Neil deMause: The Website

My first article for the relaunched City Limits, about the doomsday budgets proposed for New York city and state, is up. (It’s actually the second article I wrote for them, but is running first — I blame the suits at Fox.)

Economists say the nation’s recession is technically over, but whether or not the economy is actually on the mend, the recession’s impact on New York City and state budgets is only just beginning. Over the last three months, Gov. Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg have mapped out a set of austerity budgets that would slash billions in spending – with many of the reductions coming from education and social services.

This year marks a watershed for both City Hall and Albany, but for different reasons, says James Parrott, chief economist at the left-leaning Fiscal Policy Institute, which earlier this month issued extensive briefings on both the state and city budgets… [read more]

There’s nothing like getting sick to make you appreciate the hazards of getting sick:

I caught a cold last week. No, it was not the swine flu. Though my head felt like it was going to explode, and I ran through enough tissues to deforest the Amazon, I was missing the two signature symptoms of the H1N1 virus — high fever and a racking cough — so I can rest assured I was laid low by some other, less headline-worthy bug…. [read more]

It’s swine flu season, which means all thoughts turn to what to do when your job won’t let you call in sick:

As the H1N1 swine flu virus starts its second major sweep through the U.S., business owners are bracing for the impact of a worse-than-usual flu season on their workforces. That’s reviving debate on a contentious issue: What kind of sick leave should companies offer employees — and should it be mandated by law?

“On the one hand, you have all of our top officials saying, ‘Do the responsible thing. If you’re sick, stay home,’” says Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group that is pushing for paid sick leave laws. “You have advice from the Centers for Disease Control on exactly how many days you should stay home, and how many days we need to keep kids at home. And at the same time, we have a country where almost half the workforce doesn’t have a single paid sick day.”… [read more]

The D.C. sick-leave bill saga finally reaches its denouement, I hope:

Details of Washington, D.C’s. new law requiring all city businesses to provide paid sick leave to their employees were finally released this week, clarifying the last-minute amendments to the legislation that will exempt recent hires and certain classes of workers, as well as allowing hardship exceptions for employers… [read more]

For those interested in the issue, it’s also worth checking out the FSB discussion page on sick-leave legislation, which is surprisingly thoughtful as online forums go.

The D.C. city council voted yesterday to approve its worker sick leave bill. Next up, another vote!

The Washington, D.C., city council voted 11-2 last night to approve a bill requiring all employers to grant sick leave to their workers, but the proposal still has hurdles to clear before becoming law.

The Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act mandates that all businesses within the District provide their employees with leave time, which can be used in cases of illness or domestic abuse or to care for a sick family member… [read more]

Washington, D.C., is considering a requirement that all city businesses provide paid sick leave to their employees; I take a look at the issue for Fortune Small Business, which, for obvious reasons, is mostly concerned with what this means for you, Al “Small Business Owner” Franken:

Washington, D.C., is moving forward with a bill that would make it the second city in the U.S. to require all businesses, including those with fewer than 10 employees, to provide paid sick leave for their staff.

With a city council vote on the “Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act” currently scheduled for Feb. 5, local businesses, worker advocates, and elected officials are locked in a debate over whether the measure would be a drain or a boon for small businesses… [read more]