by Suzanne Potter
Parents’ rights groups are praising a plan to extend paid sick leave for many California workers, which is now on a fast track to pass.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a deal with legislative leaders Tuesday on a bill to require businesses with 26 employees or more to offer two weeks of paid sick leave to recover from COVID or care for a sick family member.
Matthew Kijak, director of programs at the nonprofit Raising the Future, part of Parents Anonymous, which runs the California Parent Youth Helpline, said people should not lose their pay if they or their kids test positive.
“So it’s really, really important that we respect the role that parents play who are basically the heroes of this entire pandemic,” Kijak asserted. “And honor that by allowing them to stay home to take care of their children who may be suffering from coronavirus.”
A similar extension of sick leave during COVID expired last September. The proposal would be retroactive to cover sick days taken since Jan. 1 and would come to an end on Sep. 30. Full-time workers would qualify for 40 hours of leave, plus another 40 if they show a positive COVID test. Part-timers would get the number of hours off they normally work.
Opponents complain the extended sick leave will be borne entirely by businesses, many of which still are struggling after the pandemic shutdowns. To help soften the blow on companies, the deal would restore some tax deductions and expand some tax credits.
Kijak argued workers’ health must be the priority.
“Business is important,” Kijak acknowledged. “But compared to having employees come to work with coronavirus, and, God forbid, die, it’s not a comparison at all. Whatever we have to spend to keep Californians safe needs to be spent.”
Without the change, workers in California would only have three state-mandated days of paid sick leave. The bill is expected to be written and sent to a vote in the coming weeks.
Feds slam credit-reporting agencies for failure to correct errors
by Suzanne Potter
January 26 – When people complained about errors on their credit reports last year, the big three credit-reporting agencies provided relief in just 2 percent of cases monitored by the feds – compared with 25 percent in 2019, according to the latest report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The report said Equifax, Experian and Transunion often failed to respond substantively to an error, especially if the consumer hired a third party, such as a credit-repair company or law firm. John Heath, directing attorney at Lexington Law, specializes in credit cases and said unresolved errors can keep people from buying their first home or car – and even from getting a job.
“Potential employers are looking at credit reports as a way to determine whether somebody is going to be a good fit,” he said.
Heath would like to see Congress change the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require credit-reporting agencies and companies that offer credit terms to respond to third-party inquiries. The three credit-repair agencies did not respond by deadline to a request for comment.
The Rev. Andre Chapple, senior pastor at Faith Church Los Angeles and chief executive of the African American Empowerment Coalition, said problems with credit block many people from building wealth as homeowners, and many aren’t sure where to turn for assistance.
“We help people to understand that whole ecosystem of credit and credit responsibility,” he said. “We help them get free credit repair for three months. As a result, their credit scores are increasing significantly.”
Consumers submitted more than 700,000 complaints to the CFPB about the credit-reporting firms from January 2020 to September 2021, which is more than half of all complaints the bureau received.
