Did you know PE Obama wants to expand the FMLA to cover elder care and your kid's school recital?

[redstate_democrat]

Yes, President Elect Obama wants to expand the Family Medical Leave Act so that everyone will get at least 24 hours a year for things like going to parent teacher conferences and meetings and school activities. He also wants to expand it so that people who care for their elderly parents can use FMLA time off work. Currently the FMLA only applies for spouses and children. This would expand it for elderly parents. It would also apply to employers with at least 25 employees. Currently the FMLA only applies to employers with more than 50 employees. This is particularly important especially considering the fact that some nationwide businesses incorporate each individual workplace just to get out of some federal laws that would normally apply to them if not.


Oh, and even better? He will require that business give their employees at least SEVEN PAID SICK DAYS A YEAR.

He has good plans y'all! BUCK UP! We got us a good President. Even if you don't like some of his appointees, he plans on doing the PEOPLE'S BUSINESS!

http://change.gov/agenda/family_agenda/

[muntrv]

1. Egads! He's pro-family!

[Juche]

9. No hes not

Forcing your teenage daughter into a loveless marriage so you can save face is pro-family. Letting parents get involved in their kids lives is communism.

Palin '12.

:sarcasm:

[sandnsea]

2. We have to know what he wants to do

So we can be his voice when they start twisting and manipulating and moving the goal posts. He's got a lot of great ideas for teen fathers and teacher residencies and summer school and all kinds of things. I wish people would look at what he wants to do and start organizing to help him, instead of just sitting back and waiting to kneejerk against him every time he opens his mouth. I'm going to some sort of Moveon thing in about an hour, hopefully that is what it is for.

[woodsprite]

3. Bushie's already moving the posts - Isn't he gonna make it harder to qualify for leave? n/t

[redstate_democrat]

4. I'm with you on this one.

It's easy to sit back and get pulled down into the morass. I was there for a sec. But then I thought, wait a minute, why did I vote for Obama? Was it because I expected specific changes in policy or because I was looking to just see certain specific individuals elevated into some fancy title?

Fact is, despite who becomes Secretary of HHS, Commerce, etc, the POLICY will be decided by Obama. The Secretaries will basically carry out those policies with rule-making, regulation, budgetary concerns, and oversight. The POLICY will be well-defined and they can't really go outside of that POLICY.

I'm more interested in what OBAMA thinks and plans to do rather than what warm body he plants in the office who will be required to carry it out.

The Democrats in Congress will have more of an effect on the POLICY of Obama's administration than the actual Secretaries will. They will determine if his legislation gets out of congress in one piece or even if it will even see the light of day.

[ZombieHorde]

5. K&R

[Hawkeye-X]

6. I wish he'd be able to expand FMLA to include PAID leave...

Which would help our family in March....

Hawkeye-X

[firedupdem]

7. It may be coming...maybe not as soon as March but look below:

**from same site listed in OP

Encourage States to Adopt Paid Leave: As president, Barack Obama will initiate a 50 state strategy to encourage all of the states to adopt paid-leave systems. Obama and Biden will provide a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to help states offset the costs for employees and employers.




**This is great...I was thankful to have the FMLA act in place in 1998 when my parents died. I was able to stay home with my mom. Although it was unpaid, I had a job when I got back. If they get this expanded we are in much better shape!

[Indenturedebtor]

8. I would have killed for seven paid sick days a year when I was in sales

Paid sick days and nearly any time off is pretty much a rarity in most sales jobs.