to understand how to use it and for employers to administer it.
0:28:37
Hopefully, that answers the question.
0:28:38
Can
Gale A. Brewer
0:28:38
you confirm?
0:28:38
Go to housing court, if you go to HRA to wait in line for food stamps or whatever, that would all be you need any verification, or it would be part of the 16 hours?
Elizabeth Wagoner
0:28:49
The idea is it would all be one bank, and it would actually be not just the 16 hours, but the 56 hours, assuming your employer has more than a 100, employees, with with the same the same sort of, requirements, for documentation, etcetera, which currently is
Gale A. Brewer
0:29:06
over 2 days, blah blah blah.
Elizabeth Wagoner
0:29:08
Actually, over more than 3 days is what it is.
0:29:10
Mhmm.
0:29:11
That's right.
Gale A. Brewer
0:29:11
Okay.
0:29:12
Thank you very much.
0:29:12
Thank you, madam chair.